Filmmaker, actor, and visionary cultural entrepreneur Uzee Usman has sparked a major developmental conversation across Nigeria’s creative landscape by laying down a comprehensive, strategic blueprint for Northern Governors to transform the regional film industry into a massive economic engine.
Speaking to industry stakeholders today, Saturday, May 23, 2026, the multi-award-winning producer behind some of Kannywood and Nollywood’s biggest cross-cultural blockbusters argued that the North is sitting on an untapped multi-billion Naira creative goldmine. Usman pointed out that while Southern states like Lagos have aggressively leveraged the entertainment sector to drive immense internal revenue and youth employment, the Northern region has largely treated the film industry as a casual sideshow rather than a critical economic pillar.
The veteran filmmaker emphasized that the first and most critical step for the Northern Governors’ Forum is to establish robust, state-backed film funding schemes and foundational infrastructure. He urged the administration to move away from treating creatives as political praise-singers, calling instead for institutional capital access:
“The creative talent in the North is staggering, but our stories are severely limited by poor funding and a total lack of modern infrastructure. We need the governors to build state-of-the-art film villages, provide accessible low-interest grants, and establish specialized film academies across the North. If you empower our filmmakers to produce world-class cinema, you are directly taking thousands of vulnerable youths off the streets and giving them sustainable livelihoods in production, editing, and distribution.”
Beyond local funding, Usman challenged the regional leadership to champion and simplify the ease of doing business for content creators. He noted that the unique cultural, historical, and architectural landscapes of the North—from the ancient walls of Kano to the rolling hills of Jos—could easily position the region as Africa’s premier destination for historical epics and tourism-driven film production. By offering tax incentives, cutting bureaucratic red tape, and ensuring heavily fortified security frameworks to protect cast and crew on location, Northern governors could attract massive international co-productions, permanently rewriting the narrative of the region while driving sustainable grassroots economic growth.
