The Nation Newspaper

Category: Victor Akande

  • There’s a lesson to learn, says Annie Idibia

    Wife of Nigerian music legend 2baba, Annie Idibia, who was recently the face of the Women’s Issue of Savvy Magazine Africa has said that the process of healing takes time.

    The magazine partnered with Facebook and Rabbington Media to train female entrepreneurs and aspiring business. The event which was held on Friday, June 21, at the Facebook NG Hub in Yaba, was centered on empowering women on how to conquer their industry using digital marketing.

    Annie in the Women Issues’ edition speaks on topical issues including: building a brand, family life and the power of healing.

    “Healing takes time, it is a long process even after forgiving a little thing could make you remember. It is a hard thing but when you forgive do not forget because there’s a lesson to learn, there are things I have forgiven but I haven’t healed from,” the 34-year-old award-winning actress and model was quoted on the cover page.

    The publisher of Magazine, Tofunmi Akinseye said that the gathering is an opportunity to shine a light on societal demands of women who aspire to break the glass-ceilings in several industries.

    “Women in business learnt how to carve a niche for their businesses online, got access to use and learn smart digital marketing tools and drive innovation, learnt new ideas and creativity to attract more customers and stand out amidst stiff competition.

    “It’s all about girl power and the tools to truly live every single day to our full potential as entrepreneurs, designers, bosses, scientists, actors, musicians, mothers, sisters, friends, and colleagues.”

    Akinseye, however, added that when women succeed, everybody wins in any given society.

  • BIG BROTHER IS IN TOWN!

    I’ve heard people wondering what Big Brother reality show is ‘really’ about. They hear words from some critics and quickly validate their suspicions, saying, ‘ehen, I knew all the while it’s just a senseless assemblage.’ They get the media buzz, but can’t seem to fathom what is it that excites people about some ‘jobless’ youth locked in a room for three months, eating, drinking and dancing – and while they sleep, people stay awake to watch how they snore away.

    If you are a passive follower, this is the kind of funny impression you get, because while walking across your living room to the bedroom, your eyes probably catches Rico braiding Cee-C’s hair, or Teddy A buffing at his cigarette in the garden, or Miracle and Nina lying beside each other, gossiping about other housemates. All these don’t make sense, right? Yes they probably don’t. It is just like entering the house in the middle of a television drama, nothing grips you unless there is an outburst of emotion, a pandemonium, or in the case of an action movie, a violent scene.

    For a candid reality show that puts contestants on the spot for 24/7 through 90 days or so, you don’t get an outburst by accident unless you are an active follower. Life itself is a potpourri of activities: some hot, some cold; some fast, some slow; it is about tears and laughter; conflict and peace. These things happen sometimes naturally, and because the Big Brother show is not scripted, great moments on the show don’t announce themselves.

    Big Brother is a character game, and you do not expect the greatest of them to be entertained. Besides, who defines ‘great’? Sometimes it doesn’t matter that a dumb person is in the house; that in itself is a virtue, because it gets people talking. Same for any wow factor displayed by any participant.

    Big Brother is a conversation generating show, and you can bet that from the buzz, within Nigeria and outside, the conversations are limitless. Wondering why sponsors are enormous for the show? It is a show for active followers, and it has got loads of them. This is what matters to notable brands who are sponsors of the Big Brother show.

    The show iself is a brand maker, bringing contestants from obscurity to the limelight as they show their stuff to the world.

    For the young talented participant, it is a school that could also graduate them into fortune. It is free advertisement for what they do, and through which many had come out into the waiting hands of talent hunters in different spheres of human endeavours.

    Interestingly, this year’s Big Brother Naija which kicks off tomorrow in Lagos is staking N60 million on the eventual winner.  You would agree with me that, that sum is worth spending three months to get, moreso in a house that offers free food, free clothes, shoes, medical attention, fitness sessions and other fun moments.  For example, when Leo and Ifu Ennada got evicted early in the show last season, they went away with N2.5 million each, and by the average salary rating in Nigeria, that amount is about two years earning for each. This is aside other freebies, including an all-expense paid trip to London for the One Africa Music Festival and one year supply of Pepsi for winning the Pepsi “Roc da mat” challenge.

