Former Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts & Culture and Publisher of The Culture Newspaper, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, will be specially recognized by the Best of Nollywood (BON) Awards with a Lifetime Achievement honour for his contributions to the growth and development of the motion picture industry and the creative sector in general. entertainment industry.
This was made known by BON’s Founder and Lead Producer, Seun Oloketuyi, on Wednesday ahead of the 17th edition of the award, which will take place in Lagos cone December.
Ayorinde, who is also a one-time Commissioner for Information & Strategy in Lagos State, will be joined in December by a veteran actor, Chief Pete Edochie, MON; top actress and filmmaker, Ms Funke Akindele and Dr. Shaibu Husseini, the CEO of the National Film and Video Censors Board, for similar Lifetime Achievement and Special Recognition awards.
Recall that the 2025 award is set to hold on December 14, 2025 with Lagos as the host state, at the Federal Palace Hotel.
This year’s event will also feature a Guinness World Record attempt for the longest red carpet.
Mr. Ayorinde is regarded as one of Nigeria’s renowned film and art critics, who has served on the juries for some of the world’s most recognized film festivals and awards platforms such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Mumbai International Film Festival, and Cairo International Film Festival.
His landmark book, ’30: Three Decades Of The New Nigerian Cinema’, which was published in 2023 is regarded as an important resource material in the appreciation of Nollywood.
A thorough-bred journalist, Ayorinde reached the peak of his career as the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of the National Mirror newspaper after his tenure as Editor of The Punch newspaper, Nigeria’s largest selling national daily.
Speaking on this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, Oloketuyi described the quartet as pillars and icons of the Nigerian creative economy.
“These individuals are pillars of the Nigerian creative economy. From Funke Akindele’s unprecedented commercial success to the lifelong artistic impact of Chief Pete Edochie, and the intellectual and administrative contributions of Steve Ayorinde and Dr. Shaibu Husseini, their legacies are undeniable. It is our honour to celebrate their excellence at this year’s awards.”
The BON Founder also extolled the virtues of the three other recipients:
Funke Akindele: The Box Office Queen and multi-talented actress and filmmaker. The award is in recognition of her hard work and resilience that has seen her constantly breaking box office records.
Akindele is the highest-grossing director in the Nigerian box office, with cumulative earnings exceeding ₦4.7 billion. Her films currently hold the top four spots on the list of highest-grossing Nigerian movies of all time: Everybody Loves Jenifa, A Tribe Called Judah, Battle on Buka Street, and Omo Ghetto: The Saga. Her phenomenal success has set new standards for commercial viability in the industry.
Pete Edochie, MON: The Nollywood Sage and veteran actor. He will be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his role as an iconic figure in Nollywood. His career, spanning decades has seen him in legendary roles like the portrayal of Okonkwo in the NTA adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Edochie is widely respected for his commanding presence, gravitas, and his consistent representation of traditional wisdom and authority on screen, earning him both national and international recognition, including the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON).
Dr. Shaibu Husseini, journalist, film scholar, documentarist, and cultural ambassador, is widely regarded as one of the most consistent documentarists of Nollywood, authoring the monograph Moviedom: The Nollywood Narratives. He is the current Director-General of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), has chaired the Selection Committee of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) for 16 years, and is a voting member of the International Golden Globes Award. His work provides critical and intellectual depth to the Nigerian film industry.
