THE N300 million capacity building fund for the Nigerian film industry is ready for disbursement to qualified practitioners.
Its website will be launched and activated as from noon today. The website is www.projectactnollywood.com.ng.
A statement by Paul Nwabuikwu, the Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, said this "signals the commencement of the fund, as corporate and individual practitioners in various aspects of movie craft and production can apply for various specified grants under the fund to boost their skills and capacity".
The statement added: "The Capacity Building Fund, which was announced recently as the first part of the N3 billion support fund for Nollywood, was pledged by President Goodluck Jonathan."
The fund, it added, is the first in a series of initiatives planned under Project ACT Nollywood, comprising two components.
The first is a Training Fund of N150 million dedicated to training and skill acquisition for Nollywood practitioners in all competencies along the value chain of Nigeria's movie industry.
These, the statement noted, include "scriptwriting, directing, production and production design, special effects, lighting, sound, HD techniques, acting, cinematography, make-up, editing, etc."
The second component is the Capacity Development Fund, which is also worth N150 million.
This will come as grants to existing Nigerian-owned private institutes, which offer training courses, programmes and technical certification in the movie industry.
It could also be used to upgrade existing facilities, procure equipment and develop internal capacity to offer a set of courses/training programmess, which address key skills gap.
