The Nation Newspaper

Category: Victor Akande

  • June 17: How Sacrosanct?

    ONE of the shortcomings of Nigeria will shoot to the fore by June 17, when the country will still be hooked on analogue broadcasting, and be counted among the odds. This is as supposed to an African country like Tanzania, which had since 2013 gone digital, far ahead of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) switchover timeline, just so it could hit the ground running.

    Tanzania may be the first country to do so of the five members of the East African Community. Others, including Kenya, have since gone through test run and expected policy rows that could enhance its preparedness. Nigeria, it appears, is yet to take any reasonable steps, save for scramble for radio and TV licensing fees ahead  that appears the most important. And it would take the NBC two years to assuage its thirst for income acquisition. We all must wait  after all, waiting, they say, is part of business.

    In South Africa, the country’s state of readiness was presented to a Joint Portfolio Committee on Communication and Telecommunications and Postal Services in Parliament on March 10. The delay was attributed to disagreements about the use of a control system in STBs, which some free-to-air broadcasters had suggested would negatively impact on their content.

    Why I like this development is the fact that you have to start a process to be able to know some of the challenges that may be peculiar to your country. In Nigeria, the NBC has spent the last 10 years talking to itself, and like a Yoruba proverb goes, when you spend 20 years preparing for madness  how long more do we have to run naked in the streets?

    It is sad that in all the dozens of sensitive national matters begging for attention, the issue of Digital Transition, will be added to the onus of the MuhammaduBuhari’s government- and if you care to know, as a FRESH project. The outcome of this, you and I already know.

    Still on South Africa, the relevant department has already begun engaging entities on aligning plans to the Cabinet’s approved policy. Sentech is almost ready to distribute a digital signal, while the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is gearing up to provide universal service coverage and new channels. The government will provide free STBs to more than five million poor households and prioritise distribution to border regions areas of the country, to avoid and minimise signal interference with neighbouring countries.

    Eleven days to go, and the excuses by NBC is expected, being the regulars from a typical Nigerian agency. It is 10 years already since the 2005 ITU conference in Geneva, where the switchover date was announced to its 193 members, consisting of 70 private members. And it is a shame that most upwardly mobile citizens are not well-acquainted about what this project is all about, let alone the ordinary man on the street.

    NBC’s Director General, EmekaMba, attributed the faults to funding  his words, like never before, was emphatic: “We do not have the required funding that will help us achieve a national digital switchover now,” but give it to him, because he and his men are FULLY ready as regulators  of course in terms of planning. But I dare say you don’t know how ready you are, until you are indeed ready to go. Regretfully, the NBC is banking on mere blueprint, when over the past years it has been giving assurances that the country will meet the June 17 timeline.

    The country is still waiting for funds to buy STBs and transmitters, while we can imagine how much funds might have been committed to the supposed preparations, including its purported alliance with four countries that have concluded their digitalisation process.

    While South Africa’s Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi, admitted that her country would not meet the deadline, it is consulting with the Cabinet on the digital signal switch-on date. And that might not just be a political statement. In March, the Cabinet approved the final amendments to the broadcasting digital migration policy, which unlocks the project to enable its implementation. It also agreed that the government must provide free Set Top Boxes to five million poor households that have television sets.

    Meanwhile, as this country and others in the continent are already dealing with expected teething problems, the NBC is making excuses in the 12th hour, saying that delay is needed to drive consumer awareness and work out modalities to checkmate anticipated excesses of pay TV operators.

    There is no doubt that the basic focus of the NBC at the moment is to promote income-spinning licensing operation, under the guise of seeking broadcast services that will fill the expected large spectrum.

  • BoI and the creative non-oil sector

    OF the government banks saddled with the mandate of developing the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy, one appears not only dedicated, but proactive in its drive, especially for the film industry. The bank, it appears is fast clipping the lips of filmmakers whose slogan have always been self-eulogising, dwelling on how Nollywood had evolved without government support.

    The seeming ‘playfulness’ of some filmmakers notwithstanding, the near absence of accountable structures aside – irrespective of the failed Project Nollywood, which put Ecobank in serious debt in the mid-2000, Bank of Industry (BoI) appears to have a positive answer to some of challenges of doing business with Nollywood. And rather than being cowed by the bitter experiences of past sponsors, it has developed its own model of ‘rescue and survive’.

    The bank’s creation of an Entertainment Desk, to me, marked the beginning of the seriousness it has shown the Nigerian motion picture industry. And from indications, the consistency that the bank has shown through single digit interest rates on loans for the development of cinema chain, huge budget-exportable films, auditable distribution companies and production studio services are evidences of its ‘from start to finish’ film business financial  management.

    This slow and steady race, as it endures, could be said to be part of the mission to wean Nigeria from its over-dependence on oil.

    Recently, figures released by the Central Bank of Nigeria indicated that the estimated aggregate output in the fourth quarter of 2012 measured by gross domestic product at 1990 basic prices grew by 7.1 per cent, compared with 6.9 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter.

    While real non-oil GDP was estimated to have grown by 8.2 per cent and accounted for 87.4 per cent of the total GDP in the review quarter, real oil GDP, comprising crude petroleum and natural gas was estimated to have declined by 0.17 per cent, compared with the growth of 16.7 per cent in the preceding quarter and accounted for 12.6 per cent of the total real GDP.