    In the same vein, Tobi and Rico Swavey won the sum of N2 million, Nokia 8 Bothie phones and shopping vouchers in the ‘Duo Clip’ special task sponsored by Nokia.

    Meanwhile, because entertainment is to each person what they feel about it, some would choose skits over short film, others would choose shorts over feature films, while some are enarmoured of series. In terms of genres, fans are also divided in their choice for romance, horror, action, adventure, epic, film noir, war film, martial arts etc.

    Big Brother is not an adventure reality show, but a lifestyle genre. Thus it has its puculiar flavor which, basically, tests in the understanding of human characters in relationship with others. It is not exclusively a game of strength, but it teaches endurance, tolerance, diplomacy, alliances, team spirit, creativity, and love – virtues that are capable of defeating strength on the field of human relations.

  • Falz raises case for arrested Kano musician Mohammed Yusuf

    Singer Folarin Falana who is more known as Falz The Badh Guy, has waded into the story of an arrest of a musician, Mohammed Yusuf, that was reportedly arrested for talking about the Kano State governor.

    Uploading a story posted on BBC News PIDGIN on his Instagram page on Tuesday, Falz called on anyone who knows the singer to get in touch with him.

    “HATE to see stuff like this,” he wrote.

    “This is 2019. Any individual who feels defamed by any statement made by another person can sue for libel or slander under the law of defamation. It is shameful to see public officers using the machinery of the state to harass citizens and attempting to hinder our inalienable freedom of expression.

    “Anyone who knows the musician Mohammed Yusuf personally should please get in touch with me. We NEED to contend this unjust sentence. #JusticeForMohammed.”

    The singer who is apparently suspending his role as a musician to act out his profession as a lawyer has been getting commendations from followers.

    mc_lively, “It’s insane… what these people do…it’s simply insane!! They do these ridiculous things with impunity.”

    “Femi Falana Jr Speaking not Falz…. Falz is on suspension for now!, writes Iamperrymartins.

    iam_trod “Our Human rights are now human lefts..So help me God.”

    activist_9ja said, “Can you imagine. Nigerians are not ready to fight for their right. I wish all celebrities can be like you not hailing them to get money” while mr_adeoluwa said, “D reason I wanted to study Law, Dey rather gave me “fencing & wiring.”

  • CEE-C GETS ANOTHER ENDORSEMENT, MERCEDES BENZ CAR

    Ex-Big Brother Naija contestant, Cynthia Nwadiora, known as Cee-C, has been unveiled as the brand ambassador of Royal Hairs Company, a deal which comes with a brand new Mercedes Benz car.

    The unveiling coincided with the Royal Hairs Lekki store reopening.

    “No chess moves, always God’s grace,” said Cee-C.

    “Thank you so much @royalhairs for this blessing, paid full fees on signing and now he added this car. Odogwu! Your shop will never burn. I am so grateful!!! Spartans, we have work to do.”

    Cee-C also showed appreciation to Ubi Franklin saying: “So today, I Just want to send some love my brother’s way, @ubifranklintriplemg thank you for being there from day 1, even when the tide wasn’t in my favour. You stuck your neck out for me even when you didn’t have to, and made many things happen for me. I know there is a lot out there right now but I choose to celebrate the good, the good you have shown to me and many others. Thank you, God bless you for me!

    Reacting to Cee-C’s post, Uti Nwachukwu said: “Sometimes when all people want to do is add more negativity to your name, all you have to do is keep doing your good and keep supporting diamonds in the rough … cos guess what ? Baba God will use your good Heart to Always Justify you!! Thank you @ubifranklintriplemg for standing by @ceec_official and closing the deals you have for her including the latest one #HeavenSent #NotAllSaintsArePerfect #CheersToAgoodHeart.”

