By Nse Anthony-Uko
ABUJA, (Sundiata Post) – The federal government has approved the disbursement of N420.2 million to 105 beneficiaries in the second and final tranche of the Innovative Distribution Fund (IDF) under the Project Act Nollywood.
The Minister of Finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun, who gave the approval in a statement on Friday, said a total of N1.8 billion was approved for disbursement to 106 beneficiaries in this component out of which N1.335 billion had earlier in the year been disbursed as first tranche to 105 beneficiaries.
The Ministry of Finance, in the statement noted that during the Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) of the first tranche disbursement, the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) recorded a number of achievements in line with the objectives of the programme as follows which include the establishment of 15 community cinemas and viewing centres through the grant and which has improved the distribution network of movies in Nigeria; The programme has supported 18 firms in strengthening online distribution platforms. This has helped curbed illegal downloads and piracy.
Also, 256 permanent jobs and 544 temporary jobs have been created through the financial support provided to 105 beneficiaries by the programme.
It was also noted that the programme has equally aided the extension of the Nollywood Industry to sub-Sahara Africa through the funding of National distributors to expand their distribution capacity and network. National distributors are expanding their capacity to lip-synching their content in French for onward distribution to the ECOWAS sub-region.
Project Act Nollywood – Innovative Distribution Fund (IDF) was set up to achieve the following objective: Sustain the growth of Nigeria’s movie Industry; Encourage the Industry realize its potential of being a significant creator of employment and considerable contributor to GDP; and address some of the key challenges currently facing the Industry.
The programme aims to improve and promote key components of the value chain through the provision of grants scheme designed to support existing or aspiring practitioners within the Industry, including the Diaspora.
Project ACT-Nollywood has three primary components namely Film Production Fund (FPF); Capacity Building Fund (CBF) and the Innovative Distribution Fund (IDF) aimed at developing and addressing inhibitors to further growth, which exist along the movie making value chain.
The (FPF) and (CBF) have been fully implemented while the (IDF) which is the third component of the project is on-going. The (IDF) covers online, National, Regional and community categories of Nollywood Film distribution and exhibition.
The objectives of IDF are to: Improve the distribution network of Nigerian Audio-Visual contents; Cut down on piracy; Create jobs (direct and indirect) and Better protect Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) within the Nigerian Entertainment Industry.