Excerpts:

TAMPPAN held an event in Ilorin this last weekend , what is it all about?

What we did was the TAMPPAN’s National Convention which was the first of its kind in the industry. We came on board two years ago, as a new association after we parted ways with ANTP.  We moved ahead to form another body named Theatre Arts and Motion Picture Practitioners Association of Nigeria I am the pioneer president.

The first ever convention was held in Ilorin between 13th -15th  to be precise and the state government led by governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and his government  played the host. He has been very supportive to make the convention a success. We have several people from our industry who were part of it. We are held  a seminar, workshop among other things during the retreat.

Was the convention for only the executive members of the association or is for every member?

We expected nothing fewer than 3,000 participants, who are TAMPPAN members and we  extended our invitation to some other persons from other industry including the media, for all to witness it.

We used 2 venues in Kwara State. The accreditation was held on the first day at the Cultural Center. The following day, the event was declared opened by the governor. A key note address was delivered by the Honourable Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, and many of personalities from the Nigerian society came.

Did the members paid to be part of the event?

Nobody paid, it was free. Ordinarily, members should pay for such a convention but because we are still very fresh and we don’t want to burden members financially as we are not unaware of the economic situation of the country  if we are organising this kind of event, it has to be free. Subsequently, they may have to pay by the time they get to know the importance of the convention.

Is it going to be an annual event?

This is the maiden edition, but by the special grace of God, it is going to be yearly. It is going to be used as our annual national meeting.