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  • AFRIFF partners French Embassy, British Council on exchange programmes

    AFRIFF partners French Embassy, British Council on exchange programmes

     …As festival opens October 29

    Organisers of Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) have announced the return of the festival for 2017.

    Scheduled to run from October 29 to November 4, 2017, the annual event marks AFRIFF’s 7th season of celebrating African cinema in Nigeria.

    At a glitzy media launch which took place at British Council, Ikoyi, Lagos, Tuesday night, the atmosphere tells of how eager industry players are, for another week of cinematic experience, business networking, movie premieres, film screenings, industry sessions, master classes, workshops, the Globe Awards, and other events that have become the hallmark of the AFRIFF journey since it made debut in 2010.

    It is a season of international collaborations for AFRIFF with the French government coming in to strengthen its commercial and artistic exchanges with Nigeria.

    “The importance of AFRIFF, that is growing year after year, is a wonderful showcase for us,” says French Consul General, Lagos, Mr. Laurent Polonceaux, who described the annual event as “one of the most important film festivals in Africa.”

    Interestingly, AFRIFF 2017 is dedicating two days – November 2-3, 2017 to French films.

    This is just as British Council, UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities is bringing the London BFI (British Film Institute) into a new partnership with AFRIFF.

    Tagged ‘Film Connections’, the British Council’s partnership also aims to share knowledge and give pep to co-production opportunities between filmmakers from Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

    AFRIFF Founder/Executive Director Ms. Chioma Ude announced ‘Waiting for Hassana’, a short film by Ifunanya ‘funa’ Maduka (Nigeria/US) and a feature, ‘I Am Not a Witch’ by Rungano Nyoni (Zambia) as the opening night films while ‘Felicite’, an Oscar contender by Alain Gomis (France/Senegal) is the closing night film.

    Ude said AFRIFF is well prepared to host filmmakers and actors from around the world this year, noting that the festival continues to attract interests with a record of 3,232 film entries received this year alone.

    She announced the films in competition which include 24 shorts, 11 documentaries and 14 feature length films, while all the films in official selection will be uploaded to the festival website on October 9.

    According to British Council Head of Arts, West Africa, Ojoma Ochai, “As part of the Film Connections project, the 2017 AFRIFF will open with the screening of the Rungano Nyoni film ‘I Am Not a Witch’, on the 29th of October. There will also be screening of several acclaimed British feature and short films during the festival – showing for the first time in Nigeria, including ‘Whitney ‘Can I Be Me’ by multi-award winning British Documentarian, Nick Broomfield; ‘Under the Shadow’ by Babak Anvari, winner of the 2017 BAFTA award for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer; and ‘A Moving Image’ by Shola Amoo.”

    “During the two days devoted to French cinema,” says Polonceaux, “we will welcome here in Lagos, high level professionals working in the production and distribution, and last but not the least, because it is a fundamental element in the funding of the cinema industry, I particularly would like to mention the participation of David Kessler, the Managing Director of Studio Orange and the Director of Orange Content. He’s a leading figure in the French cinema industry. He was among other important positions, the former director of the CNC.”

    He noted that, for the first time in France, “two Nollywood movies (The Dinner and 10 Days in Sun City) have been commercially released two weeks ago. That’s a first step, but I am sure it will intensify in the coming years.”

    The five French movies that will be screened during AFRIFF include ‘Step by Step’, an emotional movie about the physical reconstruction of a man after a serious accident; ‘Wulu’, a Franco-Malian film, ‘Boarders’, a road-trip between Bamako and Lagos; French Blockbuster ‘Valerian’ by Luc Besson, and ‘He Even Has Your Eyes’, the story of Paul and Sali, a married couple who have been struggling to adopt a child for a long time.

