Federal Government gives Nollywood over N420m additional grant
The Federal Government says it has released the sum of N420.2 million to the Nigeria film industry (Nollywood) to improve and support aspiring practitioners.
According to a statement issued by the Deputy Director of Information, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Patricia Deworitshe, on Friday in Abuja, the money, which is the second tranche payment will benefit 105 film distributors.
The
Federal Government had earlier introduced the “Project Act Nollywood’’,
with three primary components aimed at developing the movie making
value chain.
The components are the Film Production Fund (FPF), Capacity Building Fund (CBF) and Innovative Distribution Fund (IDF).
The FPF and CBF have been fully implemented, while the IDF, which is the third component of the project, is on-going.
The IDF covers online, National, Regional and community categories of Nollywood Film distribution and exhibition.
The
objectives of IDF is to improve the distribution network of Nigerian
Audio-Visual contents, cut down on piracy, create jobs, and protect
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) within the Nigerian Entertainment
Industry.
N1.8 billion was approved for
disbursement to 106 beneficiaries in this component, and N1.335 billion
was disbursed earlier in the year as the first tranche to 105
beneficiaries.
Deworitshe said that before the
release of the second tranche, the finance ministry had earlier carried
out a successful monitoring and evaluation of the first tranche
disbursement.
“Fifteen community cinemas and
viewing centres have been established through the grant and this has
improved the distribution network of movies in Nigeria.
“The
programme has supported 18 firms in strengthening online distribution
platforms, this has helped curb illegal downloads and piracy.
“Two
hundred and fifty-six permanent jobs and 544 temporary jobs have been
created through the financial support provided to 105 beneficiaries by
the programme,’’ she said.
Deworitshe said the
programme had also aided the extension of the Nollywood Industry to
sub-Sahara Africa through the funding of National distributors to expand
their distribution capacity and network.
She
said through the programme, distributors had expanded their capacity to
lip-synching their content in French for onward distribution to the
ECOWAS sub-region.
No comments