FG assures Germany of effective cultural collaboration

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has assured German Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Bernard Schlagheck of effective cultural collaboration between Nigeria and Germany.

The minister gave the assurance when Schlagheck paid him a courtesy visit on Friday in Abuja.

“There is need for us to have quality preservation of our cultures through movies.“The `Berlin Film Festival’ is coming up in February, 2017; what will form highlight of the festival is the showcasing of a Nigerian movie `Shehu Umar.’

“There is also the need to walk the talk about Memorandum of Understanding (MoU); generally, MoU should go beyond signing into making it work.“There should be timeline for MoU so as to ensure that the necessary things are achieved,’’ Mohammed said.

The Information Minister also called on the German Ambassador to assist the country in exhibiting its cultural artifacts.According to him, Frankfort University has in the past donated some stands for the exhibition of artifacts.

Mohammed also assured Schlegheck that he would liaise with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to see how to assist.“However, there is need for a holistic understanding of what we are doing.’’Speaking earlier, Schlagheck said that Nigeria had a rich cultural heritage and called for their preservation through the film industry.

He also explained that Nigeria and Germany had a long standing bilateral relationship for over 40 years.“We want it sustained through the preservation of culture and heritage of both countries.

“The German Government is ever ready to preserve Nigeria’s culture through epic film; we will really like the movie `Shehu Umar’ to be showcased during the 2017 Berlin Film Festival.

“The University of Frankfort is set to collaborate with the National Council for Museums and Monuments to enhance cultural collaboration.

“We would want the country to help in areas of unnecessary bureaucracy in terms of laws and procedures; because we need to go to our parliament to rectify MoUs,’’ Schleghecck said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the `Berlin International Film Festival’ also called the `Berlinale,’ is one of the world’s leading film festivals and most reputable media events.

It is held annually in Berlin, Germany.Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978.

With around 300,000 tickets sold and 500,000 admissions, it is considered the largest publicly attended film festival worldwide based on actual attendance rates.

Up to 400 films are shown in several sections, representing a comprehensive array of the cinematic world; around twenty films compete for the awards called the Golden and Silver Bears.