‘Nollywood, only industry capable of redefining Nigeria’

According to Punchng.com

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday lauded the activities of actors and actresses in the country, saying Nollywood is the only industry that the government could partner with to redefine Nigeria.

He said the influence of the industry was enormous to the extent that if he and any actor travelled to any neighbouring country, he would be abandoned while people would be running after the actor even from the airport.

Jonathan spoke while granting audience to a delegation of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, led by its National President, Ibinabo Fiberesima, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The President observed that even the mass media could not transmit messages of national re-integration to the nook and cranny of the country the way actors and actresses would do.

He said journalism was for the elite as people in the grassroots were more exposed to the Nollywood than the mass media.

This, he explained, was the reason behind his directives to affected ministers that actors should be inculcated in his administration’s reform programmes in agriculture, power and other sectors.

Jonathan said, “The Nollywood touches every Nigerian. So, many bodies, even like mass communication, the journalists and so on. So, many women in the villages don’t know about what they do because it is almost for the elite.

“But to you ( Nollywood), you touch the children from a very young age to the oldest people. So, the Actors Guild of Nigeria is a body that we must really assist in anyway possible.

“It is only Nollywood that government can partner with to redefine Nigeria. The people that can redefine the country and carry messages are Nollywood people.”