The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, said the Federal Government would ensure that Nollywood actors get a fair deal from their trade.

Mustapha stated this at the grand finale of a stage play titled “Agbarho The Musical”, produced by 30-year-old Patrick Otoro, on Saturday in Abuja.

He said the proprietary rights of Nollywood actors needed to be protected by the government so that they can derive maximum return from their artistic endeavours.

“One of the things that government has to do is to make sure that their rights are protected because that is why they loose a lot of money. There are a lot of leakages in the process in terms of people pirating their products.

”Nollywood in the African continent and even in the world is thriving and big industry. But the actors and actresses, do they receive commiserate benefit from the kind of work they do?”

“They are not getting value for their output. They train very hard, they perform very well but at the end of the day, what gets to them is peanuts.

“The industry will have to restructure itself in such a way that there will be capable and competent managers that will manage their artists. All of these must be put in place so that whenever talent is exhibited, it will be protected.

The Senior Manager, Programme Implementation, MTN Nigeria, Mr Abasi-Ekong Udobang, said part of the network’s Corporate Social Responsibility included youth empowerment, mother and child healthcare as well as arts and culture.

The stage play was sponsored by MTN Foundation and other stakeholders.

He disclosed that it was important for MTN to continue to invest in arts and culture, especially theatre so as to make it vibrant in the country.

Otoro, a veteran actor in the Nigerian movie industry, stated that the essence of the stage play was to promote arts and culture in the FCT and specially to develop theatre culture.

He explained that the storyline was about the female gender relating to the conspiracy of silence that women deal with in today’s world.

“We can change the narrative. So we are using the arts, particularly this story, and one of my reasons is to use this story to tell about the female gender,” he said.

The veteran actor thanked all the stakeholders that contributed to the successful staging of the play.

The play showcased dance, music, love, thrill, suspense and diversity of the Nigerian culture. (NAN)