Follow Us on Google
FOAN Group says the C54News Global Streaming Dome at Dakkada Tower will connect production, technology and professional training across Africa
An African media and technology group has announced a long-term investment plan valued at up to $5bn (£3.7bn) to build a network of creative, digital and media enterprises anchored in Akwa Ibom state in the Niger Delta.
FOAN Group said the proposed investment would be anchored by the C54News Global Streaming Dome at Dakkada Tower in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital, and would extend across news production, documentary filmmaking, streaming technology, professional training and digital enterprise.
The group has described the $5bn figure as the long-term value of a multi-phase investment pipeline rather than capital already deployed.
At the centre of the investment is C54News, a digital-first news, data and documentary network conceived from the outset as a continental African channel, rather than a national broadcaster pursuing international expansion.
Its Global Streaming Dome is located at Dakkada Tower in Uyo, with a production hub in Nairobi, a commercial hub in South Africa and an African editorial hub in Senegal responsible for coordinating coverage across the continent, including Francophone Africa.
The structure places Akwa Ibom at the centre of an African operating network spanning west, east and southern Africa.
Idris-Etanami Usman, the Group Chief Executive Officer of FOAN Group, said the investment was intended to expand the economic identity of the Niger Delta beyond oil and gas.
“We are not establishing another Nigerian television channel,” he said. “We are building an African news, data and documentary network whose Global Streaming Dome is located at Dakkada Tower in Uyo.
“Akwa Ibom is not incidental to this vision. It is the host, the foundation and the principal gateway through which this continental platform will operate.”
Africa’s media and creative industries have historically been concentrated in a limited number of cities, leaving significant pools of talent without direct access to advanced production facilities, professional networks and international commercial opportunities.
FOAN Group’s investment is intended to establish Uyo as a new continental centre, with capacity for digital journalism, broadcast engineering, documentary production, cinematography, data journalism, animation, graphics, podcasting, streaming technology and virtual production.
The C54News Global Streaming Dome will provide practical training within an operating newsroom and professional production environment.
Participants will work with broadcast systems, digital platforms and production technology while contributing to news, documentary and creative output intended for African and global audiences.
The approach draws comparisons with the role played by Nairobi’s iHub and the Creative Economy Practice of Co-Creation Hub, known as CcHUB, in connecting technology, professional development, collaboration and enterprise creation.
FOAN Group’s model is focused specifically on the intersection of journalism, documentary production, streaming infrastructure, creative technology and commercial enterprise. It is designed to provide a direct route from professional training to production, distribution and paid creative work.
The investment comes as African governments, businesses and cultural institutions seek a greater share of the global creative economy. African music, film, fashion and digital content have built substantial international audiences, but much of the infrastructure used to finance, distribute and monetise that work remains outside the continent.
FOAN Group said the Global Streaming Dome at Dakkada Tower would help address that imbalance by giving African creators and technical professionals access to advanced production infrastructure, professional development and continental distribution from within the Niger Delta.
The group expects the investment to support independent producers, documentary teams, technology ventures, digital publishers, creative businesses and specialist production companies.
It also intends to create opportunities for talent from Akwa Ibom and the wider Niger Delta to enter the continental and global creative economy without first relocating to established production centres elsewhere in Africa or overseas.
“For too long, the Niger Delta has been defined primarily by the resources extracted from beneath its soil,” Usman said.
“This investment is about the value that can be created through its people, ideas, culture, technology and creative capacity. Our ambition is to make the region one of the most important centres of creative production in Africa and a recognised contributor to the global creative economy.”
C54News plans to distribute news, documentaries, data journalism, verification reports, podcasts and digital video through streaming, mobile and other digital platforms.
Its continental structure is intended to provide reporting and production capacity across English- and French-speaking Africa. The Nairobi hub will support production in east Africa, the South African hub will lead commercial development, and the Senegal hub will coordinate African editorial operations, with a significant focus on Francophone markets.
The C54News Global Streaming Dome at Dakkada Tower will serve as the network’s technological and distribution centre, connecting the work of journalists, producers, filmmakers, developers and creative professionals across the four locations.
The scale of FOAN Group’s ambition could mark a significant shift for Akwa Ibom and the wider Niger Delta. The investment would place the region within Africa’s emerging creative corridor and strengthen its capacity to produce, own and distribute African news, documentaries and intellectual property to audiences around the world.