     

  • AFRIFF 2017 announces festival activities

    AFRIFF 2017 announces festival activities

    …As French Embassy, British Council launch exchange programmes

    Organisers of Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) have announced the return of the festival for 2017.
    The stars come out for AFRIFF 2017

    The Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF,) the biggest film gathering this side of the Atlantic, kick-started its 7th Season in spectacular style, at a ceremony heavy on star wattage, Sunday night, at the Genesis Deluxe Cinemas, The Palms, Lekki, Lagos.
    This year, there was a double dose of films, as the opening night selection consisted of one short film, ‘Waiting for Hassana’, an ode to the missing Chibok girls, abducted from their secondary school in 2014, directed by Ifunanya Maduka, and the Zambian entry, ‘I am not a Witch’, helmed by Rungano Nyoni. Both films were selected on the strength of their merits, as they highlight important topical social issues relating to African children.

    Kemi Lala Akindoju, Wale Ojo, Uche Jombo, Linda Ejiofor, Hilda Dokubo and Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi were some of the A-list stars who made their appearance on the red carpet.
    Others dignitaries include filmmakers and film entrepreneurs such as Biola Alabi, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, Fred Amata, Zick Zulu Okafor, Kunle Afolayan, CJ Obasi, Belinda Yanga, Kenneth Uphopho, as well as media personalities like Shaibu Husseini and Ameyaw Debrah from Ghana.
    Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who welcomed all delegates to the festival, expressed his administration’s willingness to support the creative industry through grants, tax breaks and funding opportunities.
    He said: “I will re-iterate a few of the initiatives we are pursuing:
    “We are pushing for a single-digit interest on loans for infrastructural developments for the Industry. We are supporting the building of 100 community cinemas to be evenly spread across the country. We are close to having world-class pre- and post-production facility using the current NTA infrastructure with a few additions. We want to ensure that in the focus on studio facilities, we ensure that one is located in every geo-political zone of the country. And on the back of the DIGITAL SWITCH-OVER of our television, we are ensuring that the set top boxes are enabled to allow our 24 million TV households to buy our movies with and without the need of data. This way, the home goes digital!”
    It was a night of great promises for AFRIFF and the Nigerian film industry, as Managing Director of Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, whose bank returns as lead sponsor of the festival, pledged more support for filmmakers, especially through the AFRIFF/Accelerate Filmmakers Project, an initiative set up to help burgeoning filmmakers to nurture their ideas. Wigwe, who is also the patron of AFRIFF, stressed the importance of film as a powerful tool for Africans to tell their stories, different from the usual story of poverty, often projected by the Western media.
    Representing the Governor of Lagos state, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, welcomed delegates to the centre of excellence and positioned AFRIFF as ‘’one of the leading creative platforms in Africa that has been consistent, truly awe inspiring and which has found the Lagos arty landscape compatible with its own vision.’’
    Introducing the opening night films, former governor of Akwa Ibom state and current Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio gave a lengthy account of his efforts to bring the exaggerated problem of witchcraft, associated to children in the state to an end. According to Akpabio, his administration had succeeded through education, convictions and rehabilitation in halting the dangerous trend.
    Also speaking at the event, French Consul General, Lagos, Mr. Laurent Polonceaux said; “This is a great opportunity for us because this is the first time that the French government is involved with Africa. We will be having two days at the festival for French films, with possibility of co-production with Nigeria and Africa.” He noted that it was good that the festival will be closing with the French film, ‘Felicite’, and disclosed that arrangement has been made to have about 70 film students for further training in France as an exchange programme with AFRIFF.
    The Africa International Film Festival is an annual week-long, all-encompassing world class showcase running from October 29 to November 4, 2017.
    About 200 carefully curated feature length, short, documentary and student films will be screened this year. The festival also encompasses talent development classes, industry workshops and inspiring creative discussions.

    Scheduled to run from October 29 to November 4, 2017, the annual event marks AFRIFF’s 7th season of celebrating African cinema in Nigeria.

    At a glitzy media launch which took place at British Council, Ikoyi, Lagos, Tuesday night, the atmosphere tells of how eager industry players are, for another week of cinematic experience, business networking, movie premieres, film screenings, industry sessions, master classes, workshops, the Globe Awards, and other events that have become the hallmark of the AFRIFF journey since it made debut in 2010.

