Nollywood Should Raise Its Standard, says Pastor Paul Adefarasin

Nollywood Should Raise Its Standard, says Pastor Paul Adefarasin

Saturday, October 3, 2015 12:36 pm


Ghebreab, Adefarasin and Ezekwezili

Ghebreab, Adefarasin and Ezekwezili


Funsho Arogundade.

Pastor Paul Adefarasin, the senior pastor of The House on the Rock church has charged the Nigerian movie industry players to raise the standard of their movie production. Adefarasin stated this on Thursday during the official screening in Nigeria of the Hollywood crime-drama thriller “Captive” at the Rock Cathedral, Lekki, Lagos in commemoration of Nigerian 55th independence anniversary.

According to the popular evangelical minister, with the kind of stories Nollywood producers treat, millions of viewers can be enlightened and thus help Nigerians to live purposeful lives.
“With our movies, we can foster a sense of nationalism and nationwide brotherhood. The Nigeria our fathers and predecessors sang about is attainable. It is The Dream Nigeria whose possibility is indeed in our hands,” Adefarasin said. Speaking on the objective of partnering with the United States Embassy in Nigeria to bring to view another thrilling movie, “Captive”, the pastor said it is “to promote nation building and the development of minds and purpose towards achieving the Nigeria of our dreams.”

“All the great nations of our world today only became great because they purposed to do so as one people of one nation around an uncompromised system of shared values. Value systems that invariably included equal opportunity, equity, justice, freedom, peace, progress and the majority principle. We must build a country that offers her citizens progress and development in an atmosphere of justice, freedom and equal opportunity,” he said.

The clergy also said House on The Rock is working assiduously hard for the attainment of peace because it is only a peaceful atmosphere that brings about development in a country. Earlier in the year and few weeks preceding Nigeria’s general elections, the House on the Rock Church, in partnership with the United States Embassy successfully premiered the film “Selma” to educate and promote peaceful conduct during and after the election.

The premiere was attended by over 5,000 attendees including some cast members of the film including lead act and British-Nigerian Golden Globe Award nominee, David Oyelowo, hundreds of Nigerian celebrities, government officials, local and international media, industry officials as well as the general public. Adefarasin said the success of “Selma” may not have been seen in the physical, but several discerning Nigerians will agree that the peace enjoyed in Nigeria today is very soothing.

In her contribution at the premiere of “Captive” attended by a cross section of Nigerians from the political, business and social class, Mrs Dehab Ghebreab, Acting Consul General, US Consulate, Lagos said the United States will continue to partner Nigeria to achieve peaceful co-existence and sustainable development especially in the country’s drive towards attainment of enduring democracy.

She said peace is not negotiable in any nation that aspires to achieve sustainable democracy and development thus the Consulate in Nigeria believes in the objective of the church as regards the building of purpose driven life and country. The American diplomat explained that societies learn from each other and in order to extend the American democracy beyond America, the consulate decided to share their experience with Nigerians through the movie, “Selma”. “This is a long term commitment and that’s what we are doing today to send the message about a purpose driven life which will help contribute to having a purpose driven nation. The movie, “Captive” shows how the struggle between hope and despair plays out,” Ghebreab said.

One of the invited dignitaries and former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, expressed delight in the collaboration between the United States Consulate and House on The Rock in the premiere of the new movie. The former World Bank top shot noted that the church plays an important role in nation building and strategic partnerships between the US Consular and the House on the Rock matters. “We thank the US Consulate for this kind of partnership because partnering on such a day as our annual independence makes it much more relevant and is important for nation building,” Ezekwesili said.

The new inspiring thriller, “Captive” is a story of faith, redemption and survival. It is based on the true story of a hostage using Rick Warren’s best-selling book, A Purpose Driven Life, to find her own path to redemption and persuade her captor to find his.

Captive features Oyelowo and American actress Kate Mara, House of Cards and The Fantastic Four star


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