President Goodluck Jonathan's N3billion Nollywood Grant Should Come Through Guilds

        

                                   President Goodluck Jonathan is the first Nigerian leader to launch 

                                   an entertainment intervention fund and his N3billion largesse for 

                                   Nollywood to boost the Nigerian film industry.

                      ‘N3billion Nollywood Grant Should Come Through Guilds’

                Saturday, 06 April 2013 00:00 By Sony Neme Saturday Magazine - Weekend Beats

As practitioners continue to hail President Goodluck Jonathan for the N3 billion grant for structures in the movie industry, a group of Nollywood practitioners under the auspices of Nollywood Monitors has come up with a formula they believe will enable the grant serve them better. In a four-point statement signed by Ejezie Emeka Rollas, Managing Director, Rolling Pictures Ltd, the group commended President Jonathan, “For demonstrating his love once again for the Motion Picture Industry in Nigeria a.ka. Nollywood by the 3billion naira Federal Government grant he announced during the presidential dinner with Nollywood at State House, Marina Lagos on March 2, 2013. However, the group strongly objects to Nollywood representation in the committee set up by government.”

Zik Zulu Okafor, President of the Association of Movie Producers of Nigeria (AMP).

Rising from a five-hour meeting on Saturday March 30, 2013 in Surulere, Lagos, the group issued a statement stating: “That the outcome of the so-called stakeholders meeting that held on Wednesday 27th March 2013 at Zen Garden Restaurant, No 60 Isaac John street, Ikeja, Lagos be ignored and set aside as it did not display utmost good faith both in conveyance and organization. This has become inevitable as all Guilds and Association heads were not duly consulted and represented.

Ms. Ibinabo Fiberesima, President of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN).

“That all substantive and serving Guilds and Association heads be appointed into the Federal Government Committee as true representatives of Nollywood; namely: Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), Screen Writers Guild of Nigeria (SWGN), Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Creative Designers Guild of Nigeria (CDGN), Nigeria Society of Cinematographers (NSC), Nigeria Society of Editors (NSE), Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTP), National Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN), Film and Video Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (FVPMAN) and Motion Picture Practitioners of Nigeria (MOPPAN); That all Non Guild and Association heads presently serving in the committee be withdrawn and replaced by duly elected Guild/Association heads and That the good intention of Government culminating in the approval of the three billion naira grant for Nollywood would only be fully realized if Government deals directly with existing elected representatives of the industry.”

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