Salihu Othman Isah, otherwise known in Nollywood as Hotman, is the
National Vice President (North West) of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN).
Hotman had an interactive session with selected entertainment writers in
Lagos recently, where he explained the rationale behind the Tuesday, February
18 visit to Aso Rock by leading movie practitioners, which has since become
controversial, his quarrel with the lack of implementation of the pledge made to
the sector by President Goodluck Jonathan, recent federal appointments and he
requested that it is time a Ministry of Nollywood Affairs is created.
The visit was meant to be used to bestow the prestigious position of
Grand Patron of the Guild to President Goodluck Jonathan as well as to request
the support of the Federal Government in moving the industry forward. You know the
government has a big role to play if we must realize our dream of building an
industry that can compare favourably with others like the one in the United
States of America’s (Hollywood) and India’s (Bollywood) movie industries. As it
is today, the Nigerian Federal Government and states governments are doing next
to nothing to support the entertainment sector in spite of its contributions to
the growth of the Nigerian economy, especially in terms of job creation and
laundering the image of the country.
What do you think is the reason behind the criticisms
over the visit
Nigerians sometimes react to issues just for the sake of it. Most times,
they have no point to make. The reactions are just for them to be heard and not
because they are justified. But why some respected players in the industry
would join the outburst is what is actually baffling. With due respect to those
who have criticized that visit, I would say it is uncalled for because it is
not the first time such would be happening.
Do you mean people like Clarion Chukwura and John
Okafor (Mr. Ibu) don’t know what they are saying
You see, I don’t want us to make it look as if there is a controversy
here because there isn’t one. What we have instead is that some people fail to
understand our mission there; where they understand, those who were not on the
entourage simply resorted to crying foul. But without sounding immodest, I want
to make this clarification that heavens would not fall just because members of Nollywood
visited Aso Rock. We have heard all sorts of allegations made against the visit
with some people claiming that we went to beg for handout from the president.
What insult? Unfortunately, a director I respect so well, Charles Novia was the
first to react, he claimed that we went cap in hand to beg for money. Although,
Segun Arinze, who is the immediate past president of AGN has reacted adequately
to his outburst and I think he understands now why the visit had to hold.
However, I have to emphasis here that we did not go there for any form
of handout. Ibinabo Fiberesima, as our President and head of the delegation,
delivered a speech publicly which was very clear on the subject matter. It was
clear that we were there for issues that would move the industry forward.
Personally, I do not subscribe to such things as begging for survival from the government
and its officials. This is the reason I kept to myself, while we were in that
place watching some of the stars scramble after some top government officials
during and after that visit.
This is normal in Nigeria, but you will never find me doing that except
I am approached to offer honourable professional service. Again, don’t forget
that in Nigeria everything revolves around the government due to the nation’s
poor economy.
So, if the likes of Mr. Ibu, Charles Novia and Clarion Chukwura were not
invited to be on the train they should not see it as a direct affront or
disrespect to their person because at the point the list was being drawn, no
one probably remembered them. However, no ulterior motive was intended. Simply
put, it was nothing else, but an oversight, though, I am not trying to defend
anyone over this. I am speaking because I am a member of the National Executive
Council of AGN and the bulk stops at our table. So, I would not hold brief for
anyone to rubbish the leadership.
How true is the allegation that the visit was also for
the purpose of pledging loyalty for Jonathan’s 2nd term ambition in 2015
This is funny because I do not see how everyone in the industry or
everyone who embarked on the visit could be sympathetic to the President’s
aspiration. This is impossible, I mean; for the entire industry to support his
2015 presidency project. Our visit was purely on professional ground and nothing
more. If anyone went behind afterwards for other motives, it is not to my
knowledge.
But Jonathan said a lot of lofty things about the
sector which was seen as a way of cajoling you to jump on his campaign
What is wrong with that? He is free to seek the support of anyone or any
sector he feels would be useful to his cause. I do not fault him for doing
this. But he only enumerated the advantages of seeing the movie as a vehicle to
propagate government policies and programmes. And I believe this is a statement
of fact because movies are relied upon globally for this purpose.
It could just be a veil approach by the President to
say ‘I would use you for my campaign’
Yes, he has the right to use whoever he wants, especially if it is done
legally. President Barack Obama used entertainment as a vehicle to drive his
campaign for his first and second terms in office. In fact, politicians
worldwide have resorted to employing entertainers for their campaigns. We also
experienced this a great deal in 2011 here in Nigeria. The President has some
of our members campaigned for him. So, I don’t see anything wrong with that.
