China’s StarTimes media group is investing heavily in many African countries. Guo Ziqi, a VP at StarTimes, speaking on February 2^nd in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, said its investments in the country have reached $220 million over the past nine years.

She was speaking at the formal launch of the Chinese Animation season and heard the Nigerian Television Authority’s (NTA) Director of Programmes, Mallam Rabiu Adamu, complaining that despite the popularity of animation amongst children “there is not a single dedicated cartoon channel that is African in origin and content on any of the television network currently operating in Nigeria”.

She said that, through the StarTimes partnership with the NTA, it now had more than 170 channels on offer and 150 actors in its portfolio.

The Executive Director of the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Adedayo Thomas told delegates that China is Nigeria’s biggest trading partner, and that more cooperation is still needed in the area of film and animation content production.

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