2019: Entertainers advocate concrete plan to grow the creative industry
A group, known as Entertainers for Good Governance, has called on all political parties to make concrete manifesto that will move the creative and entertainment industry forward in their quest to govern Nigeria, even as they say that the entertainment industry is not partisan and should not be portrayed to be so.
The group, which comprises practitioners from the Nigerian entertainment industry, has as members all presidents of guilds and associations.
Arising from a meeting held on Friday, November 24 at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos, the group maintained that entertainers are the first set of people employed by all politicians to drive their vision to the voters through the voice-over artiste voicing their jingle, an actor acting their script and a musician singing their jingles.
It also stated that, the entertainment industry presently has a GDP contributing capacity of over 7billion dollars to the economy. The membership strength of the entertainment industry nationwide is estimated at 20 million including their fans therefore it is a force that cannot be overlooked.
Speaking at the meeting, the national President of Directors Guild of Nigeria, Fred Amata represented by Mathias Obahiagbo reiterated that the structure of the guilds and associations in the entertainment industry has been neglected for too long.
“It is this structure that has been the brain behind the big stars that you see. It is this structure that controls the over twenty million membership,” Amata said.
On his part, President, Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) Emeka Rollas said: “During the voter’s registration exercise we all mobilized our members nationwide to participate in the exercise and going by the statistics of the recent INEC release of voters, Actors Guild have about two million registered voters nationwide, PMAN has over a million of its members who have PVC. Why is it so difficult for politicians to recognize this fact and plug into it, then make a clear-cut blue print on how to develop the industry which has changed the bad image of Nigeria at the global level,” he querried.
In this light, the body has come out to speak in one voice to declare for good governance in Nigeria.
With over 20 million strong registered and practicing entertainers nationwide eligible to vote with their PVCs aside their millions of followers, it is an established fact that the entertainment industry has the strength to change the narratives in the polity.
Making her remark, President of Voice –Over Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Ngozi Ogbonna believed that the creative industry has been neglected for long. She insisted that the practitioners are professionals who are contributing immensely to the nation’s development including its co-existence. She said the mistake of 2015 should not repeat itself, a situation where some individuals who didn’t have PVCs to vote, but claimed to have had the mandate of the industry only to end up painting the industry partisan at the end of 2015 general elections.
Other guilds in full support of this initiative include Association of Movie Producers (AMP); Creative Design Guild of Nigeria (CDGN); National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP); Script Writers Guild of Nigeria (SWGN); Association of Nigerian Theatre Practitioners (ANTP); Association of Nollywood Core Producers (ANCOP); Film/Video Producers and Marketers Association.
