FG deepens growth in Nollywood, releases final trenche of N420m for movie production
Contrary to speculations that the current government may have dumped support for the Nollywood industry because of the campaign roles a good number of the operators played during the 2015 Presidential campaign, a move suggesting otherwise has been made by the government weekend.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has approved the release of the sum of N420.2m, being the final tranche of the project Nollywood Innovative Distribution Fund (NIDF).
In a statement confirming the release of the fund signed by the Deputy Director of Information in the ministry, Mrs. Patricia Deworitshe, it recalled that said before the current disbursement of N420.2m, the ministry had released the sum of N1.33bn as the first tranche to 105 beneficiaries.
Government further explained that the objective of the grant was to sustain the growth of Nigeria’s movie industry, encourage it to realise its potential of being a significant creator of employment and considerable contributor to the Gross Domestic Product, as well as address some of the key challenges facing the industry.
According to the statement, the fund aimed to improve and promote key components of the value chain through the provision of grants to support existing or aspiring practitioners in the industry, including those in the Diaspora.
While describing the initiative as a huge success, the statement added that during the monitoring and evaluation of the first tranche of disbursement, the Project Implementation Unit recorded a number of achievements in line with the objectives of the programme.
“Through the fund, 15 community cinemas and viewing centres had been established and this had improved the distribution network of movies in Nigeria.
“The scheme had supported 18 firms in strengthening online film distribution platforms, adding that this had helped curb illegal downloads and piracy.
“Already, about 256 permanent jobs and 544 temporary jobs had been created through the financial support provided to 105 beneficiaries by the scheme.
“The programme has equally aided the extension of the Nollywood industry to sub-Sahara Africa through the funding of national distributors to expand their distribution capacity and network. The national distributors are expanding their capacity to lip-synch their content in French for onward distribution to the ECOWAS sub-region,” the statement noted.
