FG set to revisit Project ACT Nollywood; convenes stakeholders’ workshop, July 1

Federal Government, through the Ministry of Finance, has concluded plans to host a stakeholders’workshop aimed at restructuring and reinvigorating Project ACT Nollywood.
Project ACT Nollywood is a N3 billion grant programme established by the Federal Government under the Goodluck Jonathan administration specifically evolved to solve the main challenges impeding the growth of the Nigerian movie industry.
According to a statement issued in Abuja, Friday by the Director of Information, Ministry of Finance, Salisu Dambatta, the workshop, which is scheduled for July 1, is intended for representatives of key practitioners, agencies and organizations in the Nigerian film industry, such as the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, the Nollywood industry, the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Nigerian Film and Videos Censors Board (NFVB), the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC)and The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC).
Convener of the workshop, Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, stated that the ideas discussed during the workshop would be part of the inputs for restructuring the project to ensure its sustainability.
So far, the Project ACT Nollywood has implemented specialist training programmes in Nigeria and abroad in which 247 practitioners have been trained to improve their technical and professional capacities in the entertainment industry.
Similarly, 113 film projects, employing 2,436 people, have been co-financed through grants from the fund at the cost of N799 million, while the Innovative Film Distribution Programme has been designed to support viable solutions in film distribution and the prevention of privacy.
The World Bank has estimated that for each copy of a Nigerian film sold, nine pirated copies are sold.
The National Bureau for Statistics (NBS) has estimated that the Nigerian Film industry contributed 1.4 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in 2013 and 2014, and employed an estimated 250,000 people directly.