Na Abba Afakallah is the first executive director appointed from Kannywood to head the Kano Films and Censorship Board. According to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Afakallah is as an insider and would, therefore, be in a better position to come up with a strategy to develop the industry which is facing many challenges, ranging from the lack of modern equipment, poorly trained directors and actors to waywardness on the part of its members.
Last week, Afakallah Na’ Abba in his Abubakar Rimi Maiduguri Road Office, Kano, exclusively disclosed to ALIYU ASKIRA the reason Governor Ganduje is setting up a N16 million Information Technology Centre under the control of the films board.
Let’s start by letting us into the challenges of your office?
When I was appointed by Governor Ganduje to come and head this board, I can remember very well you were one of the journalists at hand that accompanied me to my office to celebrate with me, including thousands of my colleagues and associates that converged here on that day to appreciate my appointment being a member of Kannywood. And talking about challenges, I can assure you that they are many, but I am doing my best not to disappoint the governor and my colleagues.
On many occasions you had a running battle with your colleagues including instituting legal action against some of them. Can one, therefore, say that you’re on a hot seat?
Hot or not hot, you can see me sitting comfortably in the exalted seat. To make my job easy, I established offices in all the 44 local government areas and appointed staff there to check piracy, downloading and operating illegal cinema houses; in fact, some of the viewing centres were showing prohibited films to members of the public, so my staff are all over the place to stop that. I also organised workshops and seminars to educate our people on our values, religion and culture. We stopped people from displaying pornographic pictures or using microphones to sell drugs using dirty language. Similarly, I successfully supervised elections into various offices of MOPPAN and I also set up three committees, Kannywood distribution network, Kannywood development initiatives and the rest.
Tell us the difference between Kano Information Technology Centre and the Kano Film Village proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari?
This is a very tricky question, but to put it blank, the world is changing and everything is now done through the internet or online if you like. As such, we must also move to catch up with our partners all over the world. At Kano Film Information Technology which will be very sophisticated database, businessmen, NGOs and government parastatal that are interested in what our members are doing can have access to their activities through our broadband or through our database; they can easily link up with our Kannywood members and give them contracts for their creativities, and our members too can use our database to advertise their activities to the larger society to know what they are doing and the films they produce or they are producing. Honestly, no government in the history of Kano as far as I am concerned has assisted our industry tremendously like that of Ganduje.
Finally, what do you want to be remembered for?
When I leave here, by the grace of God, I will still be in the industry or in any position my people want me to serve them. This office has exposed me to many things which I didn’t know before; they include bureaucracy in government, how to please or displease your employers, how to operate on the same page with your colleagues and I noticed that it is only when you are saddled with such challenges that you will be prepared to handle whatever assignment that might come your way in future, be it political, cultural or religious. So, all in all, I have no regrets.
