President Goodluck
Jonathan at a presidential dinner to celebrate the industry at 20, held at
State House, Marina, Lagos unveiled a N3 billion package to help
turnaround Nigeria’s movie industry, Nollywood, which has seen growth in
production and sales within past years, but remains heavily criticized for low
content quality.
The president said the
package, to be launched as “Project Nollywood”, will include grants for the
best film scripts, a capacity development fund, and funds for supporting the
industry’s infrastructure”.
He added that the scheme
will be launched in the first week of April, and will be managed by the
Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
“I assure you that my
Administration will continue to give Nollywood every possible support and
assistance to take the Nigerian movie industry to even greater heights of
success,” the president said. “I have invited the private sector to this dinner
because I believe that they can also support efforts to further develop our
entire creative industry.” said Jonathan.
A previous revolving
loan scheme of $200 million (N32 billion), announced by the president in 2010
has been plagued by complaints of inaccessibility.
The president said only
N766 million of the loan had been released.
“I have asked NEXIM and
the Bank of Industry to redouble their efforts in assisting the industry to
access loans,” he said.
Tags
Entertainment