LAGOS — THE Federal Government yesterday said it would promote the country’s motion picture industry as a viable alternative sector that could contribute immensely to the overall well- being of the economy.
The much awaited pronouncement on happenings in the sector by government came through the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who noted in Lagos that the industry has grabbed the world by the collar and forced it to take notice, pointing out that no serious analyst of Nigerian’s economic potentials can afford to ignore this sector.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala spoke at seminar which treated the theme: Global Imperatives for the Nigerian Movie Industry, organized by the Big Picture. The Minister who in her paper sought to answer the question, The Nigerian movie industry: An Economic Sector? affirmed that government has recognized it as an important sector that has to be properly organized and stimulated to provide job and wealth for the young graduates of the country’s tertiary institutions.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala informed that government’s position is expressed in the National Economic and Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS) document. According to her: “On page 82 of the NEEDS document, the Economic Team stated that the ‘Nigerian Film Industry has a significant foreign exchange earning capacity waiting to be tapped. Recent reports indicate that in the USA for example, about 2000 home video films were rented and sold per month in one shop`”.
The document, she explained further, also identified the following as constraints to the growth of the industry. They include: Low level of technological input leading sometimes to low quality output; The problem of intellectual and property rights; Access to adequate funding; Professionalization and inadequate human capacity; and Prevalence of informal sector approaches in the operation of the industry.
She therefore pointed out that in terms of policy thrust; government has defined its priority as “the development of technologically competitive private sector led film industry (including home videos) generating employment, wealth creation and with net foreign exchange capacity.”
What the government has decided to do in order to achieve its objectives of boosting the export yield of the industry, she pointed out, is to address the aforementioned problems by facilitating high technological input into the production process, and foster the development of a Nigerian version of “Hollywood” for film production.
