President Jonathan reveals reason behind Nigeria’s entertainment industry love

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he’s passionate about Nigeria’s entertainment industry because the sector shoes great potential. Jonathan stated this on Sunday, March 15, during an interaction with stakeholders of the industry in Lagos. “I have seen the entertainment industry just like sports, as a unifying factor for the nation, not just at the national level because but even at the international level. So at the national level it brings unity and togetherness,” Jonathan said. “Secondly, entertainment industry is key in terms of tourism and we have not yet explored the great potentials we have in tourism in Nigeria. I am seeing a great potential in the Nigeria’s movie industry. I have noticed that if we encourage the entertainment industry, that is the Nollywood family, we would really be pushing this country forward because before this time, the Nollywood and the entertainment industry in general was not producing much but now even in terms of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), presently it is contributing over 1.4 per cent growth to the nation’s GDP,” he added. “So it is a sector that I am so passionate about and want to encourage because it will create a lot of jobs for young people as well as adults who are in business. I think we should make the industry bigger as we progress,” the President said. “We know that they’re quite a lot of potential in the industry. If we must make the industry bigger, and of course we have seen the potential in it, we are talking about contributing about 1.5 per cent to the nation’s GDP when it was initially at Zero," Jonathan continued. Jonathan has held a series of meetings with Nigerian entertainers in recent times and has been endorsed by celebrities like Mercy Johnson, Segun Arinze and Toyin Aimakhu among others.