Nigerian movies make ‘outcast’ stars
By SOLA BALOGUN
Friday, February 18, 2005

Amaka Igwe, frontline producer/director

Photo: Sun News Publishing

It all started like a dream in the year 2002. Today the Best of Best Television (BOBTV 2005) has grown in scope and is now set to hold its second major forum to showcase and market the best of Nigerian movies as well as television programmes.

Holding in the FCT Abuja between March 14-18, the forum, which is the second African Film and Television Programmes Market, is a creation of the BOBTV aimed at repackaging authentic African films/movies for the consumption of the African people.

So the Ladi Kwali Halls of Abuja Sheraton Hotel and Towers is expected to play host to over 1000 delegates drawn from 34 countries to be part of the historic platform.

Significantly, however, the platform is going to be a cultural fiesta cum market place for the African movies. It shall also be a forum for the practitioners to address certain key issues affecting the industry, such as piracy, lack of infrastructure and ineffective distribution system.
It was observed at a recent press conference held in Lagos that one of the major problems facing the industry today is the absence of effective distribution network for the movies.

This situation usually paves the way for pirates who continue to feed on works they never produced. So the forum shall give ample opportunity for practitioners and delegates to deliberate on, assess and adopt strategies for distributing movies in the country with proceeds accruing to the real producers.

In the words of Amaka Igwe, frontline producer and director, the Abuja platform shall serve as a veritable avenue to show the authentic African material for the African people. Her words: "Our dream is to sell Africa to the world. It’s going to be a display of our thoughts and an avenue to market ideas about Nigeria and products about Nigeria.”

According to Igwe, virtually all classes of Nigerians are being mobilised to be part of the historic event in the FCT; these include artistes, businessmen, bankers, NGOs, producers, students (theatre artists) and school pupils. Also, arrangements have been made to reduce transportation and accommodation costs in Abuja, with the hope of reducing participants’ burden during the festival.

In the same vein, a number of activities have been lined up for the forum, including Premieres, Location Expo, Owanbe, Afro-Nite, Ariaria, Black Magic, Piracy, Governors, Skill Factory, Pro-X among many others. Also explaining the vision of the Abuja forum, Mr Chagozie Nwokonko, one of the consultants to BOB 2005, unveiled the major issues affecting the film festival:

Movies as gold mine
Nigeria has been rated the third largest movie producing country in the world by the BBC Focus on Africa magazine; ahead of China and Brazil, but behind India and the United States of America.
Nigeria’s production capacity of slightly over 2,500 movies yearly attests to its vast enterprise. This provides employment for 125,000 Nigerians and drives an informal economy of N25bn on a yearly basis.

The peculiar nature of the motion picture medium as conveyor of culture, lifestyle, destinations, tourism and other values has found great expression on the African continent, as Nigerian movies have attracted priority viewing in most African countries.

The way forward
The future of the Nigerian movie industry shall depend largely on the infrastructure put in place today to support its growth.
The greatest urgency is a formal distribution support structure that services the local and international demand for Nigerian movies. This shall guarantee jobs, generate new employment opportunities and maintain a global competitive advantage, which has been won by our entrepreneurs.
The distribution structure shall involve the traditional cinema chains, video rentals, video retail market for broadcast rights and other rights and many more. For example, 100 cinemas running at 50 per cent patronage would generate N3.4billion yearly. Nigeria has capacity for about 5,000 cinemas.

Piracy
Of the revenue projections and estimations associated with the Nigerian movie industry, only about 13-15 per cent actually circulates within the production community in Nigeria.
Illegal import, export, copying, rental and other exploitation of movies have enriched opportunistic Nigerians and foreigners (an estimated $10m per month). These pirates feed on the absence of formal structures and support in Nigeria, which has almost destroyed this national treasure and enterprise.

Poverty eradication
The Nigerian movie producers take ordinary people, rejects of society, people who would not qualify to be employed in the formal economy and make stars and prominent citizens of them. This is Nigerian dream -
that anyone from any part of the country can aspire to and reach any goals set within the context of the laws of the land. Our star actors have been an immense inspiration to our endangered youth in Nigeria. Our stars have soothed tensions in war torn and conflict-ridden parts of Africa. Nigerian movies have brought hope and a sense of identity to the "lost" African American community in the Diaspora.

The Nigerian dream
The Nigerian movie industry has come this far on the strength of our Nigerian spirit. A spirit that believes it can succeed, regardless of our peculiar circumstances. We cannot consolidate on the gains of our efforts, corporate or national, without the formal integration of our sector in the mainstream economy.