So, if he comes knocking on the doors of Nollywood to
support and campaign for his 2015 bid, are you saying you would oblige
To answer this question, I would say an emphatic no. In fact, I know
Nollywood would not support Jonathan’s re-election bid. I am saying this
because I know it, not just as an insider, but also as a journalist who knows
how to nose around.
Why would Nollywood not support him
This is because they did last time (in 2011) and he pledged support for
the industry, which he is yet to fulfill about three years after. So, we don’t
see him as a honourable leader. You know they say once beaten, twice shy.
With all his assistance and support to the sector
What support has he rendered to the industry? Tell me, which assistance?
But he gave N3 billion ‘Presidential Intervention
Fund’ to improve the industry
Tell me, who has benefited since he made the pronouncement during his
campaign in 2011. I want you to mention just one beneficiary, I want to know. I
have said it elsewhere before and I want to re-emphasise here that they are
just playing ‘boju-boju’ (hide and
seek game) with the sector. It is like the more you see, the less you understand.
We are approaching another election year in 2015; the 2011 campaign promise has
not been kept. I want to let my colleagues know that it would be better for
them to shine their eyes; though, I’m aware there was a seminar for business
plan and film funding, which took place at the Lagos Business School in
Victoria Island recently. The very few
that could be said to have drawn from the fund, especially in the marketing
area, are close allies of the managers of the project. What is happening to the
N150 million ‘Capacity Building Fund’ for the training and skills acquisition
of practitioners?
But there is still time for the pledge to be kept
Well, let us see him keep the promise first. The reason I warn our
practitioners to avoid being used unnecessarily is because there is no
continuity in leadership in Nigeria. If Jonathan is not re-elected that is the
end of it because it doesn’t even have legislative backing. So, you cannot
insist that his successor must fulfill the pledge he didn’t make. It was not
his project, moreso; the new President might even feel that the pledge was made
by an opponent to promote his aspiration, so he would quickly jettison it. We
could also have a scenario, where Jonathan wins the election and is returned to
office and he would cancel the whole thing because he does not need you anymore
since he is not going to vie for another election; except of course, he chooses
to perpetuate himself in office for a third term.
There have been moves to spend N300 million on local
and foreign trainings, don’t you think you need a little more time to have a
proper implementation
I hope you heard me right the very first time. I do not quarrel with
putting structures on ground; the issue is how long will it take for the
project to take off. People like the Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy and
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as well as the Minister of
Tourism, Chief Edem Duke, who are directly in charge, may have to explain the
rationale behind the delay since they are the ones handling the issue.
We have heard this recycled story since June last year or even before
then. So, how long would it take to get things started; and what other
structure do they want to put on ground since ‘Project Act Nollywood,’ a
non-governmental organisation charged with handling the project, has been
instituted since March 2013 and those on board have held series of meetings.
The online registration that you talked about is under ‘Project Act Nollywood.’
This is mid-April 2014. As I speak; I know my members are demoralised already
and some don’t know what to believe anymore whether the project is real or not,
whether it would be realized or not. Personally, I am tired of having to
explain things to them in my zone and seeking their patience. Let’s not fool
ourselves, does it take them seconds to perfect things if they want to steal
government money, why would it take them years to keep the presidential pledge.
But what about the appointment given to entertainers
by the government
Are you saying in a sector as huge as Nollywood no one is good enough or
qualified to be a minister or even a junior minister? Though, there is nothing
we could have done to force Mr. President to do otherwise, if he didn’t give us
these appointments, I want to make it clear that those who have got
appointments are card-carrying members of the ruling party; except Ibinabo. The
others are politicians or personal friends of President Jonathan and they were
appointed due to the settlement syndrome for their contribution to the struggle
of their party. Besides, how many of them got lucrative offices or are head of
their corporations or organisations apart from Onyeka Onwenu and Bongos Ikwue.
Don’t assume that the appointees are filling the slots of Nollywood. They are
PDP card-carrying members, while some of them have vied or would be vying for
offices under the party.
Are you now advocating a ministerial appointment for a
member of Nollywood
Yes, I am advocating that a filmmaker should be appointed a minister. We
have those who are very qualified to manage such offices. In fact, the country
is overdue for a separate ministry to oversee our affairs because we have
contributed so much to the nation’s growth. An industry that employs over a
million people directly and several more through the provision of ancillary
services should not be treated with kid gloves. The entertainment industry has
helped to reduce the burden on the leadership of the country because the huge
unemployment rate in the country is one of our biggest problems in Nigeria. So,
there should be a complete ministry created to handle its affairs and a player
appointed to head the ministry. We have stakeholders in the industry such as
Ibinabo Fiberesima, Pete Edochie, Kasimu Yero, Sani Muazu, Olu Jacob, Joke
Silva, Emma Ogugua and Richard Mofe-Damijo among others who can be appointed as
Minister of Nollywood Affairs.