  • REMEMBERING EDDIE (2)

    AFTER spending 53 years in the entertainment industry, the late Chief Eddie Ugbomah (OON) planned a memory farewell, but death came calling rather too fast. Or could it be that the wheels bearing his desires were rather slow in sailing…

    “I have done my best and I hand over the baton to the old, middle and young stakeholders,” he said at the wake of the story of his illness. The Chief had been ill for about eight weeks at the time, and had been moved from one hospital to another. ‘Slaughter house to slaughter house’, he described the hospitals, until he was later moved to Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH).

    He was said to suffering some nervous neck and head pain, affecting the functioning of the left ear and eye.

    “At 78 it is not easy to bear such pain,” he said, heeding the advice to go for foreign medical treatment.

    “To make matters worse, some of the drugs LUTH gave me are finished, and can’t be found from Badagry to Mile 2 pharmacies. Now to go abroad, cash of fifty million naira is involved and he I will be accompanied by a nurse,” he explained.

    As huge as the bill was,

    he said he had what it would take to raise the fund without cap in hand.

    “I have an extra, unoccupied house for sale, I want to launch my autobiography that took me 25 years to write called Eddie by Eddie, I want to launch my 45minutes Video Documentary – THIS IS EDDIE. I have just transferred two of myclassic  films BLACK  PRESIDENT and  BLACK GOLD  both transferred from celluloid to HDV and DVD for Cinema House shows, then the 78 years lecture, exhibition and Induction of new members into the Movie and Music Hall of Fame.”

    known for his bluntness, he said: “After contributing to the happiness, growth, educating and pioneering Cinema which we are all killing gradually, what do i get as support for the above other than the worthless OON and thirty seven different Life and professional Awards.

    “With the above event and the support of the media houses, the shows to raise this fund will be easy. I don’t need to go cap in hand or on my expensive old knees. The illness has been on the social media and many  kind-hearted people in Nigeria and abroad have been sending prayers and some, their widow’s might which has been supporting the expensive drugs. We just don’tknow why we are callous people where thieving, heartless, tribalist are ruling this country, handing over from a thief to a thief.

    “What makes matters worse is that the youths are no better now  as they have  been brought up by their  pen, agbada robbers. I thank God I have my own personal interlectual property I can offer the

    public.  It  would  have  been  in  December  but  we  all  know  the  political  and murderous situation the country is.”

    The chief had to wait until early April this year, for these special events which never happened.

    The drugs and exercise were expected to keep him going.

    He said he was getting in touch with his friends from the print and electronic media.

    He said a 10-man Organising Committee was in full swing to make things work.

    “I am ready to follow them to meet my friends, not Government full of their worthless cracked record of NO MONEY. It is now a general support to make these events happen.

    “The books are ready, the films are ready, the documentary is in l post production stage.”

  • Remembering Eddie

    WHEN the Executive Director of National Film and Video Censors Board, Mr. Adedayo Thomas assumed office two years ago, the first filmmaker he paid courtesy visit was the late Eddie Ugbomah. And when the deceased was sick and needed urgent medical attention, Thomas moved him to the hospital where he breathed his last.

    Here was how their first meeting went:

    Newly appointed then, the Executive Director of National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Mr. Adedayo Thomas got a hint of the complications that exist in the film sector, when the late veteran filmmaker, Chief Eddie Ugbomah described his position as a hot seat.

    This may not be too surprising to Thomas, who noted that he met a debt of N317 million upon assuming office.

    “I don’t know whether if I use these words, you won’t feel bad, but I’ll still say it: ‘welcome to hell’,” said a usually frank Ugbomah.

    “But from what I know about him (Thomas), being a grandson of my university; because I have taught the lecturers who taught him, and he is still my student. I will say I am very proud that he got appointed,” he added.

