A trio of Nigerian TV stars and executives have been honoured with the Rock of Fame Award by the Nigerian Film Society (NFS) as part of the Zuma Film Festival (ZUFF) in Abuja.
Zebrudaya
Popular TV comedian Chief Chika Okpala, aka Zebrudaya; film director Femi Odugbemi; and Yakubu Ibn Mohammed, director-general of the Nigerian Television Authority, have been honoured with the award. The gongs were handed out on Friday at the closing ceremony and award night of the ninth edition of ZUFF.
Chidia Maduekwe, chairman of the ZUFF organising committee, said: “This is our modest attempt at appreciating the enormous contributions of these practitioners in the Nigerian film industry and their achievements.
“They are today recognised as the first recipients of the Nigerian Film Society Rock of Fame Award, the highest professional recognition within the Nigeria film industry based solely on merit. The labour of love and commitment to Nigeria’s development of our industry geniuses shall continually be recognised and rewarded.”
The aim of the NFC through ZUFF 2018 is to raise awareness of the need to preserve Nigeria’s memory for future generations of Nigerians.
TV trade event organiser Discop has inked a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) to launch an industry summit in Abuja in December 2019.
Chidia Maduekwe
The MoU was signed by Chidia Maduekwe, MD of the NFC, and Discop Markets CEO Patrick Zuchowicki at the Discop event that took place last week in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The new event, titled the Discop Business Summit Nigeria 2019, will take place during the annual NFC-backed Zuma Film Festival in Abuja.
According to the two parties, the partnership is evidence of the global TV industry’s belief in Nigeria, which is Africa’s fastest-growing creative economy.
The event will include a number of players from Nigeria’s banking sector so they can be part of the processes that propels the creative industries forward. These sectors are not limited to production, finance, banks or financial institutions but to other industries, with the focus being on finance and economic relevance of the content and creative industries.
This partnership is intended to aid the growth of the Nigerian economy as well as its film, TV and digital content industries, as identified by the NFC.
Maduekwe said: “The importance of this partnership cannot be lost on the present administration’s focus on diversification of Nigeria’s economy away from fossil dependency towards the creative economy.
Patrick Zuchowicki
“The collaboration of Discop and NFC is a welcome development that marks an important milestone in the policy direction of the Industrial Advisory Council on Technology & Creativity under the chairmanship of His Excellency, the Vice President of Nigeria.”
“It should be recalled that His Excellency led Nigeria’s creativity team in a visit to California earlier in the year. The continuous development of quality productions in the Nigerian motion picture industry will be given fresh impetus following this signed MoU between NFC and Discop.”
Zuchowicki added: “It is time for the banks, financial institutions and investment funds to take the pulse of the opportunities available in the African entertainment and media marketplace.”
He added that the new summit would “help lenders understand how important a role they can play in the development of the world’s fastest-growing marketplace for film, television, digital and musical content.”
Discop Business Summit Nigeria adds to France-based Discop’s network of events in countries including Egypt, South Africa, Zanzibar and Ivory Coast.
