Unforgettable experience was my session with Sola Sobowale in her office off Allen Avenue, Ikeja. We sat on the floor, swigged gists and laughed loudly. Beautiful soul, that one, in and out. We spoke for a long time until mummy duty called when the twins returned from school. I spent many days on the Ikorodu set of Checkmate. That was where I forged a bond with Amaka Igwe. (Then she was Amaka Isaac-Ene), Ngozi Nwosu and Uncle K, Kunle Bantefa. But the hard work that goes into each movie, each series we sit back to enjoy on DStv, Netflix, YouTube, Prime and the cinemas is huge. Forget the glamour. The sweat, tears and focus it requires to become a face or voice in Nollywood is unquantifiable.

I will never forget the few hours I spent on the set of one of Amaka Igwe’s movies, somewhere in Ogudu GRA and the way Norbert Young wowed me that day. Nobody, no other actor has left such a mark on my 20-something year old mind then like he did. In one of his scenes, he was required to cry and he produced the right amount of tears each time the director shouted “Action.” Then “Cut” and Norbert Young wiped his eyes, returned to the people he was sitting with and they continued their gist, laughing and joking. The Director would then call for another take and Norbert would tear up again, cry so convincingly I wanted to go console him. One minute later, he was back to his gisting session, jokes and laughs. They had many many retakes of that scene, even this reporter was exhausted in her chair. But Norbert Young didn’t run out of tears or miss his lines.

In those days, I enjoyed my time on location because it helped me understand the beat more, see how movies were put together and I could do two interviews in one day and book four for later. There were no phones then, remember?

READ ALSO: Ondo NYSC boss to ‘corpers’: You can’t afford to let Nigeria down

My date with Pete Edochie is a full book. Olu Jacobs? We are a blessed country. Ah, I must not forget the biggest interview of all (for me). Chief Hubert Ogunde in his Ososa village in Ogun state. Weeks after that, the old man went the way of all mortals. So, is this a peep into the book What Funke Egbemode Did Before She Became Editor? I’m shaking my head, not exactly. I’m just in a collaboration mood and mode.

Nollywood has come a long way and as I watched the 11th edition of the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA), my sad heart lifted and told me, “It’s not over for the Nigerian economy.” Nollywood has shown that everything that Nigeria needs to be great is in Nigeria. All we need to do is to keep the thick grabbing fingers of politicians and civil servants away from it.

We will just pray for those who keep running around the world looking for foreign investors that the Lord will open their eyes to what is already in the pockets of their trousers.

All those encounters with the veterans I started this piece with happened more than 30 years ago. I saw the boyish look of Funsho Adeolu in an old flick and I said to myself, “This is the story of Nollywood.” The boys are now men. As I watched Femi Adebayo on stage with his well-deserved award for the beautiful Seven Doors, many happy thoughts flooded my mind. I remember T’oluwa Nile, Rattlesnake, Saworo Ide. I remember Aye and J’ayesimi, Taxi Driver, Owo Lagba etc.

I remember the humble beginning of the Nigerian entertainment industry. Many didn’t give it a chance. They talked and looked down on it. But here we are, on the way to fantastic greatness already doing enviable exploits and, wait for it, all on its own. Nollywood is successful all by itself.

Our music, our movies are our exports, our ambassadors by themselves.

Or is there any other sector of the Nigerian economy that started small, weathered the storm of piracy, no funding, low funding, then grew, expanded, became a national pride like our music and movie industries? I must have missed it.

How many states that produced these hardworking actors have film villages that we can reference? But Ibrahim Chatta and Kunle Afolayan pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and built two. Just like Aliko Dangote did what successive Nigerian governments could not do for decades—a working refinery—Nollywood employs thousands of Nigerians.

As manufacturers and internationals leave Nigeria in droves, our entertainment industry is growing roots and bringing in the sheaves in tons. It is touching many sectors that once refused to touch it with a barge pole. The industry that we sneered and hissed at is increasingly looking like our bailout. Or you think a Youth Corper can just walk into Kunle Afolayan’s movie school like he’s doing the academy a favour today? No, he would have to follow due process because it is a profitable, focused corporate entity.

When Funke Akindele hit the N1bn mark with Everybody Loves Jennifer in 2024 and Mo Abudu’s Wedding Party shook the charts, who saw them coming?

While American filmmakers are leaving for Canada and UK locations, Nigerian veteran actors are building film villages that are also resorts for us to save on flight tickets to Europe and Dubai and enjoy our breathtaking natural landscapes. Donald Trump in all his troublesome trumping is seeing Hollywood as deserving of attention, shouldn’t that tell us it is time to rev up our support for this reliable joy-giving sector of the economy?

This is our tangible alternative to oil. This is the only evidence that we can actually diversify the economy, earn “hard currency,” attract foreign investors without setting up dozens of committees or organizing summits. We will just pray for those who keep running around the world looking for foreign investors that the Lord will open their eyes to what is already in the pockets of their trousers.

The post The billions I found in Nollywood, By Funke Egbemode appeared first on Frontpageng.

The Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management at the NCC, Adeleke Adewolu, stated this while addressing stakeholders at the combined second and third quarters 2023 meeting of the Industry Working Groups, IWG, on multiple taxation and regulations in the telecoms sector.

The meeting, which held in Ibadan, Oyo State on Tuesday, was convened as a precursor to a more elaborate Regional Stakeholders Workshop on Multiple Taxation and Regulations, scheduled to take place in the state on Wednesday.

