The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) says it is ready to partner the Franco-Anglophone Academy of Arts and Culture (LAFAAAC) in the provision of training opportunities to Nigerian creatives, through its training arm the National Film Institute (NFI), Jos, Plateau State. This was revealed by Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, NFC’s Managing Director at a meeting between officials of the both institutions, held in Lagos recently. He commended the efforts of the French Government and its agencies for developing exceptional interest and commitment in supporting Nigerian creative, entertainment and learning institutions.
LAFAAAC was led to the meeting by Mr. Christopher Pecot, the French Audio-visual Attaché in Nigeria, who described as monumental, the untapped creative ingenuity among youths of Nigeria and called for the need and deliberate efforts, to harvest them through partnerships and collaborations. Other members of the French delegation included Mr. Pascal Olivier (Co-founder of LAFAAAC), Cataca Francois (LAFAAAC) and Poirier Lea of the French Embassy in Nigeria.
At the meeting, Dr. Maduekwe extolled the great efforts of LAFAAAC in the provision of specialized digital and online training opportunities across Africa. He said that LAFAAAC’s invitation to the NFC to explore wider training opportunities for Nigerians was apt, desirable and achievable. “The NFC, through its training arm – the National Film Institute (NFI) has undergone great transformation to be able to support and undertake the training initiatives and modules of LAFAAAC”. Some of the transformation which includes the expansion of its academic curriculum, also is the recently introduced master degree programme in Film Culture & Archival Studies being run in collaboration with other Nigerian and German academic institutions.
Earlier, Mr. Pascal Olivier said that LAFAAAC commenced it training programmes in 2019, offering innovative and mobile app training courses for upcoming and creative professionals, with focus on empowerment, entrepreneurship and leverages on its blended learning approach to address the challenges of access to quality of education for Africans. The range of courses – scriptwriting, makeup, music, animation etc; he said, focuses on the development of technical proficiencies as well as hard and soft skills designed for creative interns and professionals.
Professor Methuselah Jeremiah, Rector of the National Film Institute, Jos, at the meeting assured of the readiness of Students of the Institute to take up opportunities of LAFAAC’s training programmes as well as of the Institute’s commitment to a sustainable partnership.
Brian Etuk
Director, Public Affairs
Nigerian Film Corporation