    I am particularly thrilled by the efforts of the Bank in support of the establishment of cinema houses across the country. This, in the wisdom of film pundits is the most realistic measure of recouping investment (relatively), in the face of piracy that presently bedevils the creative industry. The rationale is that, the more cinema houses we have in Nigeria, the more the people who get to see the movies first-hand, and the less the people who would desire pirated copies to assuage their thirst.

    Penultimate Friday, a new film house, Viva Cinema, was opened in Ilorin, Kwara State, courtesy of BoI’s ‘Nollyfund’ initiative. In the scheme, an initial of N1.0billion was earmarked, with a single obligor limit of N50million for individual loans.

    The Viva Cinema, Ilorin, is the second to be established by Viva Entertainment Company in recent time, having initially opened a branch in Ibadan, Oyo State.

    This is aside support given to Kene Mkparu, owner of Filmhouse Cinema, who continues to blaze the trail with his fast-expanding cinema chain, having presence in Apapa, Surulere, Kano, Asaba, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Calabar among other cities in the country.

    On the other hand, the “BOI NollyFund”, I understand, also makes provision for Nigeria’s leading movie producers to receive financial support to produce international quality films and screen them through various platforms of movie distribution available both in Nigeria and internationally.

    It will be recalled that the Bank had in the past, financed the production of Half of A Yellow Sun, an adaptation of Ngozi Adichie’s book, and Flower Girl by Michelle Bello. It is said to also have a stake in the digitization of Silverbird Cinemas, Filmhouse, Viva Cinemas, Ozone Cinemas and G-media among others.

    To ensure that only commercially viable scripts with good storylines benefit from the scheme, BoI set up a NollyFund Implementation Advisory Group made up of, not just cinema management experts, film producers, national film distributors, production and post-production experts, but also journalists and film critics.

    The producer is expected to sign up a reputable distributor who would issue a Minimum Guarantee and provide a cash deposit of 5% of the loan amount.  A Minimum Guarantee is a cash advance payable to the producer by the distributor in exchange for the exclusive rights to distribute a film in contractually stipulated media in agreed sales territory. This, I am sure, is similar to the internationally accepted loan structures for movie production and will definitely provide a great boost to Nigeria’s Nollywood.

    Interestingly, BoI has already accredited some reputable distributors, including G-Media, FilmOne Distribution Company, Silverbird Distribution Company and Genesis Deluxe Distribution Company for the project. Also joined in the scheme are studio operators such as Fans Connect Online Nigeria Limited, aka Afrinolly, Kingsley Ogoro Productions Limited and 4Screams International Nigeria Limited.

    I believe that every filmmaker worth their game should apply for this fund. A notable Yoruba actress and producer asked me if the scheme was still on, and I said yes. I told her to visit www.boinigeria.com/nollyfund for more information on the product features, the procedure for submission of applications, documentation requirements, pricing, amongst other relevant information.

    Many countries of the world recognise that the private sector has the capacity to drive economic growth given the right conditions. I recall that at an empowerment summit for small and growing business, former Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga mandated the Bank of Industry and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN)  to create five million jobs within the next two years (2013 and 2014). There is no gain saying that the movie industry has been classified among the sectors with high capacity for employment across all age brackets.

    Therefore, if the giant strides already taken by BoI are anything to go by, I can only share in the bank’s genuine interest for the creative non-oil sector, and tell it to all.

  • Let’s go to Durban

    It was an irony when, Durban, an annual rallying point for African film makers became the off-shoot of the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, recently.

    The Durban International Film Festival has over the years, hosted motion picture practitioners from around the world, and projected African films in a deliberate effort to reposition the narrative of the continent.

    Painfully, the attacks became turbulent for that laudable initiative which in a way set out to unite Africa. But as calm returns to South Africa, the synergy must continue, as this is where you get to see the best collection of the continent’s cinematic expressions at the moment.

    Last week was the official project selection for the 6th Durban FilmMart, an integral part of the festival on film finance and co-production and film screening, providing platform for a series of networking and social sessions with like-minded industry representatives.

    For Nigeria, it is noteworthy that apart from the fact that Afrinolly, a Nigerian company is among the partners of this segment of the festival, a Nigerian film, Laughter is the best Colour, produced by Mohammed Musulumi and directed by Chike Ibekwe, has been listed among the festival’s selection.

    Announcing the selection at the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival, France, earlier in the week, the festival promised 19 documentaries and fiction feature film projects from around Africa for this year’s Durban FilmMart. Details of the selection were announced at a networking function held at the South Africa Pavilion in Cannes.

    This year’s Durban FilmMart has selected these projects from 120 submissions by African film makers who wished to participate in the continent’s premier finance and co-production market.

