The Director General of National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Mr. Adedayo Thomas, has said that Federal Government is committed to providing structures and necessary infrastructure that would enable the industry to create the needed value and unlock its potential for economic growth.
Thomas, who stated this in an interview with Daily Sun in his office recently in Lagos, said government was working hard for the provision of adequate structures in Nigeria to reduce cross border production and filming outside the shores of the country.
According to him, Nigeria’s creative industry has big potential to create jobs and generate foreign exchange earnings if the necessary facilities are put in place.
He explained that that government was already working to provide funds for the sector through Bank of Industry, adding that the right structures must be put in place to ensure adequate utilisation of the funds.
“The industry has this export potential and that is why we need to begin to look at it. There are opportunities in Africa, South Africa, and Europe that we can push our content into and these people can appreciate our content,” he said.
“So, what we need in Nigeria is to begin to build those infrastructure that will make the environment enabling for people to express that creativity and take it to the next level.”
He stated that one of the achievement of his administration was the recent raiding of Alaba International Market where there were seizures of CDs, Videos CDs and literary works worth of N150 million which has never been done in the past.
“When our anti-piracy squad assisted by some police men got to the market, we saw pirated copies of films yet to be produced littering the whole environment and were being sold it at cheaper prices,” he stressed.
Thomas likened piracy to a murder case, robbery or economic sabotage where the suspect wanted to reap where he or she did not sow.
He said that the legitimate owners were usually subjected to huge debts and loss.