Nigerian filmmaker Kunle Afolayan has appealed to the government for support after investing over N8bn of his personal funds in his film village resort.
Speaking on the Nidacity podcast, Afolayan said the resort has been without electricity since inception, forcing him to rely on diesel and consider closure.
He said he has invested N200m in green energy, but it remains insufficient to power the entire facility.
Afolayan also revealed he built 100 rooms in the village after cast and crew struggled with accommodation during the production of Anikulapo.
“I believe so much in this country. We haven’t had electricity in KAP Village since the beginning. So we’ve been running on diesel. I did a post a few months ago that I cannot be like, we can’t sustain this diesel thing. We’re going to close the resort, but then there is another friend who said I will sell diesel to you on credit and I’m like It’s still not sustainable,” Afolayan said.
“So right now we’re talking to a lot of people to try and see how to do green energy. We did one last year, which cost about N200m, but it’s not enough to power the entire resort.
“And if we’ve managed to do that, I think there should be some sort of support, like from government agencies.
“I know people are not even doing one quarter of what we’re doing, and they get a lot of grants from government,” he said.
Afolayan also revealed that he built 100 rooms at his film village after the cast and crew of his movie, Anikulapo, struggled with accommodation during production.
He said actors, including Sola Sobowale and Bimbo Ademoye, had to bring personal belongings from their homes because there was no adequate accommodation for the production team.
“When we shot Anikulapo, we didn’t have accommodation. We were squatting in people’s houses. Sola Sobowale and Bimbo Ademoye even brought their mattresses and freezers from home. So I had to build 100 rooms in the film village to make everyone comfortable,” he said.
