Eighteen Nollywood associations have urged the Federal Government not to deal with individuals when the industry is concerned to avoid pitching practitioners against associations in the creative industry.
The associations and their heads include Association of Movie Producers, Ralph Nwadike; Directors Guild of Nigeria, Fred Amata; Actors Guild of Nigeria, Emeka Rollas; Script Writers Guild of Nigeria, Yinka Ogun; Association of Nollywood Core Producers, Daisy Madu-Chikwendu; Independent Television Producers’ Association of Nigeria, Yinka Oduniyi; National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners, Israel Eboh; among others.
The associations were reacting in a statement on Friday to the non-inclusion of their leaders by the Federal Government as members of the committee of industry stakeholders to advise it on the best way to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the creative industry.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had on Wednesday named certain individuals as members of the committee during a meeting with the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON).
Some of the members appointed include Ali Baba – Comedy, Film, and TV (Chairman); Bolanle Austen Peters – Film and Performing Arts (TerraKulture); Charles Novia – Television and Independent Producer (TeenTV); Segun Arinze – Actor and Producer; Ali Jita-Actor and Musician; Baba Agba-Film Director (BCI Studios); Kene Okwuosa – Cinema and Distribution (Filmhouse); Efe Omoregbe – Record labels and Collective rights management (Hypertek/Now Muzik); Prince Daniel Aboki – Radio and Film (CoolFM/WaZoBia); Chioma Ude – Streaming (Envivo); Olumade Adesemowo – Television and Platform (FreeTV); Dare Art Alade – Livespot Entertainment; Hajia Sa’a Ibrahim – Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON); Anita Eboigbe of News Agency of Nigeria (Secretary).
The 18 associations said it was ‘embarrassing’ that an industry with about 20 guilds, employing over 2.5 million youth and recognised globally as the second-largest movie production industry in the world, was not consulted before the committee was set up by the government.
“If really the government is serious about this noble initiative; we then respectfully call on the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to reconstitute the committee to reflect the actual representatives of the industry. If guilds like the Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Medical Association among others are engaged as strategic stakeholders by the government through their recognised associations’ leadership then the creative industry deserves same relationship,” they said.
“We hold this truth to be self-evident that Nollywood has leadership founded and anchored on their guilds and associations and we urge the Honourable Minister of Information or any other representative of the Federal Government, its parastatals and agencies planning any intended dealings with Nollywood to humbly but officially do so through the guilds and associations.”
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the tourism industry have also called on the minister to set up a COVID-19 tourism committee just like the one for the creative industry.
Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), Samuel Alabi, urged the Federal Government to carry along the private sector investors in the hospitality and tourism industry in its COVID-19 response team.
FTAN President, Saleh Rabo, in an interview with a local television station, made a similar call on the government.
“If you are creating an industry that has to do with the tourism industry, are you not expected to make the tourism practitioners the majority members of that particular committee? That was not done,” he said.
“We remember last week, when the minister was asked a question about tourism during the press briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, he was speaking on creative industry. I think something is wrong. The best way to achieve success and to be able to move forward is for them to call us.
“We are the drivers of the tourism industry. Government set the environment for us to work well, but if they don’t call us for us to discuss, I don’t think we can achieve anything. As it now, they are not inviting us; they are not telling us anything. I went to see the minister twice.”
Mr Rabo appealed to the Federal Government to include domestic tourism and hospitality operators in the planned N500 billion COVID-19 intervention fund and other proposed palliative measures.
He also listed some tourism development policies which could be implemented to promote sustainable tourism development including Incentivize Tourism Investment, Domestic Tourism Promotion, Tourist Host Community Programs, establishment of Tourism Advisory Council and Tourism Development Fund.
