Mrs Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, Executice Director of Communicating For Change (CFC) has urged the government at all levels to recognize the creative industries and Nollywood in particular which serves as the engine to power Nigeria’s economy.

She made this known at the recent conference entitled of Development Film in Africa II Conference and the Intellectual Property Rights Workshop which held at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Explained Obiago "If we want to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG), we must eradicate poverty, get more girls into schools, cut down our high maternal mortality rate and create a lasting wealth. We must also build a strong legal and financial framework within which our creativity can be expressed, protected, used to create jobs, sustain livelihoods, and showcase our rich culture."

Obiago also enjoined stakeholders to put Nigeria on the front burner of international cultural and artistic excellence by using film to showcase the impressive spectrum of our awesome Nigerian art and creativity.

Also Ms. Donna Ghelfi, Senior Programme Officer with the Creative Industries Division of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), in her speech noted that United Nation is ready to work with Nigerians to collect and track data to show the huge but presently invisible injection of capital from Nigeria’s creative industries in to the country’s economy.

Ghelfi equally shared data from other economies, such as the United States, where the creative industry provides more than 11 percent of GDP, and almost 9 percent of employment, as compared to the Philippines and Mexico. Where the creative industry make up over 11 percent of employment. On the average in developed, developing and transition countries, the creative industry make up over 5 percent of employment and 5.4 percent of GDP. Of that 5.4 percent, press & literature contribute an average 44 percent to the creative industry, while radio and television come second with 12 percent, software comes third with 10 percent, followed by advertising with 9 percent.

This important economic data would not only strengthen political will to implement solid policy measures to promote the creative industries and establish effective copyright protection and enforcement mechanisms, it would also ensure private sector investment in the creative industries. "Such measures will boost the film industry’s capacity to increase supply of creative and original content by overcoming constraints in film development, production, distribution, exhibition, sale, marketing and retailing within and across borders," Ghelfi commented.

Some of the highlights of the conference was when Ms. Andrea Calderwood, producer of the Oscar winning film, Last King of Scotland, which focuses on the life of Ugandian dictator, Idi Amin. She disclosed that Nigerian filmmakers face similar difficulties as their counterparts across the world. She traced the challenges that she faced including finance, script development, recruitment of cast and directing. In addition, she said that the movie was successful because of the great support from Ugandans and President Museveni, who provided access to all government buildings, use of the Ugandan army, and a waival of all VAT for the project.

The Ugandian president understood that the film would " tell a key story of Uganda’s history, attract international investment into the country, and get Uganda on the big screen, and on the map" Calderwood urged Nigeria to use its strong film production base, coupled with infrastructural development and clear financial incentives to make Nigeria an attractive location for international film production. She explained that she is set to produce her first Nigerian film, which focuses on Chimamanda Adichie’s award winning book, Half of a Yellow Sun.

In the same vein, Mr. Ezra Doner, a Hollywood entertainment financier, formerly with Paramount Pictures and Miramax educated the audience on international perspective on film financing focusing on banking risks.

In the same vein, President of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Mr. Tee Mac Iseli, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to using music for Nollywood films and working with law enforcement agencies to curb piracy. For Nike Okundaye, popular batik maker urged Nigerian producers and directors should help showcase our rich culture, textiles and language in their movies.

According to Tunde Kelani, Nigeria’s foremost cinematography "Cinema is fundamentally, a collaborative artform which demands inputs from literary, visual, performing and musical arts and Nigeria has produced winners in almost all literary prizes in the world, yet, significantly, only a few of the works of these world renowned writers have found their ways into Nigerian films. We need to reinvent the whole industry, shed the Nollywood mentality and start producing films worthy of the great achievements of other Nigerian artists all over world. Nigerian literature has done it, Nigerian music is doing it, why not Nigerian cinema?" he added.

At the end of the conference, it was agreed that Nigeria’s creative industries, can only develop if certain conditions are met he noted.
" The finance, legal sector and insurance sectors need to agree and come up with a mechanism for the valuation of creative property assets, so that they can be used as collateral, There needs to be a proper valuation of creative products and proper pricing of creative products.

Creators need to be clear about diverse types of ownership within productions, take time and set aside resources to properly document and complete the legal paperwork in order to ensure that the products can be internationally exhibited and sold. Creators must update their knowledge of new media, new distribution channels, and platforms and create content that fits these devices
The role of film industry associations should also be strengthened; guilds, associations of directors, producers, screenwriters, performers etc. should do more in defending the rights of their stakeholders in the industry.

Others issues to be addressed include; eradication of piracy and the need for film makers to understand their rights. Consumers must be educated through a strong awareness campaign about the importance and benefits of buying genuine products, how to identify genuine creative products and how to help protect the creators of these works. There is also the need to establish and protect a legal distribution system that will enable films to be distributed legally both nationally and internationally.

Participants at the workshop were drawn from various professionals such as bankers, lawyers, musicians, the media, advertisers, Nollywood professionals and other creative industry practitioners all of who agreed to join forces in preventing Nigeria’s strongest cultural export product-film from exploitation.
The workshop and conference was hosted by Communicating for Change (CFC), the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), and the Nigerian Copyright Commission, in partnership with the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), the Nigerian Film & Video Censors Board (NFVCB), the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), the Pan African University, and the American Film Institute (AFI).

Experienced entertainment attorneys from Hollywood (Mr. Rob Aft), the UK (Mr. Richard Moxon), and Kenya (Dr. Marisella Ouma) spoke alongside Nigerian experts from leading Nigerian law firms including Dr. Bankole Sodipo of Bankole Sodipo & Company, Mrs. Sade Laniyan of Jackson Etti & Edu, Mr. Efere Ozako of Efere Ozako & Associates, Dr. Myma Belo-Osagie of Udo Udoma & Belo Osagie and Mr. Toyin Subair of HiTV. NCC’s Mr. John Asein, and Mr. Adisa Adedeji provided the government perspective on copyright exploitation & protection.

Film marketers and distributors from Akure, Mrs. Remi Ibitola, and Alaba Market, Mr. Donatus Chikezie gave an important local perspective on the challenges of distributing films in Nigeria’s informal sector.

Government’s perspective and challenges in working within the creative industries was also provided by professionals from leading cultural agencies overseeing film in Nigeria including the Director General of the National Film & Video Censors’ Board, Mr. Emeka Mba, the Director General of the Nigerian Film Corporation, Mr. Afolabi Adesanya, and the Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Dr. Adebamobo Adewopo who was represented by Mr. Emeka Ogbonna.