Dear Mr. President,
Congratulations
on your victory at the polls sir. Isn’t life just interesting? Here you
are, finally achieving your long-held dream to lead Nigeria again, this
time without the full force of the military. You have now done what no
Nigerian has been able to do before now: you unseated a sitting
president; you defeated an incumbent. Wow. Sincere congratulations are
truly in order.
Truth be told, I came late to accepting that
you’re the man for the rebuilding job that our country urgently
requires. Even in my conviction, doubts abound. But that is not why we
are here today; that is not why I’m writing this open letter.
I
am here today to talk to you about my beloved industry, Nollywood. You
do not come across as someone who watches movies and (Did you really say
Nollywood was a Lagos thing and Fashola would sort it out when you were
asked about your plans for the industry? Seriously?) This isn’t
necessarily a problem. See sir, Nollywood is truly phenomenal. It is the
single biggest indigenous product to have come out of Africa in the
last two decades. It has bigger potentials than crude oil and it is
worthy of your serious attention.
You have a head start where
Nollywood is concerned sir. Many of the ‘leaders’ in the industry
campaigned vigorously against you, like their lives depended on it.
(Well, the livelihood of many of them depended on it.) So, you owe
Nollywood ‘leaders’ no debt of allegiance. This is a great opportunity
to revolutionise the industry sir.
And here’s where I’d like you
to start: please don’t give Nollywood money. Let me clarify sir, PLEASE,
DON’T GIVE US MONEY TO MAKE COMMERCIAL FILMS. Sorry to write in caps
sir but I needed to do that so those who may want to misconstrue my
words can see clearly.
Your predecessor, President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan, did a lot for the industry. Let’s give a man his due. He
recognised the industry’s contribution to the nation’s GDP. He made
funds available through the Bank of Industry, NEXIM Bank and the Project
Act Nollywood project. Some of those funds have led to the creation and
expansion of cinema chains like FilmHouse Cinemas, as well as Gabosky’s
G-Media platform for DVD distribution. It was the right thing to do and
it should be commended. My grouse is how some of these funds have been
spent on training and film funding.
Nollywood was born as a
commercial film industry. People made films to make money, to return
investment and make a profit if possible. At its birth, practitioners
mortgaged homes, sold their cars, invested their house rents and
children’s school fees, risked lives and limbs to birth and build an
industry. And what’s happening now? A rent-seeking mentality has
descended on the industry like evil spirit and it’s eating away its
soul. Sadly, your predecessor encouraged this mentality too. You need to
stop it sir before it ruins one of the best things to ever happen to
Nigeria
Let me explain sir.
Commercial films are a
business and anyone going into any business is taking a risk. When you
remove the risk element by giving people free money to make films,
there’s no push to return investment and grow the business. What the
industry needs is not money. Infrastructural support is grossly
inadequate for an industry with Nollywood’s potentials. Unless these
infrastructural issues are sorted out, all the free money being thrown
at the industry will end up in that big, black hole where funds go and
die in Nollywood. Ask Ecobank sir, if, you think I’m telling lies here.
Here’s
an example of what I’m talking about sir. The Project Act Nollywood
initiative gave about 30 filmmakers money to make commercial films. Most
of those given that fund do not need the money. Or, they can find the
money to make their films if they want to. My good friend, Kunle
Afolayan, was one of the people given that money.
The leading
light of new Nigerian filmmakers. With just 4 films he has ensured that
when the history of filmmaking in Nigeria is written, he, just like his
father, will be an integral part of that story. But Kunle does not need
free government money to make his films. He has demonstrated with his 3
previous films that he can find the funding personally and make
successful commercial films. But they gave him the money anyway. So,
Kunle made his last film, October 1, took it round cinemas and
festivals.
Two weeks ago, pirates informed Kunle that they had
his film and were going to pirate it. Kunle vented on Twitter, called
people names in anger, blamed Igbo people for trying to ruin him.
Last
week, the pirates released Kunle’s film and it was sold brazenly on the
streets. Sir, what Kunle and other filmmakers like him needed wasn’t
the free money to make the film. What he needed was a structure to
ensure that intellectual property laws can protect his films; that no
one can so brazenly steal from him in a society that has laws; that if
this does happen, law enforcement agencies will fight for him. But none
of this is happening. He’s on his own, as is AY and all others who daily
suffer from the effect of piracy being 82%, in an industry where
distribution is grossly inadequate. They gave Kunle what he didn’t need
and refused to provide what he desperately needed to thrive.
There is currently no way of extracting maximum value from the value chain of the filmmaking business in Nigeria today.
Mr.
President Sir, you have a chance to rejuvenate Nollywood; start by not
giving anybody money to make commercial films. Please continue the
funding and support for distribution platforms. We need to get to around
1000 cinemas quickly. They don’t have to be fancy edifices like
Silverbird Cinemas. They can be advanced forms of football viewing
centres. We need these cinemas in neighbourhoods, so people don’t have
to travel to the cinema. We need to have the sale of DVDs on the roads
totally banned. It is easier to trace pirates when their pirated goods
are sold out of a shop/store. Pirates are not ghosts, Mr. President,
they are right here among us in the industry. Make an example of one or
two of them and the rest will fall in line. You say you have zero
tolerance for corruption, right? Good. Piracy is great corruption.
Then,
there’s capacity building. Sir, everybody and their dogs now run
training schools in Nollywood. It is the new hustle. Those that need
training run training schools. It is important that support for training
continues but what’s the point of funding grossly inept people to train
others? What we are doing is encouraging them to spread their
ignorance. It’s a dangerous thing sir. Also, sending people abroad for
what is often a jamboree in the name of capacity building, without a
properly laid out plan of how the knowledge gained will be transferred
to others, is ruinous. To leave the transfer of knowledge acquired at
great expense to this country to the whim and caprices of funded
practitioners is not true growth; it is escapism.
Please, note
sir that I’m not asking your government not to fund films at all. Surely
there are non-commercial films that require funding. Young filmmakers
trying to find a foothold in the industry can be aided with little funds
for their first short films. This can be cheaply done. There are
documentaries about our history/culture that need to be funded. What I’m
saying is that anyone who wants to make commercial films and is not
ready to mortgage his/her home, sell his/her car or put his/her first
child up for sale is not ready for the business of filmmaking. Okay, I’m
joking about the child part but you get my drift, right?
Finally
sir, the rent seekers, perennial industry ‘stakeholders’, perennial
holders of offices and positions in industry guilds and associations
without any worthy contribution to the industry – jobbers all of them –
will start coming to see you the moment you’re sworn in. Remember they
did not campaign or vote for you. As individuals, you owe them nothing.
But you owe Nollywood all the support you can give. So, on behalf of
Nollywood please look them in the face and say fuck you, this shit is
over: no more free money!
If you can do this for the industry and
me sir, I promise to move from my position as a reluctant convert to
full membership in the propagation of your greatness.
Nollywood needs help, please don’t fail us sir.
Sincerely,
Chris Ihidero
Concerned filmmaker.