    As part of his personal visitation itinerary to stakeholders in the film industry, the then new NFVCB chief made the first stop at the Ilogbo-Eremi country home of the filmmaker, located along Badagry Express Way, saying that it feels more responsible of him to visit the stakeholders individually and collectively, rather than wait for them to pay him the usual courtesy visit when a new government appointee assumes office.

    “This is my first week in office, and I think that, based on what I met on ground which need serious and urgent attention, there is need to meet with stakeholders.

    “Without the stakeholders, there is nothing like the National Film and Video Censors Board. In putting down the names of individuals, associations and personalities – except we want to deceive ourselves – in the film industry, I don’t think history can be written without mentioning our father, Chief Eddie Ugbomah. That is why my first courtesy visit to stakeholders is starting with Chief Ugbomah; to beg them and bring them back on board.”

    An elated Ugbomah expressed optimism about the new turn of events, saying, “I believe we have a future because he is coming to meet a dead-end of a place. He needs a lot of home work. I have given him some advices; the good, the bad and the ugly about the industry and I am happy he said ‘let me go and think about all these things you’ve said.”

    On the areas he would want the new ED to give priority, Ugbomah said:

    ““It’s a wide area, but if he can salvage the industry by making sure that people make films and censor them, that way, the films are controlled. The next that we don’t have, which is in his own department is distribution.  If you make a good film and it’s not well distributed and nobody is watching it, then it’s zero. Those are the two areas he should aim first: the control of the industry and the distribution. He also needs to protect our market by cutting down on the pollution in our air. They call it cable. Before Aljazeera entered into America, they had to buy an American TV station before they allowed them. But these people come to our soil and do as they like. They beat us over there and beat us here. So those are the two levels first; the protection and the distribution.”

    For the NFVCB boss, “moving the film industry forward is like moving the country forward, and that this can only be reflected in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the creative sector,” he said. “If we look at it, apart from oil, we are known all over the world for our films. But have we been able to tap from it adequately? Has it improved our revenue significantly? We must be able to translate the GDP into substantial revenue for the nation.

    We have culture, we have talents, and paying homage is part of the things I have designed for the industry to move forward. By the time I do that around the South-West, I’ll go back to Abuja again, and visit another zone and pay homage; seek advices and directions, so that we can all be on the same path to prosperity as defined by the president of the country; President Muhammadu Buhari.”

  • Politics devoid of fan craze

    UNTIL religious organisations lose membership by half over failed prophecies or inept leadership of their leaders would political fanaticism wane. However, recent events have proved that social fanaticism which endears revelers especially to entertainers has no much space in politics.

    Wikipedia describes a fan, a fanatic, an aficionado or supporter as a person who is enthusiastically devoted to something or somebody, usually to a band, a sports team, a genre, a book, a movie or an entertainer.

    The Muhammadu Buhari’s and Donald Trump’s elections were pointers to the fact that if there was any crazy logic attached to celebrity fan base, it is foiled by politics, because it seems that when it comes to choosing their leaders, the choice of their cherished celebrity makes little or no difference.

    If the number of celebrity endorsements of a political candidate in Nigeria was anything to go by, former President Goodluck Jonathan could have won the 2015 election that returned President Muhammadu Buhari to power. Indeed, never had the entertainment industry been so divided with majority rooting for the former president. But the electorate separated a fantastic entertainer from who a good role model was. They went for the incumbent president despite the fact that he did not hide his disdain for corruption coupled with his ‘toughness’ as a former military leader.

    So much for Davido’s endorsement of his uncle, Adeleke.

    Americans did the same in 2016 when they shunned the numerous celebrity endorsements of Hillary Clinton and went all hog for Donald Trump despite his controversial, radical and undiplomatic nature.

    Never had America witnessed the kind of aggressive support for a candidate who could have made history as their first female president in a contest that brought her close contender so much hate, over campaign promises that were perceived to be capable of hindering freedom.

