President GoodLuck Jonathan Lauds AMAA

Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, has lauded the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) ahead of the 2014 edition of the award ceremony to celebrate African filmmakers on the continent and in the Diaspora.

The award ceremony will, in about a month’s time, be converging film stakeholders on Nigeria’s Bayelsa State for the 2014 event which is the 10th anniversary celebration of the AMAA.

Prior to the award’s nominations release party, an event was, over the weekend, held in Lagos to celebrate sponsors of the AMAA and also open doors for new investors who believe in the AMAA brand.

In a written note, the President of Nigeria praised AMAA for how far it has come despite the challenges and encouraged all to be part of its growth.

Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa State of Nigeria who was at the ceremony said his state was leaving no stone unturned in making sure this year’s AMAA became an outstanding one.
He promised that this year’s event would be the best in the history of the award ceremony.

Among top business moguls and industry players who attended the event were Tunde Ayeni, Chairman of Skye Bank who was also the Chairman of the event; Ladi Balogun, Group Managing Director of First City Monument Bank Ltd. (FCMB); Peace Anyiam Osigwe CEO of AMAA; Lydia
Forson, Ambassador for AMAA 2014 and a host of others.

As part of the ceremony, a biding match was held with several businessmen, corporate bodies among others trying to outdo each other. Several millions of naira was pledged to support the AMAA this year.
According to the governor, a transparent separate account would be opened for all the donations and sponsorship accumulated.

He went on to praise the achievements of AMAA in discovering talent and encouraging the creative industry. He also commended the importance of the awards in bringing investors into Bayelsa and opening Bayelsa, Nigeria and Africa to the rest of the world.

He stated that he wanted Bayelsa to be the home of the creative industry. To emphasize this, a video montage showcasing the beautiful tourist sites of Bayelsa was screened for all at the event.

Lydia Forson, who was also on stage to talk, thanked supporters of AMAA over the years and all who had donated to AMAA and encouraged more corporate bodies to do so. She also praised Bayelsa for its rapid development and for being the home of AMAA.

Peace Anyiam Osigwe, who spoke about the importance of AMAA, said AMAA is the only internationally recognized and accredited movie awards from Africa, adding that it encourages people all over the world to change how they view Africa. She also insisted on the importance of supporting what is ours.