Action on the N3 billion support promised the Nigerian film industry by President Goodluck Jonathan has formally commenced with the roll out of a N300 million capacity building fund.

The presidential intervention, called Project ACT Nollywood, is managed by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Minister of Tourism, Chief Edem Duke.

“The capacity building fund is the first of a series of initiatives planned under Project Act Nollywood. It is made up of two components,” said Okonjo-Iweala’s Special Adviser, Paul C Nwabuikwu.

“The first is a Training Fund of N150 million dedicated to training and skills acquisition for Nollywood Practitioners in all competencies along the entire value chain of Nigeria’s movie industry,” Nwabuikwu said in a statement issued this evening in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. “These,” according to him, “include Scriptwriting, Directing, Production and Production Design, Special Effects, Lighting, Sound, HD Techniques, Acting, Cinematography, Make-Up, Editing, etc.”

He said that “the second component is the Capacity Development Fund which is also worth N150 million. It will give grants to existing Nigerian-owned private institutes that offer training courses, programmes, and technical certification in the movie industry.”

In addition, “the Capacity Development Fund may be used to upgrade existing facilities, procure equipment and develop internal capacity to offer a set of courses/training programs, which address key skills gap,” the statement said.

It explained that “to benefit from the Capacity Development Fund, interested institutes must prove to be registered from before 1^st January 2013 and be competent enough to train according to global best practices (including for organisations partnering with training programmes from reputable international film institutions) on a sustainable basis.”

Speaking on the development, Okonjo-Iweala said that the establishment of the fund underscores government’s commitment to supporting Nollywood in recognition of the film industry’s contributions to the economy and projecting the country.

“This is the first of the initiatives planned under Project Act Nollywood. And it shows that the President is keeping his word to the industry and to Nigerians. Nollywood deserves this support because it has added value to the economy by creating jobs and acting as an ambassador to the country, projecting Nigeria to many parts of the world that hitherto knew little or nothing about the country,” she said.

The Coordinating Minister stressed that Project Act Nollywood is not for sharing to practitioners but that the overall objective is to support the industry in a sustainable way that practitioners can leverage on to improve their capacity and output in key areas.

News Express learnt that the Fund is open for applications from July 2013 to December 2013. Courses commencing after December 31 are eligible provided the application is received before 31^st December 2013.

The guidelines for the applicants to the capacity fund include:

*Applicants must be Nigerian

*Be an industry practitioner

The guidelines also indicate that membership of an industry Association or Guild is encouraged but is not a pre-requisite to meet application requirements.

•Photo shows Coordinating Minister Okonjo-Iweala.