    The most prominent of the Clinton campaigners was Katy Perry, who went naked on the social media in a sort of sex appeal that is known to suffice as marketing tool.

    Katy has been stumping for Hillary since the primaries, trending with hashtags like #ImWithHer ball gown. And just after Trump’s “nasty woman” comment, she was one of the first celebs to order a shirt which she wore while campaigning for Hillary on a college campus.

    Katy even used Halloween as an excuse to make headlines for Hillary, undergoing a total transformation, with the help of professional makeup artists and prosthetics, just as she let Clinton use her hit song “Roar” in a final wave of powerful campaign adverts.

    Others celebrities who showed so much commitment to the Clinton cause include Taylor Swift, Chloë Grace Moretz, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus and Beyonce.

    Perhaps the most unprecedented support for Hillary was the one from Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican and former California Governor who, in October made headlines when he publicly announced that he would not vote for Donald Trump.

    He said: “For the first time since I became a citizen in 1983, I will not vote for the Republican candidate for president. Like many Americans, I’ve been conflicted this election….But as proud as I am to label myself a Republican, there is one label I hold above all else — American. So I want to take a moment to remind my fellow Republicans that it is not only acceptable to choose your country over your party—it is your duty.”

    With Lady Gaga protesting outside Trump Tower after the election and Katy Perry speaking ‘revolution’, respondents think they are taking their emotions too far.

    “The problem with the so called celeb,” according to one of them, “is that 14 year old school girls who are the only people who are impressed by the likes of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry can’t vote. But Hillary Clinton couldn’t work that one out.”

    “Hopefully, this’ll end the rush for celebrity endorsement. Tiresome and detrimental,” another said who added: “All the celebrities in Hilary’s camp are only mortified because they feel their celeb status was very ineffective to the cause and are feeling worthless this morning as their egos are deflated.”

  • When celebrities tax their goodwill

    LIFE is indeed sweet. And no matter the sorrows within, living is sacred. Thus, it is believed that those who took their lives have not explored every option available to remain alive.

    It is true that no man begged to come to this world, but fighting to remain alive is an obligation that comes with earthly responsibilities. No matter how we choose to look at it, these responsibilities demand that we live, not just for ourselves, but for others, including the Creator, that we may serve Him until such a time when it pleases Him to call us home.

    Several people are dying around the world because they do not have the opportunity to stay longer than they desire. But there are others who, by virtue of their position in the society, will enjoy public concerns and sympathy when in distress. Celebrities fall in the latter category, which is why we have instances of public donations to ailing actors and musicians. In some cases, governments, politicians and corporate organisations have risen to the occasion to offset medical bills of celebrities. In view of the goodwill that celebrities enjoy, some of them have also used their clout to influence charity towards ordinary people who are in need. But at what point did the goodwill they enjoy become a right?

    We all have served their fatherland in different capacities, but I have not seen people in other professions arrogate so much national importance to their services like the entertainers. Yes, not even the soldiers. And I ask; were those services rendered for free?

    We pay to see movies in cinemas; we pay to enjoy music at concerts, even when we are not paying, some companies are paying as part of their social responsibility projects. No doubt, we enjoy the movies, the music, and football. We have created a fan base for you among ourselves. We have even made role models of you, sometimes for the wrong reasons. Our children idolize you, they scramble for selfies and autographs at the sight of you.

    When you are sick and in need of help, we give our widow’s might, just to keep you going for us. But when did these privileges you enjoy are taken as rights or obligations we must fulfill for you? The kind of rights that farmers never claim for ‘feeding’ the nation, the kind that soldiers never claim for fighting ‘our’ battles, the kind that doctors never claim for ‘saving’ lives, the kind that engineers never claim for ‘giving’ our lives a spark.

    I have often quarreled with a mindset among some entertainers who feel that government owe them a huge debt for developing the creative industry without its (government) support, forgetting for a moment that it is a personal profit-making business they are engaged in. Footballers too have held government by the jugular, for what they consider national service on the pitch of play.

