The Federal Government
has said that it was committed to using the creative arts industry as vehicle to boost the nation’s economy.
The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said this in Abuja at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 26 movie producers under the Presidential Intervention Fund for the Nigerian Movie Industry.
”President Goodluck Jonathan is very much aware of the contribution of creative industry to the economic development of the country and I think several states have also tried to attract the industry.
”From what I understand, issues of intellectual property, quality and so on, are paramount and that is why the president thought that he would put this initiative together to support the industry.
“He had always believed in the power of the creative industries to try and help transform the country.
“This is through the employment that the industry will create for our young people, particularly those that have left the university,” she said.
The minister said the N215.5 million provided for the film producing segment of the movie industry was to support it to improve on film production in the country.
She explained that the initiative was to support the industry to address the challenges of intellectual property and quality in the industry.
She said the creative industry had the potential to help in transforming the country through its messages and creating jobs for young people, especially the graduates.
Okonjo-Iweala said that the industry had so far created no fewer than 200,000 direct and one million indirect jobs worth 250 million dollars.
“One of the problems we have with you is that we often have a little more of a contentious approach within the industry”, she said.
The Project Director, Project ACT Nollywood in the ministry of finance, Dr Supo Olusi, disclosed that the film production component of the fund was N700 million.
He said that the amount would be disbursed as grants to industry operators who met the benchmark for accessing the money.
Olusi said that after series of studies and researches, 26 film production firms were identified as the first batch to benefit from the first N215.5 million made available.
He said the grant ranged from N2 million to N15 million to each of the benefiting firms, depending on their production capacity.
“There is a provision in their MoU that they must produce movies from the grant within three months after the due date in the MoU to ensure that they deliver,” he said.
Some known Nollywood movie producers who attended the event included Desmond Elliot and Emeka Ossai.