Nigeria is ready for investments in creative industry ---Lai Mohammed
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (second right), with the Chief Executive Officer of Huaxia Movie Distribution Group of China, Mr. Wei Bian (second left); the Director, Production and Distribution of Star Times, Tony Kao (first left) and Chief Executive Officer, Star Times, Justin Zhang (first right) when the Huaxia Movie Distribution Group visited the Minister in his office in Abuja on Friday.
(Nigeria) Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, has said that Nigeria is ready
to receive investors in the Creative Industry, having created the enabling environment
for investments through favourable economic policies.
The Minister stated this in Abuja on Friday when he received
a delegation from Huaxia Movie Distribution Group, the second biggest movie
distributors in China, on a courtesy visit to his office.
"Nigeria today is ready to receive investors from
abroad in the Creative Industry because we have the enabling environment in
terms of favourable economic policies. We have a very determined administration
that believes in diversification. We have been preparing ourselves to sanitize
the market so we are tackling the issue of piracy.
"Our programme on digitization is moving very well. So
this is the right time for anybody to really come and invest in Nigeria,"
he said, adding that the Chinese investors have come on the cusp of a
revolution in the Creative Industry.
Alhaji Mohammed welcomed the Chinese movie group's proposal
to invest in some critical aspects of the Creative Sector, including the
establishment of cinema houses, studios and exhibition centres.
"We hope that this will not just be a talk-shop. We
want to be able to build on this. We want you to give us a plan of action on
how you intend to cooperate with us in the area of exhibition venues, building
cinema houses, especially in the rural areas. Give us a proposal on mobile
cinemas and let us know what you expect of us as a government.
"We want concrete proposals from you in the area of
investing in studios and also in co production. We also want to know how many
Nigerian films you want to take to China," he said.
The Minister told the Chinese delegation that the pioneer
status recently granted to the creative sector will enable investors to benefit
from incentives such as tax holiday and withholding tax on dividends.
In his remarks, the Chief Executive of Huaxia Movie
Distribution Group, Mr. Wei Bian, said his company wants to be part of the
future of Nigerian movie industry, because of its bright prospect not only in
Africa but on the world stage.
He said the company had been emboldened to seek new
frontiers in movie collaboration through a marching order handed down by the
Chinese President for the country to look beyond Hollywood to other
culturally-diverse areas like Africa, with Nigeria a prime destination.
Mr. Bian expressed delight at the rate of movie production
in Nigeria which, he said, surpasses the number of movies produced in China
annually.
He expressed confidence that Chinese investment in the
Nigerian Creative Industry will further enhance the quality of Nigerian movies,
promote cultural exchanges and open career opportunities for citizens of both
countries.
Comments
Post a Comment