Prof. Emmanuel Dandaura, a Professor of Theatre Arts at the Nasarawa State University, said that the Nigerian film industry was not ideologically-driven.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday that the sector was presently driven by private entrepreneurs who only saw the industry as an avenue to make quick money.
The professor said there was the need for the Federal Government to make deliberate policy that would encourage professionals to come into the sector.
According to him, the industry is presently driven by private entrepreneurs, who want to make a living without basic knowledge of theatre.
“I agree that the Nollywood industry is not a true identity of who we are. It is an evolutional process, first you must recognise the fact that the people in the industry are private entrepreneurs, who want to curve a niche for themselves.
“The present crop of producers of films in the Nollywood are yet to come to terms with an ideologically-driven home video industry. We need to re-school ourselves so that our films will be ideologically driven.
“In this case, we can be talking about how we can use it as a vehicle to sale our very best. But at the moment, we are still at the level of trying to compete with hunger and other items that Nigerians spend their money on,’’ he said.
He noted that “until the professionals are on the driver’s seat, it will be difficult for us to begin to talk about an ideologically-driven film culture''.
Dandaura said that Nigerians were not adequately exposed to theatre performance and stressed the need for national orientation “so that we can have ideology at the back of our minds as we produce our films.’’
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