By Samuel Oyadongha

FILM makers, actors and actresses, particularly of Ijaw extraction have been challenged to consider the usage of Ijaw language in the production of movies in the country.

Governor Seriake Dickson gave the charge in Yenagoa while declaring open a symposium titled, “The prospects of indigenous films in Nigeria.”

Represented by the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah(rtd), the governor said that the state government has made the teaching of the Ijaw language in primary schools mandatory in order to promote the Ijaw culture.

*Gov Seriake Dickson

According to him, the aim of the symposium is to produce Bayelsans that will be proficient in the Ijaw language so that they can act Ijaw-based films effectively and professionally.

In his welcome address, the Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw Affairs, Dr Felix Tuodolo, whose ministry organized the symposium, said that an Ijaw Film Project has been conceptualized in order to make Bayelsa State, the film making destination in Nigeria.

He also said that the symposium was initiated to explore the different perspectives of building a profitable partnership between film makers in Nigeria and the Bayelsa State government.

Dr Tuodolo also emphasized that the film industry is a money spinning business and that government is ready to partner with Nollywood to produce Ijaw-based movies and television series.

The commissioner also recalled that in the past, previous governments of the state hosted series of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) but regrettably, the state never derived any visible benefits from the partnership.