The Nigerian government is organising a workshop for stakeholders aimed at restructuring and reinvigorating Project ACT Nollywood.
It is a three billion Naira grant programme established by the Federal Government to solve the main challenges impeding the growth of the Nigerian movie industry.
The workshop, which is scheduled for Friday July 1, would be attended by representatives of the key stakeholders in the Nigerian Film industry – the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, the leadership of Nollywood, the Actors Guild, Film and Videos Censors Board, the Nigerian Film Corporation and the Nigerian Copyright Commission.
It is being organised by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun.
Mrs Adeosun said the ideas discussed during the workshop would be part of the inputs for restructuring the project to ensure its sustainability.
So far, the Project ACT Nollywood has implemented specialist training programmes in Nigeria and abroad in which 247 practitioners have been trained to improve their technical and professional capacities in the entertainment industry.
Similarly, 113 film projects, employing 2,436 people, have been co-financed through grants from the fund at the cost of 799 million Naira, while the Innovative Film Distribution Programme has been designed to support viable solutions in film distribution and the prevention of privacy.
One major issue that the workshop will be looking to address is that of piracy, as the World Bank had estimated that for each copy of a Nigerian film sold, nine pirated copies are sold.
The National Bureau for Statistics, has estimated that the Nigerian Film industry contributed 1.4 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in 2013 and 2014, and employed an estimated 250,000 people directly.