By Lukman Olabiyi, Lagos
The Lagos State Government has disclosed that very soon there would be an official public holiday for traditional worshipers in the state.
This was revealed at the ongoing press briefing addressed by both the Commissioner for Tourism, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, and the Special Adviser to the governor on Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr Solomon Bonu, to commemorate second year in office of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Bonu, while giving detail about the propose public holiday for traditional worshipers, said the bill to that effect was already before the State House of Assembly and it would pass soon and sign by Governor Sanwo-Olu.
The commissioner, while reeling out the scorecard of her ministry, boasted that the state government will harness and develop potentials of the new heritage sites discovered in Badagry, Epe, Alimosho and Ikorodu parts of the state to boost its economic fortunes.
Akinbile-Yussuf said the government would take over the management of the sites, develop and harness them to international standards to attract international tourists and boost the economy.
She, however, lamented that the ministry could not meet up with the N250 million Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) it was expected to contributed to fund the 2020 budget due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commissioner also added that work on the proposed film city will begin by year ending as talks were on with partners. According to her, the film city would afford movie practitioners, content owners and producers in the creative and entertainment industry a modern and conducive atmosphere for producing their contents.
She hinted that the JK Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History was nearing completion. She stressed that upon completion, the centre would change the aesthetics of the cultural hub of Lagos Island, Onikan to be precise.
‘JK Randle Centre is an edifice of cultural, ethnographic, historical, and anthropological education and elucidation of Lagos and the Yoruba race in general. The ministry, including other relevant supervisory arms of the government, especially the Ministry of Works, have visited the project site to ensure the project is delivered to specifications. As we speak, major works on this project has been finalised, the remaining works would be completed very soon,’ she said.
‘With the proposed Lagos Film City to be located at Ejirin, Epe Local Government Area, filmmakers are assured of better filming experience. We urge the practitioners to leverage on this initiative to carve a solid niche for themselves to improve their content and production.
‘100 hectares of land has been acquired for this purpose in Ejirin. Preliminary discussion with the private sector under a PPP arrangement is ongoing. This initiative will boost and develop the movie and entertainment industry, and we urge everyone to come on board and support this dream.
‘The idea behind this Film City is to provide a place where film production can be done without public interference.’