bill for the establishment of the moribund Motion Picture Practitioners Council,MOPICON, before presenting it as an executive bill to the National Assembly for passage into law, many stakeholders in the Nigerian entertainment industry heaved a sigh of relief as they thought that ‘a Daniel has come to judgment.’
However, five years after the administration assumed office, the question many people are asking today is, whether President Buhari has fulfilled his promise of engendering rapid development of the Nigerian entertainment sector, or he’s still warming up for action. The film commission bill, according to NFC, would provide an enabling environment for the development and growth of the motion picture industry in the country. But the stakeholders kicked against the bill, on the ground that the regulatory body “did not carry the industry along.” Till date, the bill has not seen the light of the day.
Many believe that there is more to be done in the area of tackling copyright infringement in the country than we have presently witnessed. However, while stakeholders applaud the government for taking the bold steps to arrest the ugly trend, they also urge the present administration to enact the copyright laws, and endeavour to prosecute offenders as well as corrupt officers if the monster must be eliminated totally in the society. We are yet to see that done.
“Some years back, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe chaired the MOPICON committee, they sat for long hours and days. None can give a clear and verifiable status of the recommendations. Just last year, Mahmood Ali-Balogun was part of a team appointed to look into a different important matter in the sector. Recently, ace-comedian, Ali Baba was appointed to chair a committee set up to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the creative sector and make recommendations.
The presidents of the associations and guilds including, Ralph Nwadike, Fred Amata, Emeka Rollas, Yinka Ogun-, Daisy Madu-Chikwendu, Yinka Oduniyi, Israel Eboh among others, described the appointment as an embarrassing and appalling omission , adding that “an industry with about 20 guilds, employing about 2.