The Nigerian Film Industry and the National Film and Video Censor's Board
The film industry in Nigeria has attracted a lot of attention recently due to the phenomenal growth which has taken place in this industry. Prior to this period, given the economic decline in the country, film production had practically died out. Yet Nigeria is now credited with being the third largest producer of films after Hollywood and Bollywood. The films produced in Nigeria are low budget films made in video format and are produced at the rate of about 1,000 a year.
However, Nollywood, as the Nigerian film industry has been tagged, has received a lot of negative criticism due to the rather poor technical quality of the films. The films are also criticised for focusing too much on themes such as voodoo and witchcraft. Reliable data on the Nigerian film industry is limited and there has not been any complete study which would explain the sudden growth of film production in the nation given the scarce means available. Neither is there any suitable framework with which to assess the films.
Nevertheless, this film industry reputedly generates millions of jobs annually and is said to have a turn over of billions of dollars. The total market potential of the industry, relative to the size of the economy, is said to be over US$4 billion. The industry is expected to generate US$600 billion in 2010. It is generally recognised that the Nigerian film industry is a viable one. But so far the financial institutions, notably the banks, have held back from investing in the industry because of the absence of a formal infrastructure. For instance there is not much concrete data to back up the financial speculations which are made about the industry.
There has been no formal film distribution structure in Nigeria in the last twenty years. The structure which exists in societies with a fully developed film industry whereby the commercial lifespan of a film begins with a box office or cinema release, followed by a video release, then broadcast on fee-paying television, before ending up on public television, does not exist in Nigeria. Widespread pirating of foreign and domestic videotapes discourages the entry of licensed distributors. The distribution of the locally produced video films are currently carried out mainly in three big cities—Lagos, Onitsha and Aba. According to the system in place, the video tapes or discs are taken straight from the producer to the sellers, on a ‘sale or return’ basis. This is a system subject to abuse. The producers allege that the works are usually pirated, leading to low sales of the original copies. Many of these original copies are then returned by the traders as unsold. Films are also sold in other cities, distinct from those mentioned above, but the proceeds mostly go to pirates. About half of the revenue from the industry is supposedly lost as a result of the poor distribution network.
Piracy is a serious problem for the Nigerian video film makers. The Copyrights Commission of the country has carried out various raids in the bid to fight this problem. However, it has been accused of going after only the small fry while leaving the kingpins untouched. It is notable that pirating of the Nigerian video films is not limited to the country itself. “International pirating of films is rampant. The Motion Picture Association of America estimates that more than 20 million pirated video discs, and 4.5 million pirated videotapes, were seized in 2000. Such pirating violates the international laws that protect copyrighted works. But intellectual property law experts noted that the pirating of Nigerian films will probably continue, in part because the filmmakers can't afford the high legal costs of fighting it” (Gray, S. 2003, November 8. Nigeria on Screen. Washington Post, p.E01)
What would ordinarily have been a key distribution outlet, the cinema, fell into a decline in the country due to various reasons. These reasons include the economic decline and a state of insecurity which made people less inclined to spend time out of their homes. Most cinema houses in that period fell into disuse or were put to other uses.
However, with the improved economy and the changes in government policy, there has been a resurgence of interest in the establishment of cinema houses. One multiplex cinema house is already in operation in Lagos and it is expected that by the year 2008 about fifty more would have been opened all over country. Furthermore, given the economic potential of the industry, banks and other key financial institutions have expressed a lot of interest in investing in that sector.
The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) is the national regulatory agency empowered by its enabling laws to control and monitor all motion pictures distribution, exhibition and marketing. It was set up in 1993 to regulate the film and video industry in Nigeria. Up till fairly recently, the Board had focused most of its activity on the censorship and classification of films and videos. The role of the government, thus, in regulating the film industry has been extremely limited (some people have attributed some of the success of the industry to this fact). However, the Board is now set to play a bigger role in the regulation of the film industry. Through what it calls the “Nigeria in the Movies” project, the NFVCB has now introduced a new distribution framework policy as a means of regulating the market and protecting the industry. It is the aim of the Board to strive to put in place solutions to the problems listed above.
The initiative of the NFVCB consists of a strategic intervention through the implantation of enforceable standards in the film distribution system. According to the board, the key objective is to provide durable and commercially-viable structures, which will be acceptable both locally and internationally to the industry and potential investors alike, and having the required capacity to substantially meet the financial needs of the industry to engender self-sustenance, and also meeting all the requirements of being integrated into the country’s main organised private sector.
The new policy of the NFVCB has created a structure which regulates the categories and types of distributors, lays down guidelines for registration and licensing of distributors (for which certain fees are expected to be paid), and specifies the types of distribution rights which distributors at the various levels will possess as well as the controls to ensure that these rights are protected. The new policy also indicates the features of what would be considered a valid distribution contract which, among other things, makes it mandatory to register the film/video as an intellectual property. One of the innovations of the policy concerns production financing and the protection which it seeks to give the financier and the rights owners of films/videos.
The NFVCB policy goes ahead to detail the process of the release of films and the establishment of distribution proprietary rights. In this process, licensed distributors would be expected to submit weekly statutory reports on their distribution activities which would be used in assessing the financial performance of films/videos. The NFVCB will be the sole authority in charge of the entire process except in cases where it delegates certain duties to other authorities.
This new policy of the NFVCB has received an ambivalent welcome. Some have hailed it as a necessary step for the improvement of the film industry. Others, however, have frowned at the intervention of the Censors Board. The filmmakers, for instance, are divided over whether they really want help from the government. Some of them fear that what they see as the interference of government could slow down the growth of the industry. They have also complained that the Board did not seek their input in the design of the new policy. Some others have quarrelled with the registration fees which the policy specifies, saying that they are too high and would force most of the present producers and distributors out of the market. But still others, on this same point, have expressed the opinion that it would be a way of raising standards in the industry by easing out the small time players who place more emphasis on making quick money rather than in providing quality productions.
As can be seen, what the National Film and Video Censors Board of Nigeria seeks to do is to put in place a firm and reliable structure of distribution. In the light of the promised growth of the Nigerian film industry and its economic potential, as well as the innovations taking place in this industry, it would be o f interest to see how the implementation of this new policy of the NFVCB unfolds. Will this policy actually succeed in establishing a firm structure which would make the economic potentials of the industry a reality? Will the Board be able to win the full support of the filmmakers? Are the plans of the Board sufficient to deal with the problems of piracy and the advent of the new technology? Will it succeed in its drive to resuscitate the cinema?
