, Nigerian Movie Awards (NIGMA), Mr Greg Fiberesima, yesterday said Nigerian Film Industry, popularly known as Nollywood, rakes in more than N50 billion annually.

Feberesima, who said this yesterday at a news conference held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, to mark the NIGMA 2008 award in the state, also hinted that an average of 20 films are produced every two weeks by the Nigerian film industry.

The industry, he said, has created more job opportunities for unemployed youths, indicating that Nollywood, through her various production units, employs a lot of people in areas like editing, script writing, sound engineering, camera coverage, acting, producing, directing and marketing for talented individuals in Nigeria. Feberesima said the Nigerian Movie Awards was created out of the need to make Nollywood meet up with other film industries in the world like Hollywood in the U.S.A and Bollywood in India.

He said through Nollywood, the nation's cultural, traditional and human stories have effectively been showcased to other parts of the world, adding that Nollywood has become the third largest film industry in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood.

As a totally private sector driven industry, he said various associations and guilds in Nollywood have contributed immensely to regulation of activities in the industry to produce quality services and ensure consumer satisfaction.
According to him, the height reached and impact created so far made the industry attain international recognition in the global film market, saying Nigerian film makers are often invited now to participate in film festivals in different parts of the world Source: Alayande Dayo