Abuja –
The Federal Government on Thursday accepted offer by the Japanese Government to
assist Nigeria to develop capacity in production of animation and children
films.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this
on Thursday in Abuja at a meeting with Mr Sadamotu Kusaoke, the Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plempotentiary, Embassy of Japan in Nigeria.
Mohammed said
the government also welcomed the offer by the Japanese Government to accept Nigerian
movies in Japanese film houses, in particular at the annual Tokyo International
Film Festival.
He said there was dearth of animation and children film in
Nigeria, and the offer would go a long way to develop the sub-sector.
The
minister noted that developing animation films would curtail the trend where
many children watched films that were not appropriate for their age.
He noted
that Nigeria being a diversity of many culture had abundant folklore that could
be developed into animation films for local consumption and exportation.
According to him, Nigeria film industry is the third largest producer of films
in the world and government is prepared to develop the sector.
The minister
assured that both governments would work out the modalities for the cooperation
and cultural exchange.
He suggested that the Japanese Government should send
experts to the country to train Nigeria producers in the field of animation and
children films.
Mohammed said Nigeria had abundance of talents with imagination
on animation and children films, but the challenge was the lack of technology
for its development.
The minister seized the opportunity of the meeting to
explain to the envoy the economic and developmental programmes of the Federal
Government.
Earlier, Kusaoke had said that Japan was prepared to look beyond
economic relations with Nigeria and expand exchange in culture and in film
industry.
He said developing the culture and film sector would enable the
Japanese to see the other face of Nigeria and vice versa.
Labels: Animation, Children films, FG welcomes Japanese offer to develop Nigeria animation, Nigerian animation
