Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says
Nigeria is ready to receive investors in the
Creative Industry, having created the enabling environment for
investments through favourable economic policies.
The Minister stated this in Abuja on Friday when he received a
delegation from Huaxia Movie Distribution Group, the second biggest
movie distributors in China, on a courtesy visit to his office.
“Nigeria today is ready to receive investors from abroad in the
Creative Industry because we have the enabling environment in terms of
favourable economic policies. We have a very determined administration
that believes in diversification. We have been preparing ourselves to
sanitize the market so we are tackling the issue of piracy.
“Our programme on digitization is moving very well. So this is the
right time for anybody to really come and invest in Nigeria,” he said,
adding that the Chinese investors have come on the cusp of a
revolution in the Creative Industry.
Alhaji Mohammed welcomed the Chinese movie group’s proposal to invest
in some critical aspects of the Creative Sector, including the
establishment of cinema houses, studios and exhibition centres.
“We hope that this will not just be a talk-shop. We want to be able to
build on this. We want you to give us a plan of action on how you
intend to cooperate with us in the area of exhibition venues, building
cinema houses, especially in the rural areas. Give us a proposal on
mobile cinemas and let us know what you expect of us as a government.
“We want concrete proposals from you in the area of investing in
studios and also in co-production. We also want to know how many
Nigerian films you want to take to China,” he said.
The Minister told the Chinese delegation that the pioneer status
recently granted to the creative sector will enable investors to
benefit from incentives such as tax holiday and withholding tax on
dividends.
In his remarks, the Chief Executive of Huaxia Movie Distribution
Group, Mr. Wei Bian, said his company wants to be part of the future
of Nigerian movie industry, because of its bright prospect not only in
Africa but on the world stage.
He said the company had been emboldened to seek new frontiers in movie
collaboration through a marching order handed down by the Chinese
President for the country to look beyond Hollywood to other
culturally-diverse areas like Africa, with Nigeria a prime
destination.
Mr. Bian expressed delight at the rate of movie production in Nigeria
which, he said, surpasses the number of movies produced in China
annually.
He expressed confidence that Chinese investment in the Nigerian
Creative Industry will further enhance the quality of Nigerian movies,
promote cultural exchanges and open career opportunities for citizens
of both countries.