    A joint initiative between the Durban Film Office and the Durban International Film Festival, continue to seek projects from a diverse range of countries on the continent, including Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

    The selected nine documentaries include After Marikana  The End of Democracy (South Africa), Producer Anita Khanna, Director Rehad Desai; Amal (Egypt) Producer Sara Bökemeyer, Director Mohamed Siam; Life and Times of John C (South Africa) Producer Neil Brandt, Director Francois Verster; Truck Mama (Kenya) Producer Zipporah Nyaruri, Director Zipporah Nyaruri, Co-director Peggy Mbiyu; Not in My Neighbourhood (South Africa) Producer and Director Kurt Orderson; Project Delight (South Africa) Producer and Director Karin Slater; Terre Jaune (Togo) Producers Sitou Ayite and Madje Ayite with Elisabeth Guthmann, Director Bouna Cherif Fofana and Sitou Ayite; The Other Half of the African Sky (Zimbabwe) Producer and Director Tapiwa Chipfupa, and The Rainbow: Jazz for the Struggle, and the Struggle for Jazz (South Africa)Producer Antoinette Engel, Director Niren Tolsi

    For the rest of the 10 fiction films, there is Cactus Flower (Egypt) Producer Hossam Elouan, Director Hala Elkoussy; Inkabi (The Hitman) (South Africa) Producer Anco Henning, Director Norman Maake; On the Way to Paradise (South Africa) Producer Imraan Jeeva, Director Sara Blecher; One More Night in Lagos (Cote d’Ivoire) Producer Tosin Coker, Director Marina Niava;Riot Waif (South Africa) Producer Jean Meeran, Director Zinaid Meeran; Selma and Charlize (South Africa) Producer Junaid Ahmed/Helena Spring, Director Robyn Aronstam; Sunflowers Behind a Dirty Fence (Uganda) Producer Nathan Magoola, Director Simon Mukali; The Tall Assassin (South Africa) Producer Carolyn Carew, Director Roy Zetisky and Unbalance (Ghana)Producer Akousa Adoma Owusu, Director P. Sam Kessie.

    The 6th Durban FilmMart takes place in Durban, at the Tsogo Sun Elangeni from 17 to 20 July 2015, during the 36th edition of the Durban International Film Festival (16-26 July 2015). Let’s go see these films.

  • Memo to Buhari on art, culture and tourism

    The resourcefulness and resolve of the leaders of the legacy parties that formed the APC in the face of phenomenal distractions and the attendant overwhelming victory of the party at the recently concluded polls, as well as the track records of the President-elect and the APC government in various states of the federation, all point to the fact that the long-awaited change for Nigeria is here. Change many Nigerians hope will rescue the economy from years of lack lustre policy implementation.

    There is no doubt that these are exciting times for Nigerians and giving them the desired change that will turnaround living and lifestyles calls for a   redefined strategy of governance, and critical appraisal of the various sectors of the economy. It must be done objectively, with a view to effectively diversify the economy in pursuance of the party’s manifesto and fulfilment of the yearnings and aspiration of the masses. It must also be with a sense of urgency that will take the country beyond the hackneyed accolade of being the biggest economy in Africa.

    As the incoming government takes giant strides, it must be noted that one of the sectors of the Nigeria economy that genuinely deserves a searchlight is Tourism. This is not only because of the rich resource endowment of the country, but also because of the capacity of the sector to significantly contribute to the economic well-being of Nigeria through creating jobs, and generate income to enhance the country’s GDP. With the daily upsurge in insurgency occasioned by poverty and unemployment, tourism is the industry with the panacea to impact poverty alleviation positively.

    The incoming administration can do this by moving away from the uncoordinated strategies of previous governments to develop the sector, and deploy strong political will to support the industry through policies that will eliminate all the critical constraints of the past. The best foot forward is the revisit of the Tourism Master Plan of 2000, as well as the various studies and recommendations to the past Presidential Council on Tourism, and use a fine-tuned instrument from these to evolve an industry that has the promise to play a critical role in nation building and development.

    A key component of this process that will facilitate the success of the industry should include: ensuring public sector leadership at all levels and segments of the sector, that have a sound understanding of  issues and complexities of the industry including the capacity to stimulate inter-governmental and public private sector networking and collaboration; monitor the impact of policies of other sector of the economy on Tourism at the various ties of government; institute and implement tourism product development, capacity building and manpower development. Accomplishing significant improvement in the sector will be accentuated if the government pursues a comprehensive programme for the sector that creates connectivity between local communities, various tiers and department, of government and regional institutions, as have been successfully done in East and Southern African countries with rewarding economic results.

    This time around, the role of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation should be redefined while Tourism in Nigeria must by deliberate and focused action of government be made to generate worthy economic return for all stakeholders, including local communities even as conservation of Nigeria’s cultural and environmental heritage is appropriately promoted through the instrumentality of Tourism.

  • Did pirates just stir the hornet’s nest? 2

    Since the birds have learnt to fly without perching, their hunters have learnt to shoot without missing… this appears to be the case with the piracy scourge drama which is playing out some new scenes in Lagos, at the moment.

    Obviously, the last is not seen yet of the entertainers’ renewed effort to fight back, starting with the dramatic seizure of their pirated films from street hawkers and a protest march, few weeks ago, to the House of Assembly and the Government Office in Alausa, Lagos.

    The move could have followed a more recent onslaught by pirates on huge budget movies such as Half of A Yellow Sun, 30 Days in Atlanta and October 1, but with the arrest on Wednesday of five suspected pirates who are now being detained at the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos, it may no longer be business as usual.

    Piracy is a global phenomenon. But two things make our own experience in this part of the world quite different and, by extension, more painful: one is the next to no punitive measure for offenders, while the second is the impunity by which these thieves of intellectual property operate.