    The carry-over effect is that when these celebrities suffer personal losses, they still expect government or the public to pay damages. Whatever happens to their salaries, allowances and personal savings…

    A celebrity who was reported recently to be suffering life-threatening sicknesses has called the bluff of everyone who should help because he does not want to be seen as begging to stay alive. The seeming arrogance stems from his long service to the nation, for which there are no accounts of being owed salaries or performing for free.

    There have been such cases where initially, a celebrity keeps their health status in secrecy, dispelling reports about their indisposition until it becomes late.

    I thought they say that a man drowning does not care who saves him. We must fight to stay alive, even if it requires begging. Begging to ‘live’ is different from begging to ‘feed’; only God gives both, but the former no man can boast of, so there is no shame in asking.

    Banky W was happy he got another chance to live. Many of us have been given multiply chances, and we appreciate life better.

    “For those who’ve been wondering why I’ve been away so long; I had my third surgery on a rare strain of skin cancer tumours in my shoulder last month,” he said.

    According to him, “The first two times were over ten years ago, then it recently resurfaced. But this isn’t a sad story as much as it is a reminder and a testimony.

    A reminder that you should never take life for granted.”

    Yes, we should never take life for granted. We treat it like a trash when we don’t bother if we lose it, by feeling too big to keep it, no matter what it takes.

  • Time for co-production treaties

    CONSIDERING the history of the Nigerian motion picture industry from the post-colonial era, it may be right to say the business of filmmaking started between 1960 and 1970 as a result of increase in production, especially from the Western Nigeria, when former theatre practitioners such as Hubert Ogunde and Moses Olaiya took their art to the big screen. The Indigenization Decree of the Yakubu Gowon regime which demanded the transfer of ownership of about 300 film theatres from their foreign owners to Nigerians resulted in more Nigerians playing active roles in the cinema and film. Notwithstanding, the rise that has brought the industry to the Nollywood era today, one of the factors that has mitigated against Nigeria from being called a full-fledged film industry is the absent of bilateral collaboration in form of MoU or treaty with other countries.

    The South African Film industry may not have recorded quantum, one South African film to achieve international acclaim was ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’ in 1980, and in recent times, ‘District 9’, an action/science-fiction film directed by Neill Blomkamp. The film which was a critical and commercial success worldwide was nominated for Best Picture at the 82nd Academy Awards. Other notable films are Tsotsi, which won the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006 as well as U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, which won the Golden Bear at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.

    There are other wave-making films like ‘Of Good Report’ and ‘Sew The Winter To My Skin’ by Jahmil Qubeka.

    There is no doubt that South Africa, having been opened to other film nations through bilateral cooperation, has earned these feats based on technical development, co-productions, tax rebate, and playing the international film politics.

    Although Nigeria has desired bilateral relationship with other countries, the best it has got were film grants from foreign embassies and development agencies which have no doubt benefited some filmmakers. Until the incumbent government, the creative industry was under the Ministry of Information that is not constitutionally empowered to sign a treaty with other countries. However, for the first time, there is a feasible move by the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) for collaboration with Morocco for the development of the creative sectors of both counties.

    The NFC reported that the discussions are on motion picture co-production treaty between both countries, collaboration between motion picture industries of both countries and cross country collaborations, joint film production, including documentaries, capacity building, festival development, content sales and access to project finding.

    The agency believes that when finally sealed through the signing of a Bilateral Memorandum of Understanding and Treaty, Nigeria’s creative industry is expected to witness a leap in its growth through the inflow of direct investment, with measurable impact on the nation’s economy.

    Managing Director of NFC, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe led Nigeria’s delegation to the discussion in Morocco, with other delegates, including Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Art and Culture, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, NFC’s Head of Production and Industry Support Services, Mr. Edmund Peters,  Head of NFC Abuja Zonal Office, Mrs. Halima Oyelade, and Mohammed Gamul, a film practitioner from Kano State.

