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There are a whole lot the practioners of the Nigerian entertainment industry wish in their industry in the new year and beyond but the most important to them right now is to have a well structured industry and a stable economy that can guarantee high returns.
The Nigeria entertainment industry is worth billions of dollars. The evolution of the entertainment industry has made more Nigerians born abroad to come back home and explore their God’s given talent and to compete well with others who are making Nigeria proud in the international entertainment market.
As a source of employment, the industry has come to the rescue of lots of young talented Nigerians who later became bread winners of their respective families and helped discouraged lots of youths from violence and robbery. Another thing that has really changed is the fact that entertainment business has become very fashionable.
In the movie industry, Nigerian film industry is the biggest in Africa. Nigerian films are well received all over Africa, Europe and lately all over the Caribbean Islands. Music too has open doors for job both at home and abroad in very many ways. Nigerian acts have performed in different concerts both at home and abroad and won numerous international awards including World Music Awards, BET, MOBO, MTV Europe Music Awards and others.
Aside what the industry has been able to achieve through individual efforts, the industry is suffering from sponsorship of major events, distribution, piracy and film funding. The seemingly lack of direction year in and year out for the music and film industry is still the major cause of its set back.
The Nigerian entertainment industry is facing lots of problems when it comes to structures. They have consistently lost billions of naira to poor distribution system, piracy and royalties. It is the only industry that is not well regulated in Nigeria.
We understand that the Government is trying to support by providing intervention fund but at this stage, the industry needs much more. There is a need to declare total war against piracy, create a proper distribution system, establish film villages and put an end to the battle in the collective society to enable efficient royalties’ collection.
Let the government get serious about its interventionist options and should go beyond embracing the industry as a source of amusement and interlude-fillers. We need to get our movie distribution right. Without proper distribution, we will continue to lose money and it will continuously prevent investors from coming into the industry.
After spending so much on a movie, there is a need for proper channel to market and distribute the film in order to recoup money and make profits.
Ministry of Culture and Tourism should take a new stand as there is no ministry created for entertainment and other related business. Carnivals are good and we are not disputing their essence but we do not quite agree that these should enjoy the chunk of government support at the expense of the development of our local entertainment industry as a whole. The ministry should creatively engage culture and tourism, using art and entertainment as driving forces of enlightenment and engagement.
Major entertainments events are dying due to lack of support and sponsorship. Many of these events by now should have been adopted as National Events due to lots of people they attract into the country every year and putting Nigeria constantly on the world map. Substantial repairs, renovations and upgrade of social infrastructure will free funds for entrepreneurs to invest in real structures; serious counter-part investment in high-end technical and logistical components of modern entertainment business.
The corporate bodies are needed to foster the growth of the industry by investing in it because the immense potentials of the industry have remained untapped. The industry requires big time investments such as establishing a properly structured pan Nigeria entertainment products distribution network to ward of pirates, CD replication and encoding plants which are highly capital intensive but guarantee high returns on investments.
If we take a cue from India and develop our entertainment industry, it will be a good alternative to our oil and gas because there is a lot of money to make. We need to all realize the impact of the entertainment industry because is Nigeria’s greatest export and it should be handled properly. The practitioners should be treated with great care and empowered. If the government has provided fund, they should equally bring in academicians that know how the industry should manage the fund.
Government should provide constant electricity as film maker are spending so much on fuel. In Ghana, you don’t film with generator which makes their sound even comes out better. There is no content regulation and the musicians doesn’t have a credible association to pursue the interest of its members. It will be great to get PMAN (Performing Musicains Association of Nigeria) right again or get a strong union that will be able to represent all the musicians and fight for the collective and individual rights.
A Better Nigeria music industry in 2014 and beyond would be the one that is accurate in terms of royalties and unity. This is a wake-up call for the government, practitioners and stakeholders in the industry to urgently reposition the industry and make it economically viable.
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