All is now set for the commercialization of the Nigeria Film Corporation as the Federal Government inaugurated a Steering Committee on the Commercialization of the Nigeria Film Corporation (NFC) towards boosting the fortunes of the country’s film industy.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while performing the inauguration in Abuja on Monday, stated that the aim is for effective service delivery.
“What we are doing today is to simply reposition the NFC in a manner that will enable it to play the role statutorily assigned to it,” he said.
According to the Minister, Nigeria’s film industry is a catalyst for entertainment and therefore is a major project of the Federal Government towards making it more efficient.
He added that Nigeria is ranking behind her film-making counterparts in the film production value chain, citing Nigeria’s 142 movie theaters compared to 782 in South Africa and 11,209 in India and many others.
Mohammed urged state governments to include investments into the entertainment industry part of their budget towards job creation and economic growth.
“It is important to appeal, especially to our state governments, to invest in infrastructure in the industry. I don’t think it will be too much for the state governments to ensure they build at least one cinema house in each local government area of their state. That will give us additional 774 cinema houses,” he said.
Speaking further, the Minister added that the role of the NFC is to regulate Nigeria’s film industry and organise professional practice in the sector and also addressed challenges facing the NFC like the inability to produce its own films for commercial purposes due to the law establishing the Corporation limits on its operational functions.
Lai Mohammed said the NFC will be repositioned as the FG has engaged the services of a Business Development Consultant to conduct due diligence on the corporation and the sector and recommend a strategy that is suitable for its reform and commercialization.
“Dear members of the SC, your appointment into this committee comes with huge trust and belief in your ability and capacity to make this reform happen. I therefore urge you to consider this a critical national assignment that requires unflinching commitment and zeal,” he stated.
The members of the Steering Committee include Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Alhaji Mohammed as Chairman; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Deaconess Grace Isu-Gekpe; Director-General, BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh; Managing Director, NFC, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, and Director, Industries and Communications, BPE, Abdullahi Dikko, as Secretary.
The Nigerian Film Industry popularly called Nollywood is globally recognised as the second largest film producer in the world. The Industry is a significant part of the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Sector, which contributed 2.3% (NGN239biliion) to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016.