    Taking a cue from South Africa, the country has entered into co- production treaties with Canada (1997), Italy (2003), Germany (2004) and the United Kingdom (2007), France (2010), New Zealand (2011) and Ireland (2012). South Africa will continue to enter into future co-production treaties with various countries for the benefit of the industry.

    The effect of these agreements, as explained on the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) website is that, a film or television program, which is approved as an official co-production, is regarded as a national production of each of the co-producing countries, and is therefore eligible to apply for any benefits or programs of assistance available in either country. An additional advantage is that each of the co-producers brings access to their domestic market.

  • The third Force

    THIS is not about former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s politically motivated ‘Coalition for Nigeria Movement’. It is not also the South Africa’s Third Force, a term used by leaders of the ANC during the late 1980s and early 1990s to refer to a clandestine force believed to be responsible for a surge in violence in KwaZulu-Natal, and townships around and south of the Witwatersrand. It is about a revolution in the Nigerian film industry that will not onto tell the original African story, but deploys the Hollywood-like whiz kid to rake in the kind of money that ‘Black Panther’ made.

    Incidentally, there is a section of Nollywood muting the idea of a Third Force, each time they talked about the exploit of South Africa, as it concerns arty films, award-winning films, technical ingenuity, culture of film funds, and film collaboration with the West.

    Outside the usual lip service paid the potential of film business in Nigeria, how can we use the Hollywood model to tell our stories, as it appears Hollywood is bereft of original stories, and like petrol, they have come for our crude and made even more money selling the finished product to the world.

    Let us first look at the area of historical distortion that most Africa-centered Hollywood films are known for. In a piece by Malena Amusa on February 21, 2018, the writer said: “As a visionary and creative professional, “Black Panther” truly inspired me. But as a historian and benefactor of the black struggle for liberation, the movie left me shocked and hurt.”

    Her argument was that the movie’s neocolonial politics killed the true spirit of the Black Panther, and anyone hoping for a refreshing and futuristic road map to black liberation.

    She said: “Rather than giving us hope, “Black Panther” engaged in perverse colonial fantasy, telling America it can come in Africa and take whatever it wants with no measures of accountability. The movie outright slights the main argument of its original comic, which challenged the West, not acquiesced to its agenda.”

    This is what we get when we leave our potentials untapped. Hollywood sure knows the power of black films. Records have been created with the likes of ‘Moonlight’, an almost entire black cast movie which won Best Picture at the Oscar. There is also ‘Hidden Figures’ which made $165.5 million in the US and an additional $48.8 million overseas in 2016, just as ‘Straight Outta Compton’ wowed with about $200 million for a film directed by a black filmmaker.

    Now, ‘Black Panther’ didn’t just outdo box office records with $218m on debut weekend, it has also finally revealed how well, movies telling stories about black people, with black actors travel.

    My concern here is how Nigerians can tell a similar story that will make N135 million in the first three days in Nigeria alone.

    Going by the current structure in Nollywood whereby Bank of Industry gives loan to filmmakers, I do not see $200 million being the production cost of ‘Black Panther’ too much for BoI to dole out, should the DFI be sure of a film project returning N135 million in three days. As a matter of fact, in seven days, the movie had hit the N200 million mark. And I heard it made more money in Ghana in the opening weekend than it made in Nigeria.

    At the risk of saying that the cast of a movie is a better determinant the production house, with $200 million, not only is a Nollywood film sure of the best African actors in Hollywood, our local stars stand the chance of being integrated into the Hollywood space through this subtle approach. If a foreign DoP, all the effects and grading are what will take us to Hollywood to get a perfect finished product, so be it. for all I know, we would have started a new journey that sooner or later, will make us own our product 100 percent. When that happens, selling a full Africa film project in Hollywood may not be a problem, as we would have been integrated into the market.