The Federal Government has called for greater collaboration between Nigeria and the US to improve the quality of film production by Nigerian actors and actresses.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made the call this Thursday when receiving a courtesy visit from the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs of the United States, Akunna Cook.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that Ms. Cook is in the country to pursue collaboration between Nigeria and the US in the area of the creative industry.
The United States ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, accompanied her on the visit to the minister.
“As you know, Nollywood, as our film industry is known, is in the top three in the world.
“Yes, the quality of our films has progressively improved over the years, but we can still benefit from the rich experience of America’s Hollywood, the undisputed best in the world.
“In addition to improving the quality of our production through technical training and exchanges, we would also like to learn some tricks in the area of animation,” said the minister.
He said that Ms. Cook’s visit was fitting considering that Nigeria was working hard to reposition the creative and cultural industry, which had been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister said that the creative and cultural industry is a crucial sector of the Nigerian economy, contributing 17.3 percent of the country’s GDP in 2020.
He added that the industry provided between 10 million and 15 million jobs with other seemingly unrelated sectors. The creative and cultural industry was the largest employer of labor after agriculture.
Speaking about institutional support for the industry, the minister said that in the wake of the pandemic, the Federal Government created a committee to assess the impact of the pandemic on the sector and recommend measures to mitigate it.
“ Let me quickly say that the industry, which includes film, television, radio, music, performing arts, information technology, games and software development, publishing and printing, as well as fashion and tourism, has received strategic interventions from the Nigerian government in the past.
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“These include the N22.9 billion Central Bank of Nigeria Creative Industry Financing Initiative; the N1 billion Bank of Industry Nollyfund. Another N1 Billion Industry Bank Fashion and Beauty Fund and N-Power Creative and Project Act Nollywood Federal Grant.
“We are still exploring other avenues to give the sector an additional boost,” he said.
Ms. Cook, who expressed enthusiasm for the level of participation of young Nigerians in the creative industry, said that the United States was willing to collaborate in any area.
She said that she was happy with the pace of development of Nigerian Afrobeat and Nollywood productions, even with little institutional support.
Cook said that in addition to boosting the economy and creating jobs, Afrobeat and Nollywood were important in changing negative perceptions about Africa.
According to her, Afrobeat music is a success all over the world “from Australia to Iceland, Europe and America”.
(YAYA)