    The pirates take advantage of the tepid law, whereby an offender gets three months’ imprisonment or pay N100, 000 as option of fine. There is no gainsaying that this has fuelled the impunity of the pirates who are far richer than the film owners, considering the huge transactions they carry out on other people’s intellectual property.

    Pirates atAlaba International Market are known to have beaten up the police and officers of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) who had tried to comb the market of pirates, but ripping open a policeman’s head during a recent raid has no doubt touched the incumbent Inspector General of Police who has now ordered the SARS to weigh into the matter.

    It was meant to be another tripartite meeting of filmmakers, Alaba electronic dealers and officials of the NCC when, in a move that appeared shocking to the latter; the electronic dealers were rounded up by the police.

    Prior to a protest march, notable film distributor, Gabriel Okoye, aka Gabosky had, in the company of some policemen, embarked on a raid of the Fancy and Furniture section, an purported hub of piracy activities in Alaba, and were allegedly beaten up by the traders.

    The implication is that while the suspects are not directly answering to piracy crime, they have incurred another criminal act by ‘terrorising’ officers of the law in their domain. As such, they have found themselves in the net of the SARS, whose mandate covers terrorism, armed robbery, cyber related dangers and kidnapping among other heinous crimes.

    The arrest of these men, suspected to be executives of the electronic dealers is considered civil in getting to the roots of the much-talked-about piracy cartel in Alaba.

    But vexed by the unexpected arrest, the convener of the meeting and Lagos Zonal Manager of the NCC, Mr. Chris Nkwocha, said he felt slighted that the suspects were arrested in his domain, but the filmmakers were quick to rebuff him, saying the arrest took place outside and not in the premises of the NCC.

    There are strong indications that the entertainers have lost confidence in the NCC officers regarding their genuine intention to bring pirates to book.

    At that point, it became clear that the meeting could no longer hold, as some stakeholders drove to the Adeniji Adele Police Station where they held a closed-door meeting with the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris OkeyEzike.

    It will be recalled that recently, friends of filmmakers have caused a scene in traffic by challenging hawkers of these pirated films. Two editors with The Nation, at different times, walked up to me, testifying to the influx of the fake October 1on the streets of Lagos and how they felt like strangling the sellers. I’ve also read about other people who refused to buy these stolen products. So also, a few others, who were said to have bought it, thinking it was from the original owner, KunleAfolayan, have regretted doing so.

    For the young filmmaker, this is really a ‘dark’ period. And it is even more pathetic when you consider how hard he had struggled to raise fund to produce this great movie. How he will recoup the money spent so far beggars any conjecture. Perhaps too, the personality of the filmmaker as one of the few Nigerians with exportable creative potentialities is a reason for this public concern.

    So bad is the situation that filmmakers and musicians are at the mercy of these pirates who sometimes call the rightful owner for a bargain that usually comes at a fee. They would tell the rightful owner to pay some millions of Naira, just to allow him or her to be the first to put his or her work on DVD; thereby allowing the real owner to sell for a period of time before releasing their own version. They expect the owner to be grateful to them for this ‘great favour’. But you and I know that this display of effrontery and dare-devil-what-can-you-do posture should be urgently and permanently tethered.

  • Digital Migration: Lesson from Kenya

    Kenyans are already complaining about the semblance of a Greek gift in their country’s migration from analogue to digital television.

    In protest, four of Kenya’s main private TV stations; KTN, Citizen, NTV and its subsidiary QTV went off air recently in most of the country due to a row over the switch from analogue to digital transmission. State-run broadcaster KBC and K24 TV, which is owned by the family of President Uhuru Kenyatta, have remained on air.

    The analogue signal for the four TV stations grouped under the African Digital Network Consortium was turned off by the authorities, leading the media houses to switch off their digital signals in protest.

    They argued that there is need for more time to import their own set-top boxes that would distribute their content.

    The Communications Authority of Kenya says 60 percent of the people have now acquired a set-top box to receive a digital signal, wondering why the media houses would be dragging their feet.

    Although the media houses asked for 100 days extension to comply, the Supreme Court rejected the TV stations’ request.

    The Kenyan authorities are acting ahead of the June 17, 2015 deadline by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the global migration from analogue to digital broadcast. They argued that there is the need to test-run the operations and fix any glitches ahead of the June deadline.

    It will be recalled that neighbouring Tanzania went ahead with its digital migration on 31 December 2013, the first country to do so of the five members of the East African Community.

    Already, two providers  Signet, owned by the Kenyan government and PANG, a Chinese firm- are already in operation.

    This for a moment is where I paused to think about the implication of such a provider(s) in Nigeria.

    If you take into cognizance, a heated political period like now in Nigeria; a time when despite our constitutional standpoint, people are still wary of the extent of independence of the INEC, you would begin to imagine what the composition of our service providers will be under the digital TV regime.

    As laudable and ample as the spectrum of the digital model, its disadvantage lies in the regulatory platforms which has the tendency to stifle the operations and independence of private owned broadcast stations over some political differentials.

    Whereas under the analogue system, every broadcaster establishes, manages and maintains its transmission infrastructure, the digital system is not like that, because channels give up their signal distribution function and simply hand over their content to a licensed signal distributor for onward transmission to the viewer.

