NAN-ELS-2
Collaboration
By Collins Yakubu-hammer
Abuja, Oct. 7, 2016 (NAN) The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has assured German Democratic Republic of positive cultural collaboration with Nigeria.
The minister gave the assurance in Abuja on Friday when the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Bernard Schlagheck, paid him a courtesy visit.
“There is need for us to have quality preservation of our cultures through movies as Berlin Film Festival comes up in February.
“Nigeria will showcase one of her movies, ‘Shehu Umar’ , which will form the highlight of her participation at the festival.
“There is also the need to walk the talk about Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) generally beyond just appending signature to documents.
“There should be timeline for MoU to come into effect so as to ensure that the necessary things are achieved,’’ Mohammed said.
He also called on the German ambassador to assist the country in exhibiting Nigeria’s cultural artefacts.
Mohammed said Frankfort University had in the past donated some stands for artefacts’ exhibition.
Earlier, Schlagheck noted that Nigeria had a rich cultural heritage and called for their preservation through the film industry.
He said Nigeria and Germany had had a cultural agreement spanning 40 years.
“We want it sustained through the preservation of the culture and heritage of both countries.
“The German Government is ever ready to preserve some Nigeria cultures through epic film; we will really like the movie `Shehu Umar’ to be showcased during the 2017 Berlin Film Festival.
“The University of Frankfort is set to collaborate with the Nigerian National Council for Museums and Monuments to enhance our cultural collaboration.
“We will want the country to help in areas of unnecessary bureaucracy in terms of laws and procedures; because we need to go to our parliament to rectify MoUs,’’ Schlagheck said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that “Berlin International Film Festival’, also called the `Berlinale,’ is one of the world’s leading film festivals and most reputable media events.
Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978.
With around 300,000 tickets sold and 500,000 admissions, it is considered the largest publicly attended film festival worldwide based on actual attendance rates.
Around 20 films compete for the awards called the Golden and Silver Bears at the festival. (NAN)
CMY/ECN/JCE
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Edited by Emmanuel Nwoye/Chukwudi Ekezie