Entertainers Dividends. Since 1999 when the country returned to democratic rule, Nigerian entertainment industry has had its fair share of the dividends of democracy, with funds being promised twice by the Gooodluck Jonathan-led administration. ANTHONY ADA ABRAHAM and SAMUEL ABULUDE chronicle Nigeria’s entertainment scene in the last 14 years. Music as blood of the entertainment industry The music scene, notably the core of the entertainment industry, has experienced meaningful growth within the democratic era. Local content has increased due to government policies. The Director General of BON, Engineer Yomi Bolarinwa, mandated all radio and TV stations to play Nigerian music between the hours of 6pm and 10pm which is the prime time zone. This development has done a lot to expose Nigerian musicians and their songs. “The music industry is the blood and it will get better. The country is blessed with talents and it will keep growing and they can only be encouraged. Of note are the efforts of Chief Raymond Dokpesi, the Founder of Ray Power FM, the first private radio station, who insisted that we should play local songs on the radio stations as against the foreign music that were played before. We were limited in that regard because most of our artistes did not record their music on CDs. Chief Dokpesi bought the first CD machine which made us to convert their tapes into CDs and play effortlessly. This, I believe, led to the era of hip hop in the Nigerian music industry and the rest is what we have to show for it”, Kenny Okungbe, General Manager of Ray Power, said at the Nigeria Entertainment Conference held in Lagos recently. KennySam is an Abuja based Gospel singer. In an interview, he stated that though there have been growth in the various sectors, it’s been demonstration of craziness. ‘We have really had ups and downs in the industry. We have been going through pains ensuring that the people enjoy democracy. There are still things to be done; like piracy issues. We pray and beg our leaders to be steadfast in whatever they do,’ he pleaded. Some Musicians In Nigeria Whose Songs are revolutionary During the military era, you dare not sing against a sitting president or you will surely be whooped!!! Fela Anikulapo Kuti was an attestation to this fact when his criticisms of the then military junta of Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Yar’Adua was brutal not only to his family but his band, and his songs (evergreen). What he left behind for the future generation was a tale and struggle for the present democracy Nigerians enjoy. His son, Femi Kuti, also received such criticisms with the release of ‘Bang’ and some other songs which received international recognition and appraisal but was locally condemned. Eedris Abdulkareem ‘Jaga Jaga’ This album was released during the erstwhile presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. According to Eedris known as ‘one man ranger’, his purpose for the album was to tell the world and Nigerians the impunity going on in the country. The lack of clean drinking water, electricity, good roads and source of livelihood were some of the reasons why he wrote the song. But it became so confrontational that the then president who couldn’t hold back his disgust for the vocal artiste lashed back at him and his family. But the artiste continued to maintain the tempo and the song ‘Jaga jaga’ became a national anthem of sorts on the lips of Nigerians going through hell. But come to think of it, after many years of the release of ‘Jaga jaga’ by Eedris Abdulkareem, has there been any improvement to prove to Eedris that his song was a contrast to ‘Nigeria Jaga Jaga?’ Food for thought. Tuface, eLDee, Nneka These artistes were in the news with some of their songs which touched on the political development in the country. Like Tuface in his 3rd album under Kennis music before they went their separate ways. Some tracks spoke unequivocally on the 2003 election which has become truly a national song for election, ‘ e be like say them want to tell me another story again o, no be small thing o.’ that song was a bang! He continued with others and he is seen as a salient musical revolutionary. Growth and Impact of Entertainment industry on freedom of democracy Since the coming of democracy, and the subsequent signing of great artistes like Tuface by Kennis Music, there has been massive influx of artistes to Nigeria both locally and internationally. Now in Nigeria, a lot of artistes can write songs and sing and some movies could also be aired without sanctions. That is freedom, but how far has it gone? The entertainment industry has always brought life to a nation. Before independence, Nigerians, acclaimed as the happiest people on earth, have always found a way to entertain themselves. In his speech at the first ever Entertainment conference, recently, Mr Frank Nweke Jnr of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) said that since entertainment gives thoughts, voice, sights and shared values to the society, it ought to be given closer attention by stakeholders and ultimately the government, noting that the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) which was in control of the different stations before, had its values and qualities falling and the entertainment industry suffering for it. But since democracy has come to stay since 1999; the entertainment industry