In a recent interview with First Weekly, Fiberesima Ibinabo showered praises on President Jonathan;
are you saying she was wrong since you have a different opinion
This is the problem. Ibinabo is entitled to her opinion, while I am
entitled to mine. I read that interview and there was nowhere she claimed to be
speaking on our behalf. In any case, if Ibinabo gets an appointment, you can’t
now expect her to say anything wrong about her benefactor. She is one person in
AGN or Nollywood, so making her a board member does not amount to settling the
sector.
What form of contribution do you expect from the
government
I want the government at all levels, especially at state and federal
levels, to be more pro-active in offering support to the industry. It should be
considered that for a sector that lacks the backing of the government and the
corporate sector to have achieved this much, with their backing, the sky would
be the limit; and this would translate to more employment and growth in the
nation’s Gross National Product (GDP).
I expect that an independent Ministry of Nollywood Affairs would be
created by the Federal Government to handle issues relating to creative arts in
the country. Also, I believe the intention of Mr. President is okay, the
problem is his inability to fulfill his pledge to the industry. So, he has to
be more pro-active and sincere in his dealings with us before making effort to
seek our support in whatever form. He needs to work really hard to get
Nollywood to back him for his elections.
What do mean when you say ‘sincere and work hard’
Yes, I say sincere because from what I have deduced from private random
discussions, especially with most top players in the industry, they really
believe the man is playing on the intelligence of those in the entertainment
sector because with his pronouncements of support for the industry, he has
little or nothing to show for years. To add salt to injury, he pledged to
involve AGN in the Centenary programme and give us two slots at the National
Conference, but we have not seen anything happening in these directions with
the conference inaugurated about five weeks ago. I won’t talk about the
secretariat complex he promised because it might be too early to start holding
him or the Minister of FCT responsible for this. This explains my advice to him
to be more proactive and to work hard. This simply means he should act fast
because we are running against time as the general elections are fast
approaching.
But as observed earlier, something is being done
The question I’d like to ask here is that, at what pace is this being
done? Let us be more realistic on this matter please so that I am not
misunderstood or misquoted. The issue is that the process can be faster if they
actually mean to realize it. We have instances, where some state governments
have sent their people for training both at home and abroad. I know Kano and
Borno States have done this, sending people for training is a trending way of
providing dividends of democracy in this dispensation. Kano has dispatched over
500 people to foreign universities to train in medicine, pharmacy and piloting among
other courses. Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State is also preparing his
state for future challenges by sending 20 of his people for Msc programme in Petroleum
Geo-science in the United Kingdom, he sent 35 girls to Sudan for MBBS degree
under the Female Medicine Intervention Programme, 49 teachers were sent for three
months training in India to master K-TAN electronic teaching aides, he sent 50 people
to Thailand on train the trainer course on Integrated Agriculture and another
20 for a four year degree course on Maritime Science in the UK/India in
conjunction with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency
(NIMASA). To imagine that this is a state under heavy bombardment from
terrorist attack and the governor could still send his people for training
without bureaucratic bottlenecks, we need to think twice over the slow pace of the
pledge of President Jonathan to build the capacity of Nollywood filmmakers
through training. What I am trying to point out here is that it is realisable
if they muster the political will to make it happen.
AGN has been undergoing series of crisis since your
executive came on board, why is this so
Crisis is bound to happen, whether it is at institutional level or
family level. The entire world is currently undergoing various form of crisis,
the government of President Jonathan is under crisis; the state governments are
having crisis, so AGN is not alone in this. Anywhere two or three people co-exist,
there is bound to be one form of misunderstanding or the other. The tongue and
cheek also quarrel often, but it is the ability to overcome this crisis that
matters. Check out the history of great
nations like the United States, Great Britain, Germany or Italy; they have all
gone through one form of crisis or the other. So, AGN would get over its crisis
and come out stronger in the long run; I can assure you of this.
Don’t you think Fiberesima Ibinabo is also not helping
matters
This is not true. You see, in every organisation where crisis brew, it
is usually easy to start a crisis, but getting over it takes a little more
time. It is oftentimes a Herculean task. Ibinabo alone cannot be the problem of
AGN. It goes beyond her because the problems were there before she came on
board.
So, how would you rate her leadership so far
She is trying her best. She has come and she is making her inputs as a
leader and she would leave with some legacies, I believe. You know, the problem
with Nigerians is that they must fault every leader. This is just the Nigerian
factor.
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