Lagos Govt To Host AMAA 2017 At The National Theatre

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

Five years after a whistle stop in Lagos for its eighth edition, the African Movie Academy Awards, popularly referred to as AMAA awards, will be back in the Centre of Excellence.

P.M.EXPRESS exclusively gathered that the pan-Africa awards aimed at honouring and promoting excellence in the African movie industry as well as uniting the African continent through arts and culture, has received the nod of governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode to be this year’s host state.

It was gathered that the governor on Thursday held a meeting with the top executives of the AMAA Awards at the Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja with seven key members of the Lagos State Exco in attendance.

At the meeting where the deal was sealed are Mr. Steve Ayorinde, Commissioner For information,; Olufemi Odubiyi, Commissioner for Science & Technology;  as well as Prof. Ademola Abass, Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor in the Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment (Lagos Global).

A close source told P.M.EXPRESS  that the awards night will be hosted by the state government at the iconic National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos on 11 June.

The massive national monument, it was gathered, will be renovated by the state government with promise that works will commence at the theatre from early April in readiness for the most glamorous awards ceremony on the continent Africa.

The AMAA awards pre-nomination ceremony has also been scheduled to hold in Kigali, Rwanda in a date to be announced soon..

The AMAA awards, which since inception in May 2005 have been held in Bayelsa State, except for a single exception in 2008 where it was held in the nation’s capital of Abuja, had its 2015 ceremony in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and Obi Wali International Conference Centre, Port Harcourt, Rivers State hosted the last edition.