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| Ibinabo |
In fact, two months ago Fiberesima raised
the curiosity of stakeholders in the movie industry after she dropped a hint
that the draft of the long awaited Motion Picture Practitioners Council of
Nigeria bill, (MOPPICON) would be returned to them for onward review and
possible approval.
She further went ahead to say that
the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation would be releasing the
draft a week after she made the disclosure, so that players in the industry can
make input before the bill is sent to the National Assembly.
“You would recall that we asked for
so many things from President Goodluck Jonathan when we visited him some months
ago, and one of the fruits of the visit is the MOPPICON Bill; its draft will be
released next week by the Attorney General of the Federation so that we can
make inputs,” she hinted.
Meanwhile, two months after she made
the announcement, nothing much has been heard about the draft even as
mixed-feelings have continued to trail her comments.
First to react to Ibinabo’s
announcement was the President of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers, ANCOP,
Comrade Alex Eyengho,who frowned at her comments. He, however, cautioned the
AGN president, to concern herself with the politics of Guild, and not the
entire industry.“ The draft bill is older than Ibinabo in the indsutry.
Therefore, she has no right to represent the interest of the industry as far as
the MOPPICON bill is concerned,” Eyengho fumed.
Also, reacting in the same vein,
former president of the actors’ body, Ejike Asiegbu accused the federal
government of not being sincere about the bill.
According to him, “The government is
trying to be economical with the truth. This is because every work that needed
to be done on the bill has been completed and presented to them.”
He also accused the government of
taking advantage of the fact that most of the current leaders in Nollywood are
not well-informed about some of the key issues affecting the industry, hence
its alleged decision to return the draft to the industry. “If the government is
considering the possibility of returning the bill to the industry, they should
contact some of us who are knowledgeable about these key issues,” Asiegbu
advocated.
On his own, veteran film maker,
Chief Eddie Ugbomah argued that the bill was drafted over twelve years ago,
adding that it has been ever ready before now. “They shouldn’t be fooling us.
The last time, we were on the bill, myself, Zack Orji, Andy Amenechi, Ejike
Asiegbu, Madu Chikwendu and Kanayo .O.Kanayo with the former Minister of
Information and Communications, Mr. Frank Nweke Jr. He handed the draft to Mr
Odeh when he was leaving office. Mr Odeh invited us to come and talk about the
bill. After Odeh left office, the document died with Dora Akunyili when she was
the Minister of Information and Communications, before Mr. Labaran Maku came on
board. This MOPPICON bill is ever before Ibinabo was born,” Ugbomah stressed.
He, however, insists that if
government wants to return the bill to the industry, there is need for them to
get in touch with the committee that was set up to prepare the document to read
it again and ascertain whether the content has been doctored. Also, in his own
reaction, Association of Movie Practitioners, AMP president, Zik Zulu Okafor
described the move as a welcome development. “I have not been fully briefed on
it, but I heard that the government is planning to return the draft to the industry
for us to look at it again. I think the draft has been tampered with, and the
industry needs to be sure that what we sent is what we will get in return. It
will be a fantastic idea because we need to see it again and be sure that our
language is what the bill is speaking,” Zik Zulu reasoned. For Directors Guild
of Nigeria, DGN president, Andy Amenechi the government’s decision to return
the draft to the industry is basically to enable the players have a final look
at the draft before it’s sent to the National Assembly for passage into law.
Meanwhile, in 2006, the Nigerian
Film Corporation set up a steering committee for MOPPICON. The committee, which
was made up of what was then considered as elected representatives of all
sectors of the motion picture industry in Nigeria, actually generated the much
talked about draft MOPPICON bill. The committee reportedly met severally and
received memoranda from stakeholders cut across virtually all the geograhical
zones of the federation.But while the committee completed its task and
submitted the draft MOPPICON bill several years ago, owing to bureaucratic
bottlenecks between the Ministries of Culture, Information and Justice,
successive administrations including Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and the late
Umaru Yar’Adua were unable to send the bill to the National Assembly for
passage into law.If passed into law, MOPPICON will stand as “a working manual
of the industry.”
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