The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has lauded the leading role being played by women in the country’s creative industry.

The Minister gave the commendation at the opening of the 2019 Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Lagos on Sunday.

He hailed the organisers of AFRIFF, which was founded by a woman, Chioma Ude, for using this year’s edition to celebrate women, hence the theme of the event, ‘Shero’.

Alhaji Mohammed identified Genevieve Nnaji’s ‘Road to Yesterday’, Bolanle Austen Peter’s ‘The Bling Lagosians’, ‘Waka The Musical’, Saro The Musical’ as well as ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens’, and Mo Abudu’s ‘The Wedding Party 1 and 2 as some of the movies and stage shows produced by women, which made waves in the creative and entertainment

industry.

“During our first tenure in office, I attended a number of movie premieres, stage performances and other creative industry events and it’s amazing that a whole lot of them were produced by women”

“'I therefore wish to implore the women of the Creative Industry not to relent in showing the way in this great industry,” he said.

The Minister assured that the Federal Government will continue to support the Creative Industry.

“The evidence of our support can be seen clearly, whether in granting the industry the pioneer status or improving access to long-term, low-cost financing for entrepreneurs and investors in the Creative Industry and the Information Technology Sectors through the CBN’s Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI).

“Beyond that, we plan to finalise work on the Motion Picture Council of Nigeria (MOPICON) Bill in order to create a proper regulatory environment for the sub-sector that has put Nigeria’s name on the global map, thus attracting the much-needed investment to the

industry, and also establish the Endowment Fund for the Arts to create a legal framework for the financing of the Creative Industry,” he said.

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