    It is a season of international collaborations for AFRIFF with the French government coming in to strengthen its commercial and artistic exchanges with Nigeria.

    “The importance of AFRIFF, that is growing year after year, is a wonderful showcase for us,” says French Consul General, Lagos, Mr.. Laurent Polonceaux, who described the annual event as “one of the most important film festivals in Africa.”

    Interestingly, AFRIFF 2017 is dedicating two days – November 2-3, 2017 to French films

    This is just as British Council, UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities is bringing the London BFI (British Film Institute) into a new partnership with AFRIFF.

    Tagged ‘Film Connections’, the British Council’s partnership also aims to share knowledge and give pep to co-production opportunities between filmmakers from Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

    AFRIFF Founder/Executive Director Ms. Chioma Ude announced ‘Waiting for Hassana’, a short film by Ifunanya ‘funa’ Maduka (Nigeria/US) and a feature, ‘I Am Not a Witch’ by Rungano Nyoni (Zambia) as the opening night films while ‘Felicite’, an Oscar contender by Alain Gomis (France/Senegal) is the closing night film.

    Ude said AFRIFF is well prepared to host filmmakers and actors from around the world this year, noting that the festival continues to attract interests with a record of 3,232 film entries received this year alone.

    She announced the films in competition which include 24 shorts, 11 documentaries and 14 feature length films, while all the films in official selection will be uploaded to the festival website on October 9.

    According to British Council Head of Arts, West Africa, Ojoma Ochai, “As part of the Film Connections project, the 2017 AFRIFF will open with the screening of the Rungano Nyoni film ‘I Am Not a Witch’, on the 29th of October. There will also be screening of several acclaimed British feature and short films during the festival – showing for the first time in Nigeria, including ‘Whitney ‘Can I Be Me’ by multi-award winning British Documentarian, Nick Broomfield; ‘Under the Shadow’ by Babak Anvari, winner of the 2017 BAFTA award for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer; and ‘A Moving Image’ by Shola Amoo.”

    “During the two days devoted to French cinema,” says Polonceaux, “we will welcome here in Lagos, high level professionals working in the production and distribution, and last but not the least, because it is a fundamental element in the funding of the cinema industry, I particularly would like to mention the participation of David Kessler, the Managing Director of Studio Orange and the Director of Orange Content. He’s a leading figure in the French cinema industry. He was among other important positions, the former director of the CNC.”

    He noted that, for the first time in France, “two Nollywood movies (The Dinner and 10 Days in Sun City) have been commercially released two weeks ago. That’s a first step, but I am sure it will intensify in the coming years.”

    The five French movies that will be screened during AFRIFF include ‘Step by Step’, an emotional movie about the physical reconstruction of a man after a serious accident; ‘Wulu’, a Franco-Malian film, ‘Boarders’, a road-trip between Bamako and Lagos; French Blockbuster ‘Valerian’ by Luc Besson, and ‘He Even Has Your Eyes’, the story of Paul and Sali, a married couple who have been struggling to adopt a child for a long time.

