MOVIE PRODUCERS TO TACKLE FOREIGN CABLE TV COMPANIES

Newly elected-president of the Association of Movie Producers, an umbrella body for film producers in Nigeria, Ralph Nwadike, has unfolded a plan to force foreign owned cable television companies operating in the country to respect the wishes of the association.

Nwadike said, in an interview with our correspondent, the AMP would no longer allow foreign cable TV companies to produce their local contents in the country without involving Nigerian producers.

He said, “We cannot allow foreign-owned cable TV companies to produce their own local movies here anymore. If they work here and we Nigerians pay to keep them in business in this country, we need more Nigerians to be involved in what they are doing.

“They need to engage more Nigerians to produce local content for them. If they truly want to continue to enjoy our patronage, they have to reach out to more Nigerian producers instead of using foreigners.”

During the last meeting of the association, our correspondent gathered, Nwadike and his new team were given the mandate to find a solution to the MOPICON Bill, which is still pending at the National Assembly.

“We have been waiting for the relevant authorities to approve the bill, which has been dragging for about eight years now. I believe that if it is approved, the film industry will become truly united. I want to follow it up with action.

“We intend to reach out to those in positions of authority through people like Senator Dino Melaye, who is one of the few people in the National Assembly who understand what we are going through at the moment, and make them know that the bill will help the movie industry to grow rather than diminish it.”

Nwadike is also counting on possible assistance from the Senate President Bukola Saraki, who he claims attended the Federal School of Arts and Science in Lagos along with a few colleagues, to help push the MOPICON Bill at the NASS.

“We are ready to use every available means to get the bill approved and passed,” he said.

However, our correspondent gathered that some of the issues discussed at the meeting of AMP is the establishment of a film fund and a special TV Station that would broadcast only Nigerian films.

Although, the new president of the association did not mention it, there is a plan to stop TV stations in the country from showing foreign soap operas at the expense of local productions, as well as to ensure that the interests of Nigerian film makers are protected at all times.