Afolayan seeks government support as diesel costs threaten N8bn film village

By Damilola Akinwale –

Veteran Nigerian filmmaker and entrepreneur, Kunle Afolayan, has called for government support, saying the lack of electricity at his film village has made operations difficult.

The filmmaker made this known during a recent interview with former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on the Nidacity podcast, which was released on YouTube on Tuesday. He said he had invested more than N8bn of his personal funds in fuelling the resort with diesel since its establishment.

However, Afolayan noted that the rising cost of diesel had become unsustainable, forcing him to consider closing the resort. Although he said a friend was willing to supply him with diesel on credit, he insisted that the arrangement would not sustain the business.

The filmmaker further revealed that he was exploring alternative energy sources, adding that about N200m had already been invested in green energy, although it was insufficient to power the entire resort.

He called on the government to provide support through grants, noting that some business establishments that had invested less than he had were receiving grants from the government.

“And if we’ve managed to do that, I think there should be some sort of support, like from government agencies. I know people are not even doing one quarter of what we’re doing, and they get a lot of grants from government,” he said.

Afolayan also revealed that the struggle for accommodation during productions prompted him to build 100 rooms at his film village.

He added that actors, including Sola Sobowale and Bimbo Ademoye, had to bring personal belongings from their homes because there was inadequate accommodation for the production team.