    Photos: Adeolu Adeniyi

  • Lagos Theatre Festival: 2018 application opens

    Lagos Theatre Festival: 2018 application opens

    The organisers of the 5th edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival,2018 have announced a call for participation in the fringe aspect of the festival.
    In a statement on the British Council website,the festival which holds between February 27, and March 4 ,2018 in various areas in Lagos who be providing the opportunity for theatre performers or production companies to present their works without restrictions as an avenue to promoting the arts.
    British Council’s Head of Arts in West Africa, Ojoma Ochai said, “From inception, one major vision of the Lagos Theatre Festival has been to enable an experimental platform of expression for theatre producers and performers, and companies and individuals who participated in past editions of the festival have been giving success testimonials. We hope to make more of such stories in 2018.”
    It would therefore seek entries in areas,focusing on innovative interpretations of new ideas,inspiring and challenging audiences, and creating new works that will spark conversations and debates.Lagos Theatre Festival seek to tell more stories, as application opens
    Participatory application in the fringe aspect of the festival ends at midnight Monday 11 September; stating that shortlisted applications will receive responses by Monday 6 October.
    The Lagos Theatre Festival was conceived and launched in 2013 by British Council, the United Kingdom’s cultural organisation, moved by the need to provide a platform for thespians/drama producers in Nigeria to produce works for unconventional spaces and develop audiences for theatre productions.
  • ‘Nigerian movies among the best internationally’

    ‘Nigerian movies among the best internationally’

    Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, the Managing Director of the Jos-based Nigeria Film Corporation, says Nigerian movies are among the best internationally in terms of contents, settings and acceptability.

    Maduekwe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that many movie-producers and marketers were smiling to their banks because of impressive turnover from the sales of their videos based on quality and public acceptability.

    “There is no doubt that today Nigerian movie-producers are improving in the qualities of their home videos.

    “Take for example the “Wedding Party’’ or “1976’; these are blog busters that are raking-in hundreds of millions of naira for their producers, because they have better production qualities,.

    “They are promoting the corporate image of Nigeria positively before the international community, ’’he said.

    The expert, however, admonished the movie-producers that this did not mean that they had done exceptionally well.

    “The room is there to enhance on quality. We produce over 2,500 movies every year; quite prolific, and we can only up the ante by 15 per cent in terms of quality, most of those in the industry will be billionaires”.

    Maduekwe said that the Nigeria Film Corporation was ready to assist artists, movie-producers and marketers to improve on their knowledge by organising training and seminars for them on regular bases.

    “The Nigeria Film Corporation has a subsidiary, the Nigeria Film Institute, which is the foremost film institute in Africa for training of film prodcers.

    “Most of those people who are making waves in some of these blog buster-movies shot in Nigeria were trained at, and by the institute.

    “That will tell you the quality of capacity-building the film corporation has brought into the movie industry over the year.

    “Despite that, there are still rooms for growth and development for stakeholders in the industry by availing themselves of the regular training usually organised by the institute,’’ he said.

    Maduekwe said that the Kano State Government had bought into the institute’s training programme tagged the “Kano template’’.

    He said that under the arrangement, the Kano State Government signed an agreement with the institute to train 450 of its citizens in its various courses on a quarterly basis.

    He said that the institute was planning to replicate this concept across the country under the name: ‘Nigeria Film Institute Mobile Training Platform’.

    Maduekwe said that the institute would collaborate with the existing theatre art and film departments in various universities across the country to achieve the vision.

    He said that the institute would engage the services of professors in film studies from universities across the six geo- political zones of the country to enhance the capacity of people in each zone.

    “We will be organizing short courses for stakeholders in the movie-and film industry from time to time.’’

    The expert also disclosed that the institute in partnership with the British Council had started organising training for stakeholders in the film industry to further enhance capacity building.

  • Lagos to help renovate the National Theatre – Lai Mohammed

    Lagos to help renovate the National Theatre – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that the nation’s creative industry will witness dramatic turn-around in few months.

    He stated this on Sunday evening in Lagos at the stage performance of a play “Itan’’ (Story) at the National Theatre by the Thespian Family Theatre and Production.

    The minister disclosed that between Feb. 28 and March 6, the British Council in collaboration with the Ministry will be running a capacity building workshop for festival managers all over Nigeria.

    “We believe that what our creative people need today is to see the creative industry as a creative economy.

    “It is not enough to see a fantastic performance like we see here today, but the actors must be able to translate their talent to money.

    “There is no reason why while a creative artist should die poor because, in other parts of the world, the richest people are the people whose products are based on intellectual creativity,’’

    The minister also said that he would be presenting the amended National Endowment for the Arts Act to the Federal Executive Council for consideration and subsequent forwarding to the National Assembly.

