The Film Distributors Association of Nigeria (FDAN) on Tuesday called on the Federal Government to intervene in enhancing cinema infrastructure in Nigeria.
Its National President, Joy Odiete, made the call while speaking with the media in Lagos.
Odiete said that the intervention was needed because the available cinemas in Nigeria were not enough to showcase the locally produced films.
“We have limited cinemas in the country. A nation with over 200 million people that produce millions of films annually, has only 80 cinemas. This is too small.
“Though the films that make it to the cinema are few but the available cinemas are still too small to showcase them.
“We want the federal government to fund cinema owners to improve on the available infrastructure in the cinemas, as well as build more standard cinemas.
“Cinemas need to be funded for us to expand. In Europe, America, and UK, we have over a thousand cinemas. So, it’s easy for someone to produce a film and go and rest till the next year,” she said.
According to Odiete, film producers who had explored distributing their contents through the available streaming platforms usually record limited returns.
She said this was due to the taxes collected as producers hardly recoup their invested funds.
“If we have many cinemas, like over 300, it is not too much for a country like Nigeria. When we have that, it’s easy for producers to recoup their invested funds.
“Distributors will be happy to take on more projects and to also distribute these products to various cinemas across the country.
“Even most of the available cinemas are concentrated in Lagos, so, there is so much limitation. We want to be able to spread to other parts of the country,” she said.