    In Kenya, as we have clearly seen, the government is a joint provider with a Chinese firm, which many suspect has some faceless Kenyans as shareholders.

    At the few fora held in Nigeria on the transition to digital TV, little or no attention was paid on whether or not the digital system will not deter the freedom of information and media independence that Nigeria is still trying to sustain.

    As it is now, if Channels has a problem with its transmitter, TVC would still be on air. If NTA switches off its signal, AIT would still continue with its normal broadcast. However, under the digital system, all the channels cede their signal to, for example, Startimes, which has affiliation with NTA, a government-owned television station.

    Beyond this seeming challenge, the advantages of digital transition are enormous, especially going by its more efficient use of frequencies and lower cost of setting up a TV channel, among others.

  • A date with June 17, 2015

    For a world integration project like the much-talked-about switch-over from analogue to digital broadcasting, sensitive governments have evolved proactive and systematic line of actions to ensure that they are not caught napping when possible interference from neighbouring countries hit them. They have also ensured that the citizens enjoy the choice of clearer picture, ample channels and the succour of subsidy on the Set Top Box (STB); the conservative device that will provide signal to the existing television sets after the June 17, 2015 switch-over date.

    The leapfrogging tendencies of a country like Nigeria become worrisome considering the fact that a global agenda of this nature is not just a complex transition, but one which seeks common understanding, diplomacy and cooperation of neighbouring countries within the continent.

    Suffice it to say that in Europe and Africa, a timeline has been agreed within the framework of an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) treaty. The consensus is such that after June 17, 2015; analogue television transmissions will no longer be protected from harmful interference caused by digital TV transmissions. In the same vein, analogue TV transmissions will not be permitted to interfere with digital TV transmissions.

    Evidently, migration to digital broadcast transmission technology has begun, with countries like France, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden and New Zealand already advanced in their migration programmes, even as Finland and Mauritius have already switched off from analogue.

    While South Africa, which began the process years back, may not have overcome the complexity of the transition, the fear for Nigeria’s readiness is ominous. It is because indeed, while other countries are already engaging their regulators, policy makers and digital analysts to unlock the migration process, Nigeria, it appears, will exert its usual magic when the reality of 2015 comes to it in a flash.

    Analysts have reasoned that for a smooth transition, the government of a country must consider the fact that the STB will take a long while to be manufactured. And although the price of the decoder has dropped to about $40 ever since a higher version dubbed DT2 entered the market, there is the need for each country to subsidise its production. And while it is also pertinent to consider the eligibility for a subsidized decoder based on the number of TV Households (as it is the thought in some countries), this may be a challenge in a country like Nigeria that is still struggling with population data and, to justify government’s cliam, where TV licences are not paid for.

    But wherein the various governments in Africa do not seem to have engaged the stakeholders well enough on this digital revolution that is set to herald more channel choices and value to television viewers, Multichoice, a big private sector stakeholder in the scheme, and the largest pay TV conglomerate in Africa has set an enviable agenda based on its Social Responsibility objective. Not only did the company begin a test-run of the digital TV innovation in Nelson Mandela’s town of Soweto, recently, it gathered African journalists from the IT, Entertainment and Business beats to interact with experts for two days in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    That Digital Dialogue Conference, more than anything, has enabled a deeper understanding of the digital migration process through topic of discourse ranging from ‘Entertainment and Media Outlook from 2012-2016’; ‘Preparing for the Transition of TV Broadcast Services to Digital’; ‘How TV and the Internet are Meeting’ and ‘Effective Public Education for Digital Migration’. The conference which took place at the Sandton Convention Centre, ended with a session specifically on the STB and government obligation, presided over by Mnet Technical Director, David Hagen at the MultiChoice Headquarters. This was followed with a tour of the households in Soweto where Digital Terrestrial Transmission (DTT) is already being tested. Testimonies abound in Soweto that indeed, the new innovation renders sharper picture, and better sound quality; such difference as it is between an old video cassette and a DVD.

    The households visited in Soweto agreed that they have a choice of more channels on the new device. Reason for this is not far-fetched. Experts have explained that digital signals take up much less bandwidth than analogue signals. The result is that we can broadcast up to 10 television channels in the same bandwidth – giving you the potential of many more channels to choose from. Another benefit that this gives the people of Soweto is that they are for the first time, able to access many free-to-air TV channels.

    Back at home, all that we hear is the Federal Government’s plans to have 20 million STBs manufactured locally by 2015. If that is the case, then 2015 for Nigeria will be the beginning of migration plan for the country, but not its own switchover year; unless the country’s leapfrogging magic happens, will it enjoy the technology without the risk of initial interference. I guess also that for a population of 160 million Nigerians, 20 million STBs is an average way to plan for one citizen who has television sets in abundance and for his neighbour who has none. And in the spirit of the current transformation agenda of the Federal Government, the claim that the government is currently wooing foreign and local companies to invest in the digital TV STBs production, and its wish for the country to start manufacturing digital devices locally is supposedly laudable.