    He said the amended Act will make it possible for young artists to have access to grants and funds to finance their works.

    The minister appealed to the rich and philanthropist to invest more in the creative industry, noting that everywhere in the world, the industry is sustained by philanthropists.

    Mohammed said that the Lagos State has offered to assist in renovating the main bowl of the National Theatre, two cinema halls, the exhibition lobby and the banquet hall.

    He said the renovation which would be completed for use at the grand finale of the “Lagos at 50 celebrations’’ in two months was a fall out of the collaboration between the Federal Government and states.

    The minister thanked the state governor, Akinwumi Ambode for his cooperation, stressing that the partnership will breathe life into the National theatre.

    He appealed to other governors to look at the creative industry as a local industry which they can annex to create more jobs for the people.

    “It may be slow, but I want to assure you that this government will move the creative industry from the margin to the mainstay of the economy.

    “We are going to strengthen our law enforcement and ensure that illegal reproduction of your works by pirates become a thing of the past,’’ he said.

    Mohammed commended the Director of the play, Mrs Ayodele Jaiyesinmi for bringing talents to bear in the production of the world-class stage performance.

    He said the play is a demonstration of the artificial disconnect among the old, the new and the incoming generations.

    “I am so impressed with what I saw today, you can see the diversity, the complexity. We were here and went 60 years back and 60 years forward

    “What that means is that no matter the level of technology or modernity we attain, we must never lose our humanity.

    “I keep telling the world that Nigeria has a lot to show and tell the world.

    “I have watched performances all over the world, this qualifies as an A class performance anywhere in the world,’’ he said.

    Jaiyesinmi said that the inspiration for “Itan’’ was based on youth restiveness and tensions in the country caused by a generational divide.

    She explained that the play captured the challenges of generational divide vividly, its effects on the society and proffered solutions.

    If you noticed we have four generations in the play which demonstrated that every generation has its uniqueness, however, each has a feeling of the divide.

    The older ones feel frustrated and they right off the younger ones thinking that they are too nonchalant and too fluid in their ways.

    At the same time, the younger ones just don’t like the older ones because they are very procedural.

    “However, the play concludes that we are all important and we all have our characteristics and we need to understand the different features so that we can work together for the progress of the society,” she said.

    Jaiyesinmi said the old generation must understand the ways of the young ones and involve them in planning, strategy in order to have a harmonious society.

  • Harness potentials in creative industry – British Council

    Harness potentials in creative industry – British Council

    The Federal Government has been urged to develop systems that will formalise businesses and harness potential in the creative industry to boost the nation’s economy.

    This statement was made by Ojoma Ochai, The Director of Arts, British Council during an interview with the Journalists on Wednesday in Abuja.

    According to her, so many businesses existed in the country but were under the informal sector including the creative arts industry.

    “The issue of the informality of the creative industry is not peculiar to the creative economy.

    “It is a macro Nigerian problem, so I think that once Nigeria as a country starts to develop the system to formalise businesses you will start to see the solution.

    “In that way, the potential in the informal sector will be harnessed and the government can as well generate revenue through such mediums,” she said.

    The director also said that the government could create incentives to encourage people to formalise their businesses.

    She noted that the creative industry in the UK was not originally formal, but the government supported the system,“Another way is to incentivise this formalisation.

    “In the UK, by creating mechanisms through which government support the creative industries, you are creating incentives for people to formalise their businesses.

    Ochai said the creative economy had always existed from times past, but the difference with the modern trend was accrediting artworks to the intelligence of the human mind and converting it to wealth.

    She observed that practitioners in the creative industry had already demonstrated their potential, adding that the film industry without major input from government developed to what it was.

    According to her, more potential exists in the film industry, but the challenge is harnessing the potential to economically empower artists.

    Ochai, however, said that the Federal Government was making commitments to restructure the creative industry in collaboration with the British Council.

    “I think that there is a commitment that it is going to happen.

