The entertainment clan particularly the movie and music industries have been given kudos for their efforts in trying to rebrand the countries image both locally and internationally which has also gone a long way in boosting the hospitality industry in Nigeria.
This observation was made by a seasoned industrialist and hotelier based in Port Harcourt, Chief Godswill Okoha during an interview with The Tide Entertainment on Wednesday. He noted that Nigerian musicians have been winning awards both at home and abroad as a result of their exploits in music. He also stressed that the Nigerian movie industry popularly known as Nollywood is rated the third highest movie industry in the world after Hollywood of America and Bollywood of India.
The managing director of De Crown Hotels Aluu and Twin Valley Hotels Limited, Port Harcourt, maintained that these achievements have restored the good image of the country which had been tarnished over the years by detractors. He said though the country has not reached a near perfect situation, with time all the inherent lapses will be taken care of.
Chief Okoha, the Eze Igo I of Ogbakiri in Emohua Local Government Area (EMOLGA), Rivers State called on other industries to emulate the entertainment sector which he said has contributed immensely to the development of the nation’s economy, stressing that after the oil sector, the entertainment industry comes next.
According to the Eze Ochialili the achievements of the entertainment sector has impacted positively on the hospitality industry, contending that hospitality business, entertainment and showbiz work hand in hand as partners in progress. He therefore called on the federal and state governments to invest more in those areas.
The business magnate also commended the efforts of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Alhaji Sanusi Lamido for trying to revive the banking sector by exposing loan defaulters and fraudulent bank Chief executives.
He said before now a lot of shaddy deals were going on in the sector as the bankers had always used depositors money as their own and give them out to friends and relatives without adequate collateral which he said led to the failed banks saga in the country.
He urged the apex bank and other regulatory bodies to extend their search light to the stock exchange market which he said needs purging because of the high level of insider fraud that takes place there. He alleged that most of the brokers sell customers stock without their mandate and convert the proceeds to their personnel purse. He therefore called for effective monitoring of the market to insure sanity in the system as this will help to restore customers’ confidence.