We Are Suffering From Paucity of Funds, Actress Says At Movie Debut

Nollywood actress and movie producer, Rahama Sadau, has called on the federal government to urgently fund the movie industry to boost the nation’s economy.

According to her, the paucity of funds is one major setback affecting the industry.

The actress stated this at the premiere of a Netflix Limited Series, ‘The Plan’ at the weekend in Abuja.

The Plan portrays the culture of northern Nigeria, with a focus on a storyline based on trust and loyalty.

The series directed by Dimbo Atiya, and produced by Sadau and Safina Mohamed, has set a record in the movie industry having the first movie where all the Executive producers are from northern Nigeria.

Sadau said: “Hugely, lack of funding has been a major setback for the entire industry. We have a lot of talents. We have a lot of creatives, and we have no or little funding anywhere.

“We have almost 90 per cent of filmmakers who bring in their money to produce films. So, what I will always plead is for government involvement.

“We have seen Avatar, Wakanda. It is not just one person that made the movie, there are a lot of producers.

“The government should look into the creative industry so that we can be a greater industry,” she said.

On the production, she said: “The movie means a lot to northern Nigeria, it means that we are now telling our stories to the global audience and rather than just telling our stories to ourselves, not just northern Nigeria, but Nollywood as a whole because any movie on a platform like this deserves an acknowledgement.”

One of the Executive Producers of The Plan, Sefyna Mohammed, said the movie is the first Hausa movie on Netflix where all the executive producers are from the north, adding that the movie portrayed the culture of northern Nigeria.

According to Mohammed, the producers intend to have the TV series streaming on Netflix and they achieved it.

“I am so excited because the movie was supposed to be out in 2021, she stated.

Rosaline Meurer Churchill, one of the characters in the series said when she was contacted to feature in the movie, she was excited because the producer, Rahaman Sadau, “is her good friend.”

“When I was contacted to star in the movie, I felt very excited, first of all, Rahaman Sadau is my very good friend, when she called me, I was in Ghana, and funny enough, in this movie I was pregnant but I didn’t know, the journey was sweet and sour like not knowing that you are pregnant and you have to go through all these stress.

“I was so excited when Sadau called me because I have not done a northern movie before. I feel so good to see the movie on Netflix.

“The main message is trust, don’t trust friends easily, don’t trust anyone, anything you want to do just do it yourself, trust is one thing that once it is broken, you can’t fix,” she stated.

Another actor, Ali Nuhu, said he played the role of Alhaji, who the whole story revolves around.

Nuhu said: “After reading the scripts before I could even finish, I just zeroed my mind and said I have to be in that movie because many factors were involved.

“First of all, I like the storyline, there is suspense in it and intrigue, the secondly I like the setting, it is a typical northern setting which is rare to come by.

“Lastly, I have a very cordial relationship with Rahaman, she is like my junior sister.

“I am proud of the project because it turned out that the final product that I saw is more than what I anticipated, I never thought it was going to be this big.

“I think it is the one that will affect northern Nigeria because we need the audience of northern Nigeria to be on a platform like this to see their own kind of thing, we need the globe generally to see the culture we have in northern Nigeria.”