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preventing the entertainment industry from growing, creating job opportunities and
finally from becoming a major exporters of creative goods.
Chapter 3: Nollywood today
The prolific entertainment industry in Nigeria
Entertainment as a creative industry has significant potential for growth and value
addition for the Nigerian economy
. With a population of more than 150 million people
and a high demand for African production, Nigeria represents a huge market for the
cinema industry. As the industry appeals predominantly to the youth, support to the
industry can provide more opportunities for Nigeria’s youngsters and therefore contribute
to GDP growth through job creation.
The Nigerian Film industry, euphemistically known
as Nollywood, is the most prolific movie industry in
the world but remains unstructured and loosely
regulated.
It is the third largest movie industry in
the world by value ($250 million) after Hollywood
and Bollywood (India’s film industry) but the first in
terms of films production since Nollywood produces
no fewer than 40 new movies every week. It is
estimated that the Nigerian industry employs 200,000 people directly and provides up to
one million job opportunities indirectly. Most of those employed in the industry are
graduates or school leavers and the most popular locations to shoot movies are in Lagos,
Kano, Enugu and Abuja. Despite tremendous achievements, production standards remain
low, marketing and distribution linkages are at best ad hoc and access to finance remains
extremely limited. There are few global linkages and a strong need to improve quality at
all stages of the value chain from production to post-production and retail distribution.
Finally rampant piracy is a scourge for the industry.
Nigeria’s music is widely available all over Africa and is attracting international
attention due to the quality of its production and exports opportunities.
Nigeria's
musical output has achieved international acclaim not only in the fields of folk and
popular music, but also Western art music written by composers such as Fela Sowande.
The Nigeria music industry fuses native rhythms with techniques imported from the
Congo, Brazil, Cuba and elsewhere. Highlife was an important foundation for the
development of several popular styles that were unique to Nigeria, like apala, fuji, jùjú
and Yo-pop. Subsequently, Nigerian musicians created their own styles of United States
hip-hop and Jamaican reggae. Nigeria has some of the most advanced recording studio
technology in Africa, and provides robust commercial opportunities for music performers
thanks to the huge domestic market, big enough to sustain artists who sing in regional
languages and experiment with indigenous styles.
The average budget of a Hollywood
feature film exceeded the sum of $ 106
million in 2008 (of which $67 million
were production costs and $ 39 million
were distribution). A Nigerian feature
film therefore costs the equivalent of six
seconds of an American film.