    “While the British Council is contributing its quota to what ultimately, the Federal Government is looking to start to build the structures that will support people to turn their talent to profit,” Ochai said.

  • Ministry partners British Council

    As part of efforts to diversify the economy, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chief Executive of the British Council, Sir Ciaran Devane.

    According to the agreement, the British Council will help festival managers, revive the country’s major festivals and prevent its traditional games from dying.

     A statement signed by the aide to the minister, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, said the agreement was signed in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the sidelines of the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival Summit.

     The minister described the MoU as the height of the “spirit of cooperation that has taken us thus far”, saying, however, that it must put more emphasis on substance rather than form.

    “We need to have a work plan to enable us measure achievement year by year,” he said.

    “An MoU that does not achieve visible results is not worth its while.”

    Mohammed said the challenge facing the sector was how to transit from a creative industry to a creative economy.

    He said the country would build the capacity of festival managers, with a view to changing its festivals from fun events to business.

    The minister said Nigeria would revive such grand festivals as the Durbar and Argungun, which have not been held for some years, and prevent such traditional games as ayo from dying, because of their importance in teaching sportsmanship and promoting tolerance.

     In his comments, Sir Ciaran expressed his delight at the partnership between the Ministry and the British Council.

     He expressed the hope that the MoU will allow both parties to translate their intent into action

     “The British Council is delighted to assist in any way we can” to take the partnership further, Sir Ciaran said.

  • EPL, British Council back Headmasters’ Cup Football Tourney

    EPL, British Council back Headmasters’ Cup Football Tourney

    As a way of developing football at the grassroots, the English Premier League (EPL) and the British Council have thrown their weight behind the Headmasters’ Cup football Tournament, which will begin on Friday.

    The tournament, which is organised by 3WM Sports Consulting International Limited in conjunction with Youth Sports Initiative and Simbrex Consult, Canada Ltd; will have private schools within Lekki, Victoria Island, Ikoyi and  environs taking part.

    According to the organisers, the tournament, the first of its kind in Nigeria, is aimed at developing the primary and junior secondary schools’ sports from the grassroots, providing opportunities for the youths to discover and direct their talent towards the development of sports in our Nation as well as make them useful to themselves and to the society.

    The tournament is also aimed at discovering talented players at a young age, training and monitoring them until they become stars, while outstanding athletes of the tournament will get free scholarships to study and further their career abroad.

    Highlighting the benefits of the competition to Lagos State, the organizers noted that talents, which were hitherto hidden, would be discovered, while the outstanding ones will be trained to become stars.

    Also, the competition is aimed at promoting gender equality in sports, while it will also be a veritable ground for the recruitment of athletes for the National Sports Festival (NSF) by Lagos State as well as opportunity to further market Lagos to international investors.

  • British Council, FirstBank announce Lagos Theatre Festival 2016

    British Council, FirstBank announce Lagos Theatre Festival 2016

    The British Council has, for three years, been working on a theatre programme to stimulate innovation in theatre practice in Nigeria. The council sought to offer opportunities for professional exchange between Nigerian and British theatre makers and this birthed the Lagos Theatre Festival in 2012.

    This year, Lagos Theatre Festival returns bigger and better than ever as part of UK/Nigeria 2015 –16; a major season of arts in Nigeria aimed at building new audiences, creating new collaborations and strengthening relationships between the UK and Nigeria. First Bank of Nigeria Limited is a major promoter of the British Council Lagos Theatre Festival 2016 as part of its First@arts initiative.

    In preparing for the UK/Nigeria 2015–16 season of Arts, the British Council desired to engage New Voices in Theatre and requested the submission of scripts for the Lagos Theatre Festival from emerging playwrights who were asked to reflect the experiences of young people living in Lagos today. A record number of 64 applications were received over a four week period and four plays were shortlisted by a panel of writers for a creative writing workshop and script development.