    However, prior to the Johannesburg conference, a digital communication expert, Jenkins Alumona convened what could be called Nigeria’s first open conference on the all important issue of digital transition. Tagged Digital Dialogue Nigeria, the list of facilitators was exhaustive, so were the delegates at the two-day event which took place at the Southern Sun, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    The concern by all was to ensure that unpleasant scenarios do not rear their ugly faces upon- set deadline. The situation is better imagined than experienced if transition is not done with all the awareness that is required. Picture quality on television will get blurred. Signals will be lost. Electronic repairers will feed fat on TV owners, thinking their gadgets are faulty. Set Top Boxes will experience panic buying. Artificial scarcity may follow. Most likely too, the security network in the country will be compromised if Nigeria fails to meet the deadline.

  • Did pirates just stir the hornet’s nest?

    Piracy is a global phenomenon. But two things make our own experience in this part of the world quite different and, by extension, more painful: one is the next to no punitive measure for offenders, while the second is the impunity by which these thieves of intellectual property operate.

    THE recent case of October 1, the $2million-budget movie by Kunle Afolayan, a notable actor and producer, has, again, thrown up this old and recurring topic, after a deadly blow was dealt Biyi Bandele’s Half of a Yellow Sun and Ayo Makun’s  30 Days in Atlanta by the notorious ‘Alaba Boys’, a group of marketers in a section of Alaba International Market, Lagos.

    For the young filmmaker, this is really a ‘dark’ period. And it is even more pathetic when you consider how hard he had struggled to raise fund to produce this great movie. How he will recoup the money spent so far beggars any conjecture. Perhaps too, the personality of the filmmaker as one of the few Nigerians with exportable creative potentialities is a reason for this public concern.

    The sympathy enjoyed by Afolayan had caused a brewing tribal confrontation on the social media when, out of frustration, he made a slip by referring to the pirates as Igbo rather than simply saying ‘Alaba Boys’. Despite this, all, irrespective of tribal differences, came out to condemn this monster, piracy, as though it were new and strange.

    Two editors with The Nation Newspaper, at different times, walked up to me, testifying to the influx of the fake October 1 in the streets of Lagos and how they felt like strangling the sellers. I’ve also read about other people who refused to buy these stolen products. So also, a few others, who were said to have bought it, thinking it was from the original owner, have regretted doing so.

    What more could be responsible for the seeming loyalty, nay love shown to Afolayan by some residents of Lagos? He had sent a Blackberry broadcast message early that morning pleading with the public not to buy the fake copies. But what is the percentage of these people who have refused to buy compared to those who bought the pirated copies either out of ignorance or serious thirst for a film they have been yearning to see? This is the main reason a more effective action must be taken by the law enforcement agencies, if only they see piracy as daylight robbery.

    The irony of this is that the pirates, through their distribution network, will make more money from this man’s sweat than he has made and hopes to make. And while they smile to the bank, the rightful owner is crying to his sponsors, begging for some time to pay back his loans. What a pity!

    When Ayo Makun was confronted with the same helpless situation, he was left with no option than to quickly release 30 Days in Atlanta on DVD, just so he could share the market with the pirates and not lose out totally.

    There is no gain saying that filmmakers and musicians are at the mercy of these pirates who sometimes call the rightful owner for a bargain that usually comes at a fee. They would tell the rightful owner to pay some millions of Naira, just to allow him or her to be the first to put his or her work on DVD; thereby allowing the real owner to sell for a period of time before releasing their own version. They expect the owner to be grateful to them for this ‘great favour’. But you and I know that this display of effrontery and dare-devil-what-can-you-do posture should be urgently and permanently tethered.

    Enforcing the law on piracy has never yielded any result, as pirates have often resisted arrest and have confronted the law enforcement agents, including the Police with all manner of dangerous weapons.

    I was on the entourage of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, NCC, to the Alaba International Market in 2006, where stones, bottles and guns were used to disperse us. Two policemen were severely injured while their van was abandoned at the market, as everyone in our group scampered for safety.

    Even in the streets, vendors of these pirated CDs and DVDs would tell you to mind your business, should you try to be nosy by telling them about the illegality of their business. No doubt, they have been schooled by their wholesalers that it takes just between N50, 000 and N100, 000 to get them out of litigation.

    However, could the piracy of October 1 be the beginning of the end of this menace? Many look up to the incoming government of General Muhammadu Buhari and Akinwunmi Ambode not only to wield the big stick by bringing the ‘Alaba’ to its knees, but by making the piracy offence to attract such punishment as would be meted out to an armed robber or drug trafficker. Indeed, the entertainment industry cries for a ‘Dora Akunyili’ to its rescue.

  • Imperatives in the Nigerian culture, tourism, broadcasting and entertainment sectors

    THIS is an unsolicited input into the public policy on the Nigerian Culture, Tourism, Broadcasting and Entertainment sectors for the incoming governments at all levels. It gives useful insight into the humongous potentials in all the aforementioned sectors to assist the governments in overcoming our many economic, social and value-perception challenges. If accepted and taken seriously, it will lead to sustainable alternative source of foreign revenue-earner.

    Executive summary and problem statement; The country’s arts, culture, broadcasting and culture sectors in the absence of well-articulated governmental administrative policies and procedures have for long and till now been operating as a huge jungle in which whatever works for the privileged few, either with access to the powers that be or public information platforms are invariably and mistakenly taken as norms, and in most cases supersede even various extant legislations. There are already enough laws which if backed up with necessary administrative strategies have the capacity to lead us out of our present woes; reposition the sectors for our governments to maximize their huge potentials to resolve most of our economic, social and value-perception challenges. There is absolutely no need for the incoming administrations to waste further time on new legislations, or setting up committees because the right pathways are clear enough.

