Yoruba race, The Architect of Entertainment industry in Nigeria.

It will be very hard to tell the story of entertainment industry in Nigeria which is second largest in the world today without lavish mention of Yoruba race, her unique culture and role in creating entertainment industry in Nigeria. Below are the five different categories of entertainment created by prominent Yorubas in Nigeria.

The first Radio station

The first radio station in Nigeria was established in Ibadan in 1939. The next station was created in Kano in 1944. This means that Ibadan station was the only one in colonial Nigeria for 5 years. And five years later, in 1949, it was suggested to create Nigerian National Broadcasting Service (NBS) instead of RDS.

The first TV station in Nigeria

The first television station in Nigeria, the Western Nigerian Government Broadcasting Corporation (WNTV) began broadcasting on 31 October 1959.

The first Stadium in Africa

The Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, the first to be constructed in Nigeria and Africa in 1960, shot the country into the world boxing fame in 1962 when it hosted the first world boxing title fight in Africa.

The first Theatre Group (Nollywood)

Hubert Ogunde

Chief Hubert Adedeji Ogunde D. Lit. (// ( listen); 10 July 1916 – 4 April 1990) was a Nigerian actor, playwright, theatre manager, and musician who founded the first contemporary professional theatrical company in Nigeria, the African Music Research Party, in 1945.

The first musician in Nigeria

Music recording in London in 1922 by Rev Josiah Ransome-Kuti (grandfather of music icon Fela Kuti) is regarded as the first formal effort at commercialising and “popularising” Nigerian music.