Stakeholders in the Kannywood Hausa film industry, on Monday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to consider them in his ministerial appointments.
One of the film producers in the industry and Managing Director of Abnur Entertainment, AbdurRahman Muhammad, popularly known as Abdul Amart, said the call became necessary in view of the role the industry played for the President during the 2015 and 2019 elections.
Mr Amart, who spoke with Daily Trust on Monday, said Kannywood singers, actors and other filmmakers campaigned for Mr Buhari throughout the nook and crannies of the northern part of the country.
According to him, such a gesture needed to be rewarded with a ministerial slot.
“We have played a vital role in bringing Buhari into power, we have an influence on our viewers and based on our research we have influenced a lot to vote for Buhari in 2015 and 2019 presidential elections.
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“We know he won in 2015 and 2019 but the roles we played also helped in swinging millions of votes in his favour, because we composed great songs for him, we did superb jingles for him, and we did door-to-door campaigns for him,” he said.
Mr Amart, however, lamented that in despite the role the industry played in the 2015 election, it received little or no attention in the Buhari administration.
He, therefore, stated that this is the right time for the president to reward the industry with a federal appointment.
“Apart from ministerial slot we also need Buhari’s government to build cinemas in 19 northern states for us, give our filmmakers loans and also order Nigerian Copyright Commission to work round the clock in fighting piracy for the survival of Kannywood,” Mr Amart added.
