By Chris Ihidero
Usually, the beginning of a new year gives cause for much optimism and enthusiasm. Resolutions are made in the light of getting more out of the New Year with hopes and aspirations aimed pretty high. Sadly however, the outlook for the entertainment industry in 2012 is rather bleak, at least from where I stand and stare ahead. As we have been repeatedly informed by those who should know, success does not just happen. Success only happens when proper and consistent planning is put in motion by those qualified to do so. I fear that we still have not put the sort of planning that will bring about success in the entertainment industry in motion and whatever peripheral success we see today is not sustainable on the long run.
TELEVISION
As long as Nigerian television stations continue to have a rent mentality, where they sit back and await independent producers to come and buy airtime to air their programmes, expect nothing to change in that sector. The same poor quality programming will prevail. Independent producers who can afford to pay the enormous amounts of money these stations demand will do so and then find creative ways around the quality of their content. This, naturally, will lead to poor quality programmes as the producers have to rake back their investment somehow. Telecommunication companies and multinationals will continue to flood the screens with reality shows that make little or no impact because it gives them visibility. Nothing else will be new.
MUSIC
There’s a dip in global music sales across platforms and I believe this will be more pronounced in 2012. While I do not have the figures for how many copies someone like Wizkid moved in 2011, I fear that it cannot be great. That hydra-headed monster called distribution ensures that records sales in Nigeria will be average at best, even with an artiste as popular as WizKid or 2Face Idibia. Concerts will still be the major earning front for artistes, even if concert means a year-old baby’s birthday. Of course, it isn’t helpful that oversaturated beats and weak rhymes are still the order of the day…can it be that listeners are finally getting tired? If album sales in 2011 are anything to go by, the much anticipated dip in the new Nigerian music scene should come into full effect in 2012.
BOOKS
I recently purchased the following books on Amazon: Christopher Hitchens’ God is not Great, Arguably (Hardcover) and Hitch 22; Lee Kuan Yew’s From Third World to First and Bryan Peterson’s Understanding Exposure. These five books cost £46.38 and were delivered to my brother who lives in the UK for free. When people argue that Nigerians don’t read I wonder if they consider how expensive books are in Nigeria. Beyond that, where are the libraries that will aid reading? A reading culture is not generally formed in adult years. If the culture has not been inculcated from childhood, the chances become slimmer that someone will make the effort in adulthood. We should be worried that even someone as popular as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is not moving copies of her books in the tens of thousands. I do not see any worthy change occurring in this sector in 2012.
NOLLYWOOD
For how much longer can Nollywood remain in its present comatose state? With movie sales at an all-time low and cinema still not really bringing home huge profits, something has got to give. Sadly, the ridiculous intervention attempts by government will naturally have no meaningful impact. As I see it, it isn’t yet clear to government – and perhaps, Nollywood practitioners – that this is a business that has the potential to bring phenomenal wealth into this country. I still see government’s attitude towards the entertainment industry as that of people who exist to amuse Nigerians. Nothing of the way the industry is regulated or supported says they think that the industry is crucial in the scheme of things. As this is the case, we really shouldn’t look forward to any major change in 2012. A couple of films will be popular, most will tank. I don’t see how Nollywood will get better anytime soon. The issues bedevilling the entertainment sector are pretty similar; sadly, the attempts to solve them have often taken an individualistic approach. We probably will come closer to a solution when musicians, writers and filmmakers realise that the solution lies with engagements that employ an all-encompassing approach.
*Ihidero is a Lagos-based Writer and Filmmaker.
2 comments
Well said but we still have to be hopeful and optimistic. Every sector in 9ja has its problems.
Yes! well said but you must agree with me that with piracy, nollywood movies will not make it’s mark, for gods sake we the third world country were born into technology, we didn’t manufacture these gadgets for us to say that it’s on the verge of perfection. we should not be greedy, when we get surpport from the sponsors, close your eyes and swallow the thirst for money and make good movies with quality gadgets necessary and also stop duplicating your movies into 20 parts with different names,”TWISTED MINDS 1&2″,”DESPERATE MEASURES 1&2″, “END OF REBELION 1&2”, all being the continuation of just one movie just to make the little buck out of it and you think people wouldn’t get fed up of buying them always?, even over the net(onlinenigeriamovies.com) where a movie is surpposed to be one straight movie and with one name, it’s still duplicated into many. That is why i love DESMOND ELLIOT, a good actor and being in the production and directing field also, he makes a difference, quality cameras, quality editing and going to the grass roots of culture and tradition of making a movie though he sometimes duplicates but he’s still good, “thumbs up mehn”!and i believe that it’s because nollywood is not being critisized, they now have the leaverage to present any thing to the people. trully, we have a long way to go.