Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Wednesday said Kwara State can no longer maintain the status of a civil service state.

The Governor said this during a brief chat with reporters while inspecting the sugar film factory in Ilọrin, the state capital.

The project is one of those being funded from the bond the state accessed in 2021.

He said, “Our huge investment in the creative industry is to expand the economic base of the state and deepen the creative industry. That’s the way to go.

“Everyone sees our state as a civil service state. We want to change that. We want to make this state a destination for high-quality movie production.”

According to him, Nigerian movies should be supported with the right investment to compete favourably with Hollywood and Bollywood.

AbdulRazaq noted that the contents of Nollywood are increasingly dominating the world but “efforts must be geared towards improving production quality for them to compete with Hollywood and Bollywood”.

“It is about thinking outside the box. You’ve seen how Nigeria’s music and Nollywood have dominated the world.

“It is important for Nollywood to move from what some may call videos to cinematography. It is about expanding the quality of what we produce. So that Nigerian movies can feature more on the international scene. We have very rich contents but we need to invest in the quality of our production. Our facility offers this.

“Gradually, we are getting there. You’ve seen our films on Netflix and other global platforms but we want more of our films there. What India has done is to improve the quality of films, that’s what we want to offer here in Kwara”, the Governor added.

He expressed satisfaction at the progress of work done, hoping that the contractor will deliver it for operation in the next few months.