As the President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari(retd) and his vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo are getting ready to take over the reins of power on May 29, a cross-section of Nollywood practitioners under the aegis of the Nollywood Stakeholders Forum,NSF, have urged the new president to use his good office to instill discipline and restore sanity in the nation’s creative industry.

The group also, urged the incoming president to endeavour to sustain the precedent established by the outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan whose romance with the entertainment industry will continue to resonate. The group made this call, at a press parley which held on Monday, in Lagos.

Speaking through its coordinator, Harris Chuma, the group declared its support for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode. It described the victory of the APC at the presidential polls as a welcome development, saying it will positively bring the much-desired change in the nation’s creative industry.

Nollywood, he said, cannot be said to occupy a strategic position in the Nigerian economic sphere without the continued presence of the government.

“We therefore call on the incoming administration to address the myriad of issues militating against our practice, guarantee the protection of Intellectual Property, support and empower Nollywood practitioners to enable them compete favourably in the comity of international movie practitioners,” he said. According to him, “We at Nollywood Stakeholders Forum will continue to work with everything at our disposal to ensure the victory of APC governorship candidate in Lagos State and other states.

We therefore use this medium to re-emphasize our support for the election of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode as the next governor of Lagos State, the entertainment capital of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he stated. According to Alex Eyengho, Director of Campaign (NTB) the industry also wants the new president to empower and strengthen institutions, and individuals. We want a president that will empower the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and help it exercise its mandate to fight piracy.