National President Fidelis Duker Commended the Project as a Compendium of Major Players in Nigeria’s Blossoming Entertainment Industry
LAGOS, NIGERIA — 5 December 2005 — The Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN) formally expressed its support for the Who’s Who in Nigeria Entertainment project and described the initiative as an important effort to chronicle the major personalities contributing to Nigeria’s rapidly developing entertainment industry.
The statement was issued on 5 December 2005 under the heading:
“The Comment of the National President of Directors Guild of Nigeria on the Who’s Who in Nigeria Entertainment Project”
The correspondence was addressed to:
The Publisher
Who’s Who in Nigeria Entertainment
It was issued by the Directors Guild of Nigeria and signed by Fidelis Duker, National President.
DGN Highlighted the Project’s Broad Industry Support
The National President made a particularly strong observation about the level of support surrounding the initiative.
The statement declared:
“Never before in the history of Nollywood that a project received a unified endorsement from virtually all the sectors of the industry.”
This is a significant contemporary statement because it presents the Who’s Who initiative as a project that had attracted support across multiple areas of Nigeria’s entertainment industry.
Importantly, this is the assessment of the DGN National President in 2005; we should present it as such rather than independently asserting that every sector of Nollywood endorsed the project.
Directors Guild Identified with the Compilation
The Directors Guild stated that it was pleased to:
“identify with the publishers on the occasion of their compilation of a compendium chronicling all the major players in our blossoming industry.”
A Compendium of Nigeria’s Entertainment Industry
The DGN’s description of the publication as a “compendium” is significant.
The project was intended to bring together information about the major players within Nigeria’s entertainment sector at a period when Nollywood and related creative industries were expanding rapidly.
Such documentation could provide a historical snapshot of the people active in the industry during a particular stage of its development.
The DGN’s statement therefore provides contemporary evidence of how an important professional body within Nigeria’s film sector understood the purpose of the project.
Commendation of the Publisher
The Directors Guild went further by expressly commending the publisher.
The statement says:
“The Guild therefore commends the courageous effort of the publisher…”
It then recommended the use of the:
Who’s Who in Nigerian Entertainment encyclopedia
by practitioners.
Recommended as a Resource for Entertainment Practitioners
The DGN’s recommendation that the encyclopedia be used by “all practitioners” gives the project a practical professional dimension.
The publication was not being presented merely as a commemorative book. The Guild regarded it as a potentially useful resource for people working within the entertainment industry.
This is consistent with several other contemporary institutional letters in the archive that describe the project in terms of a reference guide, database, encyclopedia or institutional record.
A 2005 Record from the Directors’ Profession
The involvement of the Directors Guild of Nigeria is particularly significant because directors occupy a central professional position in film and television production.
The DGN’s endorsement therefore adds another important professional-industry voice to the growing collection of contemporary records surrounding Who’s Who in Nigeria Entertainment.
The document demonstrates that the project had engagement not only with government institutions but also with professional organisations representing practitioners within Nigeria’s creative industries.
The DGN document is particularly valuable because it represents the perspective of a professional directors’ organisation within Nollywood itself.
Preserving the Original Historical Record
The original correspondence dated 5 December 2005, issued by the Directors Guild of Nigeria and signed by Fidelis Duker, National President, is preserved among the historical records associated with Frank Ikegwuonu and The Nelas Academy.
The original document is not being reproduced publicly as part of this article. It may be made available for legitimate academic, journalistic, institutional, historical or documentary verification upon appropriate request.