    The plays are: Every Single Day by Olubunmi Familoni, The Wait by Bode Asiyanbi, Barcode Dialogue by AtinukeAweda and Dialing Love by Paul Ugbede. The winning playwrights have been awarded a cash prize of #100,000 each with an option of producing their plays at the Lagos Theatre Festival scheduled for February 23 – 28 2016.

    First Bank of Nigeria Limited is a prime promoter of the creative arts industry in Nigeria is supporting the arts under the auspices of the First@arts initiative which is driven by the quest to promote the arts and preserve cultural heritage. Through First@arts, FirstBank has encouraged home-grown human capacity development and enhanced the creation of employment opportunities within the arts industry, thereby creating a sustainable value chain and contributing to the growth and development of an evolving art economy in Nigeria. The Bank is pleased to support the Lagos Theatre Festival even as it promotes new talents in the creative arts industry. FirstBank believes that promoting the arts and preserving contemporary culture is essential for our generation and the future generations.

    The Lagos Theatre Festival 2016 will take place at several venues on Lagos Island and the mainland with a curated programme running alongside a fringe strand ofaffiliated performances allowing a greater than ever number of artists and audiences to take part.

  • LAI MOHAMMED WOOS BRITISH COUNCIL FOR NOLLYWOOD, OTHERS

    LAI MOHAMMED WOOS BRITISH COUNCIL FOR NOLLYWOOD, OTHERS

    MINISTER of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that the creative industry as well as culture have a great role to play in the ongoing diversification of Nigeria’s economy, at a time of dwindling earnings from crude oil.

    Receiving the Country Director of the British Council, Ms. Connie Price, in his office in Abuja on Monday, the Minister said the Federal Government would not restrict its efforts at diversifying the economy to agriculture and and solid minerals.

    “This government, even before knowing that the price of crude oil was going to plummet to about $38 per barrel, had promised Nigerians during its campaign that it is going to diversify the economy. Diversification of our economy is not just limited to agriculture or solid minerals or even the real sector. I think one area where we need capital investment is in the area of culture because this abounds everywhere.

    ”But our biggest challenge so far is how do we harness this abundant cultural heritage and create an economy out of it? There is virtually no state in Nigeria today that cannot boast of 3, 4 or 5 cultural industries, either pottery, painting, textile making or leather works,” he said.

    Alhaji Mohammed identified inadequate knowledge and the capacity to translate the nation’s abundant cultural heritage into a viable economy as the bane of the sector, and therefore sought the assistance of the British Council to support his ministry to surmount the challenges.

    “This is one area I believe you can assist us either in the area of capacity building or in the area of infrastructure. But more importantly in the area of organizing how these things work in a co-operative manner,” he said.

    The Minister also sought the support of the British Council in assisting the agencies under his ministry to rediscover their capacity and revive the cultural industry as a major source of revenue for the nation.

    He expressed optimism that through the culture and the creative industry, women could be empowered to acquire skills that would enable them to explore the industry and be economically independent.

    Responding, the Country Director said the diversification of the economy had been a huge challenge in Britain because of the country’s over-reliance on industries.

    “People might not realize this but this has been an issue in the UK until very recently, particularly in the North of our country where many cities have been dependent on industries and the industries have now gone and we have empty factories,” she said.

    Ms. Price said her country had now turned its thinking away from mono-economic dependence by giving vent to its culture and creative industries, which were now bringing billions of pounds into the British economy.

    According to Ms. Price, initially Britain witnessed a crisis of management in its cultural institutions because of their orientation as agencies of state that relied solely on state funding, but noted that through the diversification of the economy, the agencies had been re-orientated to think creatively in order to earn revenue instead of depending on government.

    She expressed satisfaction with the determination of the Minister to use the culture and creative industry to empower women, saying the British Council was extremely committed to supporting women empowerment.

    The Country Director was accompanied on her courtesy visit by the Arts Director, Ms. Ojoma Ocha, and the Partnership Director, Mr. Chikoli Onyemerela.