NAFTI gears up for university status

The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) has awarded a GH¢1.3million grant to the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) to undertake various expansion projects.

The support is to assist the transformation and modernisation of the institute into a fully fledged creative and media arts university.

The Rector of the institute, Professor Linus Abraham, made this known at the 13th graduation ceremony of the school in Accra last Friday.

Graduates 

A total of 22 graduates were awarded Bachelor’s degrees in Fine Arts, with three receiving first class honours; 10 had second class upper, while nine others were awarded second class lower.

A total of 85 other students were also awarded certificates.

“Deliver on your promises”

Prof. Abraham indicated that the grant, which was to alleviate some of NAFTI’s problems, was to be used for urgent needs which included expansion and modernisation of some facilities at the institute.

Some of the projects he mentioned were the provision of a new television chain, field production and post-production facilities, expansion of classroom and auditorium facilities, new roofing for the institute’s hostel and a library complex.

He further appealed to the ministries of Communication and Education to expedite action on the policy to transform the institute into a modern and well-equipped, fully fledged creative and media arts university.

When transformed into a university under the Ministry of Education, he said, the needs of the institute would be well appreciated and recognised, adding that the transformation of the institute  into a modern and well-equipped university was to enable it to serve as the basis for training a well-developed pool of skilled force to support the growth of the industry.

He, therefore, urged the government to fulfil promise and support the institute with the necessary resources to enable it to function fully for the digital age.

Gov’ts commitment 

For his part, a Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Felix Kwakye Fosu, said the government recognised the ability of the creative arts industry to create jobs and help modernise the nation, therefore, it was determined to support the sector.

In view of that, he said his outfit was working assiduously with the Ministry of Education to ensure that the process to transform the institute into a university was quickened to ensure it enjoyed the same attention that public tertiary institutions enjoyed.

He urged the graduates to help promote Ghana’s customs and traditions through films to preserve the cultural heritage of the country, adding that they should help transform Ghana’s creative industry with the skills and knowledge that they acquired.

The Chief Executive Officer of Eagles Production, Ms Juliet Asante, who was a special guest, in her remarks, urged the government to come up with trendy policies that would enhance and boost the creative arts industry.

She cited the Nigerian film industry as contributing $9billion to the country’s GDP, while employing 250,000 directly and one million indirectly, adding that Ghana should learn from it.