The history of the Nigerian creative industry is shaped by ups and downs and tales of neglect. Until recently, the creative industry was given little or no attention. It sailed the rough tides of lack of funding and inadequate technical know-how for many years. But it did not falter or fall in its march to global limelight.
Nollywood, a critical appendage of Nigeria’s creative industry, has since grown in leaps and bounds – its movies are known internationally and have been at the vanguard of showcasing Nigeria’s vibrant culture and talent, challenging dominant discourse and stereotypes about Nigeria and the African continent. Nollywood has many times also been a case study on how nations can diversify their economies through cultural elements with little or no government intervention.
Nollywood is reputed to be the second largest employer in Nigeria, after the agriculture sector. With an estimated 50 films produced per week, it is the second largest film industry in the world after Hollywood and has recently been identified as Nigeria’s next “mineral resource” because of its huge economic prospects in a digital economy.
According to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the media and entertainment industry will top the digital industry. The report suggests that cultural goods have become economic drivers in today’s digital age. Increasingly, the entertainment industry has proved to be the oil that will lubricate the knowledge-based economy. Analysts also believe that while the media and entertainment industry was among the first sectors of businesses to navigate digital disruption, its transformation is far from over. In its annual “2018 Media & Entertainment Outlook,” PwC projects that industry revenues will reach $792.3 billion by 2022, up from $666.9 billion in 2017.
The Nigerian creative industry has a lot to offer in tomorrow’s digital economy. Since content will be the backbone of the digital economy, the creative industry will supply the content. In Africa, for example, the PwC entertainment and media outlook for 2017-2021 forecasts growth in Nigeria’s film and music industry, and most of the content will be accessed online to satisfy the tastes of local fans.
The report which expressed concerns about piracy in Africa’s most vibrant music scene, reports growth of digital music over physical musical revenue since 2013 and forecasts a further growth for the musical scene at a healthy pace, mostly from mobile ring back tones, another huge boost to the digital economy. “Total music revenue in Nigeria rose 9 percent in 2016 to reach $39 million and is set to rise at a 13.4 percent CAGR to $73 million in 2021”, according to PwC. The Nigerian film industry, on the other hand, is projected to continue growing at a rapid pace.
Equally, an IMF report released in the summer of 2016 posits that Nollywood now accounts for 1.4 percent of GDP in Nigeria. PwC’s entertainment and media outlook puts total cinema revenue at US$22 million in 2021, “rising at 8.6 percent CAGR over the forecast period as Nigerian films gain international recognition and investment increases.”
PwC concludes that with a 12.1 percent CAGR Nigeria will be the world’s fastest growing E&M market over the coming five years. This growth will be strongly influenced by increased spending on mobile internet access. Already, the industry has seen the first sampling of an indigenous production on Netflix, when the streaming service bought the rights to ‘Lion Heart’ by Genevieve Nnaji.
However, the Nigerian creative industry still suffers from age-long challenges of poor funding and lack of private investment and underperformance in the telling of Nigerian stories. The creative industry has also not been fully professionalised like other sectors of the Nigerian economy. There is no fixed minimum standard of entry into the industry and the range of government support to cushion the range of risk investment in the sector carries is unavailable.
While there have been improvements in the quality of films produced in the industry, there are still many low-quality movies. The most despondent of the Nigerian creative industry story, is the difficulty faced by many creatives in getting a return on investment.
Fortunately, companies like MultiChoice Nigeria have intervened in the myriad challenges plaguing the Nigerian creative industry. In keeping with its core values of enriching lives, a year ago MultiChoice launched the MultiChoice Talent Factory, a Corporate Social Value programme targeted at helping Africa’s creative industries grow into vibrant, economic powerhouses. The 12-month fully-funded programme was created to ignite Africa’s creative industries to boost the quality of local film and a platform for creating great stories.
At the unveiling of the academy, the Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe, explains that “the African development story has been defined by investment in the vast mineral wealth on the continent, leaving our creative industries to fend for themselves on the fringes of economic development for too long. As a result, the film and television industries have not developed at the same rate as other industries on the continent, and not for lack of talent, passion or imagination.”
The MultiChoice Talent Academy is in line with the company’s new strategy of furthering investment in the development of original African programming and showcasing it on the DStv and GOtv platforms across 49 sub-Saharan African countries.
The pay-entertainment company has also established a platform to honour and encourage creative minds in the country. The Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, affectionately dubbed ‘the Oscars of Africa”, are an annual celebration of the best creative talent in Africa’s film and television industry. Established in 2013, the AMVCA promotes skills, talent and social cohesion on the continent and restates, once again, MultiChoice’s commitment to providing a platform for the nurturing and showcasing of local talent. These awards serve as an exposure to excellence in the industry.
The AMVCA has had a resounding impact on the way films are produced in Nigeria. The past five editions have seen remarkable improvement in the quality of movies produced in Africa from scripting to sound, directing and cinematography, and the urge to win the coveted awards has driven most filmmakers to insane levels of excellence in production. But the AMVCA’s impact is not limited to the film industry; it impacts the entire economy, as hundreds of jobs are created in other chains of the creative industry each year through direct and indirect employment and other ancillary services that lead to the production of the AMVCA.
In over two decades in the pay-entertainment arena, MultiChoice Nigeria has invested a substantial amount of its resources in the promotion of local content alone. Its African Magic channel, through new and existing original productions, sponsorships, and co-productions, has consistently served as a hub for the showcasing and celebrating the finest Nigerian creative content to the rest of the continent and the world. With these strategic investments by MultiChoice Nigeria, experts believe, it is only a matter of time before the tales of abandonment in the Nigerian creative industry is completely rewritten.
Babatunde Aribido
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