Former President of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Mr. Emeka Ike has called on the Federal Government not to commence distribution of the N3 billion Nollywood Intervention Fund (NIF) so as to prevent the fund from being hijacked.
Mr. Paul Nwabikwu Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance and Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala had said in Abuja while inaugurating the website dedicated to the Nollywood project that N300 million out of the total sum will be made available to practitioners in two phases, adding that N150 million will be dedicated for skill acquisition covering areas such as script writing, directing, film production, design, special effects, lighting, sound, acting and cinematography, while the next 150 million Naira will be disbursed as grants to training institutions offering courses in relevant fields.
But Ike said that by that arrangement the fund will end up not getting into the hands of those it is meant to assist and insisted that the fund must be distributed through registered guilds.
According to him, that there is so much that N3 billion can do to Nollywood, adding that there are no structures at present and that what is needed is a film village where it can build structures including a plaza as film market in order to dignify the business.
He said some individuals are taking advantage of the lack of structure to corner business for personal gains, stressing that he and other concerned individuals in Nollywood have contacted their lawyers, Femi Falana to write the Presidency on the need to put the project on hold, adding that unless they get a reply by Tuesday artistes from across the federation will simultaneously troop out to register their displeasure with the mechanism put in place by the FG to distribute the fund bto practitioners.
