NAN-ELS-3
Cinema
By Taiye Baiyerohi
Lagos, July 17,2017 (NAN) Mrs Uche Nwuka, Head of Creative Industry Group, Bank of Industry (BoI), on Monday said that the industry was ready to give financial assistance to Nigerian entrepreneurs interested in establishing cinemas within the country.
Nwuka said this during the Creative Nigeria Summit with the theme: ” Financing the Film, Television and Music Industries”, at Eko Hotels and Suites in Lagos.
She said that BoI would prefer those interested in establishing community, neighborhood and mobile cinemas as the industry wished to support the growth of the sector in the country.
“I want to use this opportunity to announce to you that the Bank of Industry is willing to give soft loans to creative entrepreneurs interested in opening neighbourhood, mobile and community cinemas.
“Whoever is interested in getting soft loans to open a cinema house should visit our office for more information,’’she said.
Also, Mr Sanjay Salil, Managing Director, MediaGuru, advised Nigerian film producers to invest more in the production of short films with short contents like soap operas and series.
Salil said that such films were always difficult for pirates to copy because they are always produced in series.
He said that the Nigerian movie-industry was contributing 1.4 per cent to the nation’s gross domestic product while oil was contributing 11 per cent when it was groomed by private individuals.
He advised the Federal Government to give an enabling environment to individuals in the creative industry, saying government would benefit from it at the long run through tax generation.
He said, “Nigeria is such an endowed country; India’s movie industry is only contributing 0.5 per cent to the India’s GDP, but Nigeria’s movie-industry is contributing more. ”
Mr Hafeez Giwa, the Managing Partner, HC Capital Properties, said movie-producers needed to improve on the standards of their studios, the qualities of their scripts, and post-productions of their movies.
Giwa said that the stakeholders needed to do more to perfect their works.
He suggested that some states should assist movie- producers by giving them incentives.(NAN)
PTB/BOLA/PAD
=============
Edited by Bola Akingbehin/Peter Dada