Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has
lauded the leading role being played by women in the country’s
creative industry.
The Minister gave the commendation at the opening of the 2019 Africa
International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Lagos on Sunday.
He hailed the organisers of AFRIFF, which was founded by a woman,
Chioma Ude, for using this year’s edition to celebrate women, hence
the theme of the event, ‘Shero’.
Mohammed identified Genevieve Nnaji’s ‘Road to Yesterday’,
Bolanle Austen Peter’s ‘The Bling Lagosians’, ‘Waka The Musical’, Saro
The Musical’ as well as ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens’, and Mo Abudu’s
‘The Wedding Party 1 and 2 as some of the movies and stage shows
produced by women, which made waves in the creative and entertainment
industry.
“During our first tenure in office, I attended a number of movie
premieres, stage performances and other creative industry events and
it’s amazing that a whole lot of them were produced by women.”
”I, therefore, wish to implore the women of the Creative Industry not
to relent in showing the way in this great industry,” he said.
The Minister assured that the federal government will continue to
support the Creative Industry.
“The evidence of our support can be seen clearly, whether in granting
the industry the pioneer status or improving access to long-term,
low-cost financing for entrepreneurs and investors in the Creative
Industry and the Information Technology Sectors through the CBN’s
Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI).
“Beyond that, we plan to finalize work on the Motion Picture Council
of Nigeria (MOPICON) Bill in order to create a proper regulatory
environment for the sub-sector that has put Nigeria’s name on the
global map, thus attracting the much-needed investment to the
industry, and also establish the Endowment Fund for the Arts to create
a legal framework for the financing of the Creative Industry,” he
said.
