When the announcement was made about the appointment of a new helmsman as head of the Nigeria Film Corporation, not a few practitioners raised more than an eyebrow. Some went ahead to mobilise practitioners to protest the appointment of an ‘outsider’ to head the parastatal.
I have been asked my opinion on this and my answer is simple – before you draw any conclusions, find out about the person, where he is coming from or possibly give him a chance to prove himself.
The business of film is seldom run by film makers. In fact, lawyers and accountants, marketing experts and ‘outsiders’ drive the mills. Not that they are ignorant of course, because it is such a complicated business you have to know it to succeed in it.
At the heart of everything production is the producer who is a ‘businessman,’ a manager of men and resources, a fund raiser, a wheeler-dealer of sorts who must have a network and knack that guarantees success at the box office. He or the studio he works for acquires the original property or rights to the story that is the foundation of any successful motion picture. He hires the right director, cast and crew, and is basically the only one who starts and ends every movie project.
Has that got anything to do with the appointment of a Managing Director for the Nigeria Film Corporation? Plenty! For one, it is a purely political appointment, and it is at the President’s pleasure. He is not a civil servant and is only there to implement policy guidelines in accordance with the administration’s agenda for the industry. Does it help if he is a film maker? Of course, because then he can advise the administration from a very informed point of view, knowing where the shoe pinches and he can also influence a lot of things using his local and international network, if he has any in the industry.
Why would an outsider be of any use at all in the film house? For one he would not be coming in with any baggage or set ways about how things ought to be done. He would be ready to listen and learn. He would have the benefit of the experience of the civil servants in-house and the interface with practitioners who in any case are always ready to proffer suggestions on how to move the industry forward. He would also not be thinking about cornering juicy film deals for himself or his privately registered company – now this is not true about any of those that have been there before of course, but it is a possibility.
What the industry needs is an administrator who has a passion for Nollywood and is willing to listen and transform the industry, taking it to the next level. Will the building engineer/lecturer turn film administrator, Danjuma Wurim Dadu be the man the industry has been waiting for? Only time will tell. He has a lot to prove right now with all the dust and controversy his appointment has raised. He has a responsibility to ensure that Nollywood takes its rightful place and does not drop both in quality and quantity. He needs to make the industry even more attractive to investors both at home and abroad. He needs to ensure higher standards of training and capacity building. He needs to provide all the necessary policy backings to ensure better , more lucrative and secure distribution devoid of the cankerworm of piracy in partnership with sister agencies.
The Nigerian film maker must be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with his peers anywhere in the world because the industry is a better place.
It is important that as government is pursuing an agenda for direct foreign investment, the movie industry is not overlooked as it is a potential gold field that can also be used to drive tourism and enhance the image of the country.
Film funds are important for the growth of the industry as well as a reduction of tariffs on film production equipment. In addition, tax reliefs will help to promote the growth and expansion of this industry that has employed and empowered so many youths and contributed to the nations GDP.
It would be nice for the new helmsman to revisit the portion of the film policy that talks about location of at least one film viewing theatre in each of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria. What opportunities it would create for distribution.
I wish Dadu Goodluck(no pun intended please)!