Addressing the meeting, attended by senior executives of telecom licensees and their umbrella body, the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, as staff of the commission, Adewolu said the IWG’s activities were geared towards ensuring fair tax policies and eliminating every incident of multiple taxation and regulations impacting the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

He stated that a lot of milestones had been recorded by the industry since the establishment of the IWG over two decades ago, as the platform has proven to be effective in articulating industry concerns in this area and also proffering solutions to these issues.

“Considerable industry gains have been recorded lately, particularly as it relates to the issue of multiple taxation. For instance, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently signed Four Executive Orders designed to curb multiple taxation in the country.

“Key amongst them is the Executive Order for the suspension of the five per cent Excise Duty on telecommunication services as well as Excise Duties escalation on other locally manufactured products,” he said.

He described the gains as laudable as, according to him, they continue to serve as inspiring landmarks for the industry, underscoring what can be achieved when the entire industry come together harmoniously to speak with one voice on existential concerns undermining the economic health of the communications industry.

However, the executive commissioner said there remained a lot of work to be done as the industry was still beguiled by arbitrary Right of Way (RoW) charges, hidden nuisance taxes and unauthorised regulatory encroachment into the communications industry.

READ ALSO: Africa Internet Governance Forum: Nigeria hosts 54 countries, others

As such, he said the Commission had continued to work assiduously to ensure harmonisation of RoW charges across the country.

He said aside several existing agencies the commission had been working with, it was also collaborating strategically with sister agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in line with the National Economic Council, NEC, resolution of 2012 and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA.

“We are also working with the Nigerian Mainstream and  Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), all in a bid to ensure the regulatory actions taken by the agencies are well synchronised with the regulatory objectives of the Commission, in a manner that boosts market development and industry sustainability,” he said.

While tasking telecom licensees to continue to bring burning issues on multiple taxation and regulation to the attention of the commission as they experience in their daily operation, Adewolu also assured them of NCC’s decision to always make necessary regulatory intervention to boost industry growth.

“The commission is always inclined to executing the requisite reform that will strengthen the Communications Sector and deepen market development,” he said, as he urged all stakeholders at the IWG meeting to deliberate frankly and productively in highlighting pressing and key issues that require urgent attention.

The post NCC: We’re implementing requisite reforms to strengthen telecoms appeared first on Frontpageng.

On the heels of Danbatta’s declaration came a pledge by Chairman, NCC Board of Commissioners, Prof. Adeolu Akande, ‘to go to the drawing table’ in ensuring the Commission is well positioned to deliver on its mandates.

The chairman promised that the board would work on issues that would help strengthen the regulator to deliver more effectively on its mandates.

Speaking at the wrap-up ceremony of the retreat, which started on Thursday at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja and ended on Saturday, Danbatta expressed confidence in the leadership of the Board of the Commission.

He noted that the support of the board had been invaluable in the accomplishments of the commission.

According to Danbatta, “I must commend the Board of Commissioners under the chairmanship of Prof. Adeolu Akande for their support. From the first day of assuming office as NCC chairman, Prof. Akande has demonstrated his commitment to work with the management towards ensuring that NCC delivers its functions more efficiently and effectively.”

Danbatta stated that, as an effective, efficient and independent regulatory agency of the federal government, the NCC had been consistent in living up to stakeholder expectations and that was  proven by the contribution of the telecom sector to the national economy.

“Without the staunch support of the Board for the Management’s vision and mission, it would have been difficult for us to achieve our goals. Therefore, I commend the board for providing the necessary policy directions required to drive management’s daily activities,” Danbatta said.

Danbatta also appreciated the effective coordination of the 2021 BMR by the retreat consultants led by Prof. Pat Utomi, in ensuring effective facilitation of proceedings, deliberations and brainstorming sessions at the retreat.

With the theme: ‘Expect More, Deliver Result’, this year’s strategic annual retreat of the commission’s board and management, was attended in-person and virtually by board members and senior management staff of the commission.

The retreat follows the unveiling of two key documents – the Strategic Management Plan, SMP, 2020-2024, and the Strategic Vision Plan, SVP, 2021-2025.

The SVP is a streamlined version of the SMP, and the SMP took life out of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030), the National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) and the Federation Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

The SVP, which has five central vision, also has three supporting documents, namely: implementation strategies and timelines; monitoring and evaluation framework; and implementation responsibility matrix.

The objective of the SVP is to enhance regulatory focus and efficiency in the delivery of NCC’s mandate.

Within this context, the Commission has focused this year’s retreat on taking account of remarkable successes recorded in the last one year and how the Commission hopes to innovate its way toward addressing industry challenges militating the consolidation of the growth of telecommunications sector.

At the end of the three-day retreat, an eight-point communique was read out as a synthesis of all the deliberations for submission to NCC Board and Management to guide the regulatory activities of the commission over the next one year.

Implementation of the communique is expected to birth a new lease of expectations and dedication towards making 2022 a more rewarding year innovation and growth for the telecom industry.

Over the years the NCC, as a world-class regulatory agency, has held annual board and management retreats, affording it the opportunity to rejig its culture, processes and strategic objectives for enhanced operational efficiency and regulatory excellence.

The post BMR: Akande, Danbatta express commitment to driving growth of telecom appeared first on Frontpageng.