    Culture and Tourism

    NIGERIA today has 774 constitutionally-recognized local government areas. On the average, every local government has 10 communities and in each community is at least a cultural monument or site presentable as a tourist attraction. The inhabitants of each community also produce goods, services and have lifestyles which to their unsophisticated minds do not have any economic value but in the hands of experts to package for the global market will command considerable appeal. Taken together, Nigeria at a glance and for a cursory economic evaluation has 7740 tourist sites and same no of communities whose daily lives and output could constitute our sustainable national cultural tourism programme; serving also as our own unique cultural products for exports. Every week, the country has about 150 locations staging different kinds of cultural events and different cultural monuments that tourists could choose from. It is therefore possible to immediately develop a national cultural tourism index without new legislations, budgets, or setting up committees. All we need do is charge the relevant agencies to immediately chart their implementable time-table to actualize it. A useful incentive to start off is to put all arts and cultural agencies on a 2-year notice of zero budgets with achievable internally-generated revenue for their governments. Our arts and culture administrators currently have a wrong mindset that needs re-programming! Their appalling belief is that lack of or inadequate capital budgets hinder them to properly develop and structure our culture for tourism but pray, what do they require capital budgets for? Yes, a little initial seed money is required for preliminary activities but this could be easily sourced either as a bank loan or grants from various commercial enterprises that will also benefit from a structured cultural tourism programme. Most if not all the various ancient sacred temples forming the bulk of India cultural and spiritual tourism sites remain in the inner recesses of the country and accessible only through the same footpaths of many hundreds, if not thousands of years! In the Alps frozen with ice all year round; Switzerland and other countries of the world that mountain-climbers and skiers frequent, their locals are gainfully engaged as guide and trainers. In Italy and Spain, the ruins of their former emperors’ castles are their tourists’ sites. Conversely in Nigeria, our cultural administrators want capital budgets to recruit “experts”, erect 5-star hotels and modern highways in their misguided notion that targets only the holiday-makers for tourism but leaves out the core tourists; students, researchers, archaeologists and explorers. We must stop using government money to build hotels around tourist locations or to construct highways because it is wrong! First it detracts from the real cultural value of the locations, which from what obtains in India, Italy, Spain should be in-sittu. Beyond this, hotels and roads constructions are commercial ventures, which with the necessary traffic of tourists will naturally rouse entrepreneurs to do the needful.

    Advertisements and Broadcasting

    A former Director-General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission engaged me on a strategy to reposition the broadcasting industry as a veritable source of employments for mainly our youths and veterans of the creative industry. Unfortunately since his unplanned exit, subsequent leaders have been focusing more on the technicalities of frequency allocations which in today’s world is practically useless. What restriction is there on a station given the authority to cover a particular region but is available on the net for anyone across the globe to access? The huge social/economic potentials in the area of modeling, products and public advertisements are conveniently ignored. Today companies freely recruit foreign models or produce their advertisements abroad. The cost of a TV programme parading mainly foreign cast and crew with few locals in the name of local content is higher than what many stations grudgingly give 10 Nigerian producers yet we have NBC! Rather our local cuisines and fashions, the foreigners are calling the shots! Now we have a problem of value-perception emulating alien culture and avoidable medical problems emanating from the consumption of foreign products?

    Creative Arts and Entertainment

    CREATIVE writings and audio-visual productions are intertwined with the constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of expression. Sensible countries therefore steer clear of legislating on those that can or cannot engage in them. Enforceable control and regulation are two-fold; first by the various practioners’ guilds that disallow non-members from operating; like in journalism for journalists only. Second is through the licensed distributors as the business arm. They decide what is produced; how and when it gets to the public. The National Film & Video Censors Board is the agency with the legal mandate to regulate distribution. It developed a New Distribution and Exhibition Framework, NDEF for that purpose.

    Unfortunately, its present leadership believes that the best way to solve a problem is to pretend it doesn’t exist! It has therefore tactically abandoned the NDEF, focusing instead on classification and censorship, ignoring the reality that without an operational NDEF, all its decisions on censorship and classifications are of no effect. That is why despite yearly budgetary allocations in billions, our public space is still awash with offensive movies and music! To effectively contain all the challenges in the industry, full implementation of NDEF is a must, better to be championed by the Board already legally-empowered but now wholly funded by NEXIM which by its exclusive mandate is responsible for developing and funding Nigerian entertainment products for exports. New anti-piracy law is needless because Nigeria already has one of the best in the world. Absence of licensed operators of the distribution system to administer and simplify its enforcement is the issue. The NFVCB and the rudderless Film Corporation must immediately be excised from government funding.

    –‘Yinka Ogundaisi is a writer, filmmaker and marketer

  • Behold AfricaMagic Igbo’s long-awaited debut!

    THE story, which very quickly attained folklore status, is often told of an African American resident of the Big Apple who owns a club in New York. One day, he placed big TV screens in strategic corners of the club and as long as the leisure facility remained opened, he played only Nollywood movies on them, non-stop. When asked why, he said that he wanted to show New Yorkers and other Americans that Africans don’t live on trees! He had never been to Africa but watching Nollywood movies, he said he was filled with a sense of pride that yes, Africans are human and in Africa, there are beautiful people, homes, cities and a rich cultural heritage. Talk of the power of storytelling!

