FG to Restructure N3Bn Nollywood Grant

The N3billion Federal Government’s grant for the Nigerian Film industry known as Nollywood is being restructured to make it serve the purpose for which it was created, the Ministry of Finance said Friday.

A talk shop to work out the strategy is scheduled for July 1, the ministry said in a statement.

Expected at the workshop are key stakeholders in the industry including the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, the leadership of Nollywood, the Actors Guild, Film and Videos Censors Board, The Nigerian Film Corporation and the Nigerian Copyright Commission.

Kemi Adeosun, Finance minister, who is convening the workshop explained that  ideas generated  during the workshop would form the basis  for reinvigorating  the Project ACT Nollywood and ensuring  its sustainability.

To date, the Project ACT Nollywood has implemented specialist training programmes in Nigeria and abroad in which 247 practitioners have been trained to improve their technical and professional capacities in the entertainment industry.

Similarly, 113 film projects, employing 2,436 people, have been co-financed through grants from the fund at a cost of N799 million, while the Innovative Film Distribution Programme has been designed to support viable solutions in film distribution.

The Innovative Film Distribution Scheme is also aimed at checking piracy.

The World Bank estimates that for each copy of a Nigerian film sold, nine pirated copies aresold.

The National Bureau for Statistics (NBS), reckons the Nigerian Film industry as contributing  1.4 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in 2013 and 2014, and employing  an estimated 250,000 people directly.