Why Figurine stole the show at AMAA

Kunle Afolayan looms large in Nigerian film industry. And having hit international fame as a distinguished director, actor and producer, his second feature film, 'Figurine" recently put other African film makers on their toes, as it clinched five awards at this year's African Movie Academy Awards.

Afolayan believed that the landslide victory his film recorded at AMAA was as a result of his commitment to setting a standard for African film makers. For him, "Figurine" was a product of experiment to see how he can give Nigerian film makers an edge over other film makers from across Africa.

Speaking in an interview with HVP after his victory at AMAA during the week, Afolayan urged film makers in Africa to pay attention to details, picture quality and sound effects.

"My work speaks for me, simply because what I have been able to learn while growing up as well as when I was in the film school, coupled with the experience I have acquired in the last one decade has given me that edge over every other film maker within and outside the shores of Nigeria."

Afolayan said he learnt a lot after producing his first feature film, "Irapada' which also won the Best Indigenous Award at 2007 AMAA.

"For me, Figurine was an experiment. I wanted to see how I can add value to film making in Nigeria. After producing, "Irapada", I learnt a lot of lessons, which I tried to improve while shooting "Figurine". I didn't even totally achieve what I wanted to achieve in "Figurine". It wouldn't have come out better than what it is today because of a lot of hitches, which we recorded here and there. I thank God that the film is still a success. But I'm sure it would have done much better if those hitches were eliminated," said the celebrated film maker.

Figurine, he continued, "was purposely done in that class to prove to my colleagues and entire African film makers that if we take our time and add a few things here and there to our production, we can stand the chance of placing our films side by side with any film from either Hollywood or Bollywood."

The big budget film, which premiered in the UK and US cinemas, took Afolayan four years to produce. "Shooting the film took us three months, while post-production and pre-production took us four to three months respectively. Also, it took us almost a year after the script was ready to complete the production process.

The budget of Figurine was very huge compared to the budget of an average Nollywood film. It was higher because the set was huge. I had a huge cast and crew. We moved from location to location which really gulped a lot of money in return: on logistics and catering for the welfare of the team."

However, with a lower budget, Afolayan said he can still achieve the same standard as Figurine. Figurine parades top Nollywood stars like Ramsey Nouah, Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi, Tosin Sido, Omoni Oboli and Muraina Oyelami. It was shot on 35mm, not celluloid but digital, HD using 35mm adaptor and film prime lenses.

Afolyan said he is making efforts to release the film on DVD/VCD to give it a wider spread. "Figurine has costed me a fortune, over N50m. Right now, it had gone to the cinemas all over the world. We are looking for a platform where we can sell more than a million copies. Once that is in place, we will not hesitate to release the film on DVD/VCD. The film has got good production value and picture quality that gives it an edge over other films, and also make it to appeal to the international audience.

Five awards won by Afolayan's "Figurine" during this year's AMAA included Heart of African Award for Best Film from Nigeria, Best Picture, Achievement in Cinematography, Achievement in Visual Effect, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role which was won by actor Ramsey Nouah.

Afolyan wondered why he did not win the AMAA Best Director Award, because,, "I see no reason the film that won theBest cinematography, Best picture and Best visual effects, the three key categories in film making, would not win the best directed film. I'm glad at our victory at AMAA. I was really expecting to win the best director award but it did not happen," he lamented.

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29 yr-old man organizes own funeral while alive

The people of the Otuasega community were last Thursday taken aback when a young man chose to organise his own funeral vigil before his demise. The action of the man, aged 29, identified as Donald Banono, was said to have caused a stir in the sleepy Ogbia settlement with the elderly staying away from the ceremony seen as abnormal.

It all started as a joke when this reporter received a phone call from a long time acquaintance who incidentally is a Roman Catholic priest from the area of the bizarre development.

At the venue, youths observed the wake keep with the supposed 'dead man' whose obituary posters were pasted at the arena. Music blared out from giant loud speakers mounted at the venue with bottles of local gin, popularly called ogogoro being passed round to those present.

The 29 year old school leaver said his supposed obituary party was a symbolic protest against the hardship faced by majority of the youths from poor background.

He noted with sadness that, "it is only when a man drops dead that relations come out to waste their money on the frivolities of organising burial, instead of providing assistance when the person needed their help. "I decided to organise my wake keep while alive. When you are alive nobody wants to help you but when you die relations and others will come and donate for burial," he said.

A top government official from the area who spoke anonymously told Saturday Vanguard that he had to run away from the wake keep ground when the celebrant approached him for a handshake.

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Chinese blame businessmen for fake goods

China has blamed Nigerian businessmen for the fake and sub-standard products coming into Nigeria from China.

Consul-General of China in Lagos, Mr. Guo Kun, made the allegation at an interactive session between the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and a delegation of Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) held at NIIA, yesterday in Lagos.

Mr. Kun said some Nigerian entrepreneurs compel some Chinese companies to produce sub-standard goods and Chinese companies consent because they do not want to lose good business.

"It is a real problem for a product that is say 10 dollars (about N1500) of standard quality, some of the [Nigerian] entrepreneurs went to China, and asked the host to make it thinner and cheaper. At the very beginning, some of the [Chinese] companies were very reluctant to produce for them. But later, you know they are entrepreneurs, they want to make money. These host factories don't want to make for them, to produce for them. Finally they [Nigerian entrepreneurs] went to many factories, at least they can find one or two factories to make for them sub-standard goods and they bring it back [ to Nigeria]," he said.

When asked what Chinese government is doing to stop the production of sub-standard goods in China.

Mr Gun said: "We have regulations. We also educate Chinese entrepreneurs. As I am a government official, I also talk with Chinese in the so-called China Village and with those in Balogun market, 'don't bring these to the Nigerian market".

He promised that the Chinese government will strengthen its products quality control system in order to stop the production of sub-standard goods in China.

Earlier in his address, the leader of CPAFFC delegation, Mr Feng Zuoku, who spoke through an interpreter, said the visit is to strengthen bilateral relationship with Nigeria given the strategic positions both countries occupy in their respective continents and in the world as well.

Mr. Zuoku said future co operations between the two nations are very broad since their respective leadership have continued to share similar positions on global issues and have shown increasing commitment to work together.

Receiving the Chinese delegation, the Director-General of NIIA, Prof. Osita Eze, said Nigeria has a lot to learn from China, given China's increasing ascendance as a global force in political and economic issues. "China is a major power in economic and political issues in the world. It is about the second largest economy in the world and is a member of the United Nations Security Council. You just cannot ignore China in today's economic and political arena. Nigeria must learn from China, how to bring about development in all its facets," he said.

Prof. Eze expressed the hope that the visit will not just stop at NIIA, but extend to all areas of our national life given the shared experiences between the two nations.

In his address, the founder and chairman Nigeria-China Friendship Association (NICAF), Ambassador Vincent Chibundu, expressed appreciation at the expanding and deepening bilateral relationship between Nigeria and China. In his words: "You need to go to the Consulate-General of the PRC [People's Republic of China] or the Embassy in Abuja to witness the long queues applying for visas to China for all sorts of businesses and positive relationship between our two countries is indeed flourishing."

The Chinese delegation comprises local government officials, entrepreneurs and a journalist.

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Government borrows $1 billion from world bank

The Federal Government has borrowed US $915 million from the World Bank to finance an expected deficit in the 2010 budget, it emerged yesterday.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan sent a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives seeking approval to borrow the money.

Jonathan said the money was needed because Nigeria was in dire need of funds to finance an infrastructure deficit, which he said is critical to rapid development. He also said the credit is highly concessionary, offered by multilateral agencies to which Nigeria belongs and commits substantial resources as affiliation fees.

Jonathan said in the letter, "The World Bank portfolio of the facilities totalling $915 million out of which $179 million would be drawn in fiscal 2010 is of particular essence as it would be deployed to Urban Water and Transport, Human Capacity Development and Power infrastructure projects across the country." He said the borrowing plan was in consonance with due process and appealed to the House of Representatives to approve it. The total budget deficit in the 2010 budget stands at N1.3 trillion naira, while the whole budget is N4.06 trillion naira.

Meanwhile, the Acting President is expected to sign the 2010 budget at 10am today at the Presidential Villa. This followed a meeting between him and the leadership of the National Assembly on Tuesday, during which the lawmakers agreed to remove projects that were inserted in the budget without the knowledge of the executive.

Jonathan was reportedly not happy with the padding of the budget by the appropriation committees of the two chambers, saying they might have taken advantage of President Umaru Yar'adua's illness.

Passage of the budget, which was approved by the National Assembly and forwarded to Jonathan last month, has been delayed for weeks due to differences between the Presidency and the lawmakers.

Minister of State for Information and Communications Labaran Maku, while briefing reporters shortly after the Federal Executive Council meeting yesterday, said the budget would be signed before the week runs out. He said Jonathan was unable to assent to the budget because of certain discrepancies which he said have to be sorted out.

But later yesterday, Jonathan's spokesman Ima Niboro came up with a terse statement saying the budget would be signed today by 10 am. "Budget to be signed tomorrow by 10 am", Niboro said in the statement.

"The Acting President told us that the National Assembly has forwarded the approved budget which the executive arm is looking at, so from what the Acting President told council, the leadership of the National Assembly and the presidency are discussing on the areas of discrepancies and we expect that between now and some few days, the budget will be signed into law because we do not have a lot of time to wait. Already we are in the month of April, the nation is expecting a lot of activities to regenerate the economy and give life to socio-economic activities in the country," Maku said.

The budget aims to increase expenditure by 50 percent this year as Nigeria tries to spend its way out of a downturn, but the increase risks pushing the country to a budget deficit of more than 5 percent.

On the golden jubilee anniversary, Maku said the council had received the report of the presidential committee chaired by the Secretary to Government of Federation Mahmud Yayale Ahmed.

He said the council called on Nigerians to be mobilized to celebrate the golden jubilee of the nation. "The state governments are expected to draw up their own programs as well. The logo would also be unveiled very soon," Maku said.

On the recent trip of the acting President to United States, foreign affairs Minister Odein Ajumogobia said the trip had tangible benefits to Nigeria. "The tangible benefit of the Acting President's trip to US is something we have to work on In terms of follow up, in terms of trying to engage our partners to address our domestic issues of power, infrastructure and so on and that is what this trip did," he said.

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