    The launch of AfricaMagic Igbo could not have come at a better time. M-Net, owners of the AfricaMagic channels that avail Africans with platforms to tell their stories from their perspective, is following a tradition of excellence that has long trailed its operations. The launch of AfricaMagic Yoruba was hailed as a highly strategic move which helped to display the rich Yoruba culture in all its glory to a global audience. Thereafter followed the launch of AfricaMagic Hausa, a development which surprised quite a few people who were hitherto unaware that a vibrant movie industry existed in the northern part of the country.

    Long seen as a region that had a monolithic culture and language, even in Nigeria particularly down south, the channel exposed the rainbow cultures and peoples of the North to people in other regions. While the business sense of launching channels for Yoruba and Hausa language content is self-evident, as these languages are spoken far beyond Nigeria’s borders and would therefore naturally help to expand Multichoice’s subscriber base beyond the country, the Igbo channel also poses a strong business case as the Igbos are naturally migratory. They are usually found in large numbers in virtually all African countries, driving business and commercial activities.

    Long before the coming of the AfricaMagic channels, Nigerians had no choice but to be served content from other places. Remember Good Times, The Jeffersons, Some Mothers Do Have Them, among many others? Although there was a movie industry then, it was largely restricted with a very small target audience. Not only was the content on TV alien to the culture, language and lifestyles of Nigerians, there was also a dearth of opportunities for talented Nigerians to showcase their craft to the rest of the continent and indeed the world.

    With the availability of eight AfricaMagic channels, there are boundless opportunities for content providers  movies, sitcoms, drama, documentaries, music, name it. All of a sudden, there seems to be an explosion, or renaissance, of the African people and their cultures. Perhaps it is not happenstance that the availability of platforms for self-expression for Africans is directly linked to the phenomenal growth in the entertainment industry across Africa, with Nigeria rightly referred to as the entertainment capital of Africa.

    The AfricaMagic Igbo channel is already expected to rival existing channels in the AfricaMagic channel line-up as the Igbo people are deeply rooted in their culture which is quite colourfully and richly expressed in proverbs and wise sayings. A glimpse of what the channel will offer has been seen in the influence of the Igbo culture and nuances on Nollywood movies. If the great storyteller, Chinua Achebe’s portrayal of the Igbo culture in Things Fall Apart is anything to go by, then viewers are set to be regaled with flicks ranging from drama, dance, movies and general entertainment. The Igbo culture is renowned for its food, tradition, and language; but perhaps most prominent is the culture’s affinity for proverbs, a feature which many viewers can expect to get a healthy dose of on the new channel.

    Beyond the entertainment value that AfricaMagic Igbo will serve is the business potential particularly around the entertainment industry in the eastern part of the country. AfricaMagic Igbo is expected to have the same positive impact on businesses in the entertainment sector such as content providers, leisure, among others in the same fashion that AfricaMagic Hausa and AfricaMagic Yoruba had on businesses in the entertainment sector in the northern and western parts of the country. While mainstream Nollywood is based in Lagos, there is a vibrant movie production business in Kano, Jos and Kaduna, feeding the AfricaMagic Hausa channel, while the Ibadan-Abeokuta-Akure axis also has a thriving entertainment industry feeding AfricaMagic Yoruba.

    M-Net, while announcing the coming of AfricaMagic Igbo, stated that the channel will be a 24-hour general entertainment channel dedicated to showcasing the best of Igbo language entertainment content from Nigeria. This, the company announced, is part of its on-going development strategy. Igbo entertainment content has always played a role in the development of the Nigerian film and television industry and it is only proper that this content, which showcases the rich Igbo culture, is given a platform where is easily accessible by audiences in the country and across the rest of Africa. The channel brings to eight the total number of Africa Magic channels, and is the third indigenous Nigerian language channel, after Africa Magic Hausa and Africa Magic Yoruba.

    Perhaps one of the strongest contributions of the AfricaMagic brand is in the area of linguistic diffusion. The channels have since served as a tool for both speakers and non-speakers to learn a new language or better the speaking knowledge of either Hausa or Yoruba.

    With the launch of the latest AfricaMagic channel and its potential to kindle growth of Igbo content and businesses in the entertainment sector, not only in the eastern part of the country but also in Lagos where there is a large population of Igbos, contribution of the entertainment industry to gross domestic product is expected to keep growing. Estimated at 1.2percent of Nigeria’s rebased GDP of US$510billion, this figure is set to rise as there is a direct correlation between platforms that spur the growth of businesses and businesses taking advantage of the opportunity to grow. At Multichoice’s 20th anniversary event, the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission, Mr. Emeka Mba, while recognising the pivotal role that the company is playing in the booming entertainment industry, stated that the company has brought world-class broadcasting to Nigeria and in the process unleashed an economic multiplier and a wave of enterprise development schemes on Nigeria’s socio-economic terrain. The launch of AfricaMagic Igbo will undoubtedly help to maintain that growth trajectory.

    —Akeem Ogunlade is of the Centre for the Promotion of Enterprise and Business Best Practice, Plot 908 Njamena Street, Off Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja.