Jason Njokwu, Kene Mkparu to be honoured at BON awards

Jason Njokwu, the chief executive officer of Iroko Partners and Kene Mkparu, former managing director of FilmOne Distribution, has been announced as some of the awardees at the upcoming Best of Nollywood (BON) Awards.

According to a statement by Seun Oloketuyi, BON Awards executive producer, the award ceremony will hold on December 8 at Kakanfo Inn, Ibadan, Oyo state.

Baba Salah and Ajimajasan, deceased entertainers, will be honoured posthumously.

According to the statement, the honorees were chosen based on their contribution to the growth of the movie industry.

“The choice of Njokwu was arrived at to applaud his pioneering efforts at developing a digitalised distribution model for local movie contents in Nigeria. He launched Iroko TV as a Video-On-demand platform, to be to Africa what Netflix and Hulu were to the West. The platform is one of Africa’s first mainstream online movie streaming portal, giving instant access to nearly 10,000 film titles,” the statement read.

“Mkparu relocated to Nigeria from the United Kingdom where he runs a stable cinema business, to take a chance on Nigeria’s unpredictable and murky cinema entertainment business terrain; at a time when many had dismissed it as non-bankable.

“With an experience spanning nearly three decades, in the business of film and home video marketing and distribution, Alhaji Abdullahi Rasaq, the CEO of Corporate Pictures, and former president of the Yoruba Video Film Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria has continually raised standards for the distribution and consumption of Nigerian movies made in Yoruba indigenous language.

“His Corporate Pictures outfit majors in the marketing and distribution of Yoruba movies, churning out at least 60 percent of blockbuster movies from that sub-sector of Nollywood.”

Abiola Ajimobi, the governor of Oyo state, will also be given a special recognition award.