has breathed a new lease of life. The entertainment sector has benefitted immensely from the communication industry. Before, it used to be the government that had the stakes in the telecommunication with Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL) being the sole provider. Now with the deregulation of the telecoms sector by the Obasanjo government, various companies have come to service numerous subscribers. Likewise, the federal and state governments were in total control of broadcasting as most of the television and radio stations were under the ambit of the government of the day. But since the deregulation of the communication sector which in fact started under the late General Sani Abacha, there has been a proliferation in private TV and radio stations all across the country and this in turn impacted on the entertainment sector in Nigeria, providing more local content, jobs, avenue for the expression of creative arts among artistes. According to Barrister Ayinoluwa Akinyemi, an entertainment lawyer, the growth of the entertainment sector is not in isolation of other reforms in the key sectors of the economy with the advent of democracy. The lawyer said that of great importance is the impact of the telecommunications sector on the entertainment industry. In a move to market their products and connect with their subscribers and potential subscribers, players in the telecoms sector have helped to build the industry via reality shows, campus tours, brand ambassadorship using music and acting as a tool to drive their market. “Since democracy brings freedom, more TV and radio stations have been given licences to operate and compete in the industry. This has brought more Nigerian content to our TV and radio stations as regulated by Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria BON. The more radio stations and TV stations in the country, the more the avenues for our musicians to have their music played”, Barrister Akinyemi said. Nollywood as bride of the nation Nollywood has been acclaimed a global phenomenon. It has thrived best in rough economic times. According to prolific movie producer, Amaka Igwe, when government banned cinema screening in the 80s, they did more harm than good and this led to the emergence of home video which was the void Nollywood came to fill. This development has brought lots of avenues including different movie channels strictly for showcasing Nollywood. Even U-tube created a channel for Nollywood, MTN’s Afrinolly. Since the federal government announced a $200 million loan to the motion picture industry tagged Nollywood, the measure has received accolades from all quarters but most of the movie producers were not able to access the money due to stringent measures put in place by NEXIM and BOI banks. It was reported that the movie producers and film companies needed collateral and other requests which naturally they could not fulfill and this impeded on the access to the loan. Few companies like the company led by Tony Abulu that produced the movie, Dr Bello and a few others were able to access the loan. The N3 billion grant by President Goodluck Jonathan during the celebration of Nollywood at 20 in April, 2013 was also applauded by the presidency. The grant under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance, was to support the scriptwriters and others to not only write good stories, but make good movies that improve the image of the country. The modalities for accessing the grant are still being put in place by the ministry. “The movie industry in Nigeria is ready for linear growth. It is time to grow. The movie, Half Of A Yellow Sun adapted from Chimmamanda Adichie’s book was financed with eight million pounds. This is where we are getting to. We need to stem the tide of piracies which account for 82% loses in the film industry”, Amaka Igwe noted. Lingering problems in the sector Though the entertainment industry has grown in leaps and bounds, a lot still has to be done to sustain the growth. Nollywood, for instance, needs a linear growth (growing inwards) to enable all the stakeholders recoup their investment. Piracy and copyright infringements are still major problems faced by practitioners in the industry. The structures and support system for the Nigeria entertainment industry which collapsed in the 80s, has not been rebuilt. There are still a small number of cinemas scattered across the country to bring back the cinema culture. There is still no functional distribution network of movies. It is reported that there is still only one film school in Jos and this cannot engender growth. Though there are laws that tackle privacy and copyrights infringement, but how effective are they? Royalties have not been given to any artiste in recent time due to the crisis within the copyright agencies and collecting societies namely MCSN and COSON. Hip hop rapper and vice president of Chocolate City, MI noted that there is a growing number of record labels which is highly functional but practice in the midst of a dysfunctional system. The laws are not implemented to the letter to make different units within the music industry function properly. By: ANTHONY ADA ABRAHAM, Samuel Abulude on June 2, 2013 Hope For New Nigeria begins with you. God bless Nigeria.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 12:02:04 +0000
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