Adesanya’s harvest of buildings at NFI: As NFI partners San Francisco Art Institute

Updated: Tuesday 16-06-2009

One of the recently inaugurated projects -
the one-storey sound stage On Friday, June 12, just as a section of the Nigerian political class was musing over the botched June 12, 1993 elections, the city of Jos was celebrating the harvest of buildings planted by the Afolabi Adesanya-led Nigerian Film Corporation to further enhance capacity building in the film industry.

The waiting was long but it eventually paid off. The occasion was the inauguration of the sound stage complex, auditorium and administrative block of the National Film Institute (NFI) on Friday, June 12, 2009 and the guests and students of the institute were excited by the prospect of being a part of the historic event.

The Minister of Information and Communications, Professor (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili, who is the supervisor minister of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), NFI’s parent organisation, was the special guest that had been designated to perform the simple but historic task of declaring the structures ready for use.

Also invited in his capacity as the Governor of Plateau State and host of the NFC was Da Jonah Jang who was expected to give his goodwill message to the gathering. But because of official matter of state which took the governor out of the state, his deputy, Chief (Mrs. Pauline Tallen, effectively stood in for him to be part of the event.

Mr. Afolabi Adesanya, the Managing Director of the NFC whose ingenious managing of the affairs of the government parastatal agency had brought about the harvest of physical structures, informed the gathering that his organisation’s ability to take the giant steps was helped by the continued support it was receiving from the government of President Umaru Yar’Adua as well as the Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Akunyili.

According to Adesanya, the NFC had deliberately embarked on the development of physical infrastructure “to provide the necessary and right direction needed for capacity building and manpower development of the film industry”. He stressed that the facilities would plug the holes of the dearth of infrastructure and also enhance the training and capacity needs of the students of the NFI and professional filmmakers who might wish to make use of the facilities.

“The administrative block will provide the much needed office accommodation and a healthy working environment for both academic and non-academic staff … while the sound stage and the auditorium when fully equipped and furnished will provide the needed opportunity for practical tutoring of the students and provide [them] the opportunity to see, feel, and put to use the state of the art equipment, produce and exhibit their work,” he stated.

Adesanya revealed that the NFI since its establishment in 1995 had trained well over 1,000 students in the art and technique of filmmaking and had saved the country 54 million pounds in money that Nigerian students would have paid for similar programmes in institutions of higher learning in the United Kingdom. He thanked the Federal Government for its continued support and commitment to the development of the Nigerian motion picture industry.

Professor Akunyili on her part was ecstatic and did not hide her feelings. She noted that the film industry had contributed immensely to the Nigerian economy and “save for the activities of pirates, the motion picture industry would have overtaken oil as the largest revenue earner for the country”. She noted with pride that the NFC Managing Director had through his ingenuity been creating the enabling environment for filmmakers and neophytes of the cinema industry.

“I want to commend Afolabi [Adesanya] for his efforts at providing the enabling environment for development of the motion picture industry,” she said promising her continued support for the NFC and the efforts of the Nigerian Copyright Commission to rid the nation of intellectual property thieves.

Before the inauguration proper, which climaxed the occasion, the deputy governor of Plateau State, Chief Tallen, who represented the governor, reminded the guests that Adesanya’s harvests of buildings at the NFI had become a regular fair. She noted that about a year ago in 2008, the NFC had invited the public for a similar event when the photography laboratory, the internet café and other structures were inaugurated.

She expressed the readiness of the government of Plateau State to assist the corporation in fulfilling its bounden duty to the public. The Plateau State government, thereafter, promised to construct the road leading to the institute to make the environment conform with the inspiring structures being erected by the NFC.

For creating something out of nothing in spite of the dwindling fortune of the nation occasioned by the global economic meltdown, Adesanya’s colleagues commended his efforts, stressing that the projects would definitely enhance capacity building in the film industry. The last Friday’s inauguration brought to five the number of new facilities Adesanya had built to boost learning at the nation’s premier film institute within the last two years.

It will be recalled that during SHOOT! 2008, the three in one Cyber Café/Bookshop/Canteen, as well as the Still Photography Laboratory were commissioned.

While the Administrative Block will provide the needed office accommodation for the increasing number of academic and non-academic staff of the institute, the 350 terrace seat auditorium will serve as a Lecture Hall and for the screening of students’ films. The Sound Stage complex will provide facilities for pre-production, production and post production of films, movies and television commercials.

Similarly, the newly completed structures/buildings will provide the needed facilities for the Corporations annual professional training workshop – SHOOT! This year’s edition of SHOOT! is scheduled for July 20 – 24, 2009 at the National Film Institute, Jos.

In another development, the National Film Institute, Jos is set to partner the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), United States, in the area of manpower development and skill acquisition.

This is in response to the overwhelming impact and progress recorded at the National Film Institute, Jos in terms of infrastructural development, and training and capacity building for both students and motion picture professionals in the last four years.

In a letter to Afolabi Adesanya, Managing Director, Nigerian Film Corporation, who incidentally is an alumnus of the San Francisco Art Institute and signed by Chris Bratton, the Nigerian Film Corporation was commended for the various transformational developments it has undertaken to strengthen the opportunities that abound in film making in Nigeria. Bratton, who is the Institute’s President, said San Francisco Art Institute has designed her programmes to include broad approaches to old, new and emerging technologies and has also embraced the diversity of film practices across the world.

The NFC, Bratton said, was strategically placed within the African Continent to be approached for cooperative partnership which has already taken off with film schools and agencies in Mexico, France and China.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Ambassador to Israel, His Excellency, Mr. Dada Olisa, has commended the Nigerian Film Corporation for its efforts in ensuring that Nigeria and Nigerians in the Diaspora become part of the development process of the nation through the motion picture business.

Olisa made this commendation when he paid a courtesy call on Afolabi Adesanya, Managing Director of the NFC in Abuja recently.

The Ambassador said he was impressed by the profile of the Nigerian motion picture industry and the strategic role being played by the NFC.

The Nigerian Community and indeed friends of Nigeria in Israel, the Ambassador said, were desirous and are in great expectation in anticipation of the hosting of the Nigerian Art, Culture and Film Week scheduled for Tel-Aviv, August 2009. He assured all those who have indicated interest to participate in the programme of the Embassy’s assistance and support.

Responding, Adesanya thanked the Ambassador for endorsing and supporting the Nigerian Arts, Culture and Film Week in Tel-Aviv saying that it will no doubt strengthen international relationships and the acceptance of Nigerian Art, Culture and films in that region of the world.

Adesanya assured the Ambassador that motion picture professionals will be duly mobilised to attend the Art, Culture and Film Week, an initiative of Mrs. Janet Olisa, wife of the Ambassador.

Movies pre-selected for the programme include; The White Handkerchief and Arugba by Tunde Kelani, Izu Chukwu’s White Waters, and Talking Drums by Kayode Ibisankale. Others are Hafsah by Sani Muazu and Wakara by Ahmad Sarari.