By Benjamin Njoku

AHEAD  of  the 10th anniversary celebration of the Africa Movie Academy Awards,AMAA, which takes place on the 26th of April, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the governor of the state, Hon. Seriake Dickson has mobilised the private sector leaders to support the prestigious pan-African awards.

*File photo Gov Seriake Dickson

Dickson  made this appeal at a dinner held last week at the Civic Centre in Lagos.

The governor who also used the occasion to regale the captains of industry present at the event about his achievements in office in the last two years said, his administration wants to develop the economy of the state beyond oil and he mentioned tourism as a major economic driver for the non-oil sector economy.

‘’With AMAA which is our flagship entertainment event platform and other entertainment events we are promoting in the state,  Bayelsa is gradually becoming the entertainment headquarters of Nigeria. Investment in AMAA is an investment into the future of Nigeria.

We are committed to promoting Nigerian talents in movie, music and fashion. Bayelsa is building a film City where filmmakers from all over the world can come and shoot their films. We are also developing our tourism infrastructures to make Bayelsa the leisure capital of Nigeria. I appeal to leaders of private sectors to support AMAA and support our efforts in Bayelsa to enhance the capacity of our youths in the creative industry.”

Earlier in her speech, the Director General of Bayelsa State Tourism Board, Mrs. Ebizi Brown urged the private sector investors to come and invest in the state,  adding that the history of AMAA with Bayelsa in the last 10 years has been one of partnership for development.