THE POWER OF THE SOFT: In The Thores of A Renaissance

By Ayodele Ganiu

“…the creative businesses contributed N2,547,300,490.26 during the reference period with 61% of the total Gross Value Added (GVA) derived from the Film industry alone. Fashion and Music contributed 26% and 13% respectively. There was a steady rise in the GVA for both state and sector levels between 2010 and 2012… a total of 6,061 people are fully employed in the 4,142 creative business establishments surveyed in the sector. The majority (84%) of those employed in the sector are in Fashion, Film (9%) and Music (7%).”

Prior to the rebasing of its GDP in 2013, Nigeria’s creative industries had been globally signposted as having great prospects to help the country achieve its quest for non-oil exports. The Report of Lagos Pilot Study on the ‘Mapping of Nigerian Creative Industries’ released in 2013 by the British Council, indicated that the creative industries had proven to be viable contributors to the economic development of nations, especially with consideration to its immense export potentials.

The Underappreciated

Nollywood (the Nigerian film industry) is recognized as the second largest film industry in the world. Naija-pops (Nigerian hip hop music) after conquering Africa, is generating conversation and growing interest across the world. Naija-wears (Nigerian fashion and dress designs) have been favourites on major runways from Paris to Milan to New York, and other such fashion centres of the world.

 Despite its enormous potentials and possible contributions to fortune of the economy, however, the creative industry in Nigeria continues to maintain a relatively low profile in comparison to other economic sectors. This low profile is attributed to lack of verifiable data on the economic contribution, job creation and other macroeconomic indices of the sector.

 The British Council Report reveals that the creative businesses surveyed in the mapping exercise contributed N2,547,300,490.26 during the reference period with 61% of the total Gross Value Added(GVA) derived from the Film industry alone. Fashion and Music contributed 26% and 13% respectively. There was a steady rise in the GVA for both state and sector levels between 2010 and 2012. The report indicates that a total of 6,061 people are fully employed in the 4,142 creative business establishments surveyed in the sector. The majority (84%) of those employed in the sector are in Fashion, Film (9%) and Music (7%).

 In terms of exports of services, the British Council report indicates that the average earnings from export of services stands at N451,029,254. This is about 17.71% of the current GVA of N2,547,300,490.26. Also, evidence of export services was measured through non-economic contributions of creative industries, which showed 55% of recognitions/awards were international. Skill sets within the sector. Relevant skills exist within the creative businesses since majority (70%) of individuals have basic training relevant to their creative businesses while 24% possess advanced skills.

 As part of its core findings, the British Council report indicates that creative businesses are not included as part of the major economic sectors of the Nigerian economy. Relevant indicators of creative businesses are excluded from the routine national surveys of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) such as the quarterly GDP, NBS/CBN Socioeconomic survey, Nigerian Labour Force Survey and the Employment Generation Survey as well as the national rebasing project.

 With the rebasing of the GDP, the promising position of the creative sector has become more evident. A report by Financial Derivative Company Limited (FDC), states that the immense potentials of the entertainment industry, especially the local film industry, as reflected in the reconfigured GDP, may end the long search for an alternative to oil, which successive administrations have been looking for.

 The FDC report acknowledges that the Federal Government had been encouraging the creative sector. The Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), for instance, manages the Nigerian Creative and Entertainment Industry Stimulation Loan Scheme (NCEILS), an initiative aimed at enabling the industry to produce more movies, more hit songs and provide more jobs. The report however, maintained that for the industry to inch closer to its potential, the government needs to ramp up its commitment. States the report, “the number of movies produced may increase, but these have to be of high quality; to achieve this, better production equipment and funding is required. As the industry grows, more funds would have to be committed to greater marketing and distribution of the movies to reach as large an audience as provides the most returns”.

  To buttress the need for government continued commitment to supporting the industry, as noted in the FDC 2014 report, the challenges identified in the ABMP &Company report of 2011 highlighting the key challenges confronting Nigeria’s creative sector also need to be addressed. The challenges which include lack of piracy regulation and enforcement, poor production standards, poor marketing and distribution channels, fragmented and informal distribution networks, lack of technical skills to produce high quality products.

A Shot In The Arms

According to a report in ThisDay newspaper (august 27, 2017): “To demonstrate its commitment to diversification of the Nigerian economy, the Federal Executive Council recently included sectors in the entertainment and ancillary industries among 27 new industries and products to enter into the pioneer status to give tax holidays to them for three years, to enable them grow and expand investments. The industries include tanning and dressing of leather, manufacture of leather footwear, luggage and handbags; manufacture of household and personal hygiene paper products and manufacture of paints, vanishes and printing ink.”

THE GROSS PLAYERS

The Movies

Before the 1990s, the Nigeria movie market was largely dominated by foreign products. However, home-made low-budget movies with captivating stories centred on cultural values and African reality soon gained the confidence of local viewership.     

 Nollywood was worth an estimated $250 million a year as at 2011, according to the World Bank report titled “Achieving the Promise of African Cultural Exports.” In a paper presented by ABMP & Company titled “Exporting Professional Services: Seizing