By Damilola Fatunmise and Chinwendu Obienyi
To reduce gender-stifling barriers in the film industry, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi has pledged his support for women by providing an enabling environment and access to funds.
The monarch made this known during a courtesy visit to his palace by the board and management of Women in Film & Television International (WIFTI).
While recognising the presence of the Swedish ambassador to Nigeria in the delegation, Ogunwusi said Ile Ife being the cradle of civilization, is trying to blend traditions with modalities, uphold its heritage and culture of thousands of years so that it will be in tune with the current situation.
“I want to thank my daughter who has continued doing what she is proud of and especially in the area of empowering women. You can call on me and I will be there because we need formidable forces like Ascent Studios to tell our stories and I am happy that is what they are doing. We will continue to drive initiatives, concepts that will tell Nigerian stories,” he said.
Also speaking, the Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, Carl Michael Gräns, said empowering women in the film industry is one of the priorities at the Swedish Embassy in Abuja. He said further that the “feminist foreign policy”, which is all about gender equality, is aimed at boosting women and girls to do the same things as men and boys do.
“It is a big organization and I think they have about 20,000 members all over the world, but this will be a summit hosted here in Ife but hopefully, we will get rid of the pandemic so that people can come here. We have all struggled economically because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in Nigeria, the informal sector also suffered. We need to recover economically and with the huge film industry in Nigeria, this is a great opportunity to get back to make artistic progress at the same time,” he stated.
On her part, President, Ascent Studios Foundation and Secretary, WIFTI, Inya Lawal, said the summit is for different chapters to come together and assess the Nigerian industry and see what holes there are to fill.
According to her, It is also an opportunity for its members to network, build capacity, understand where it wants women to be in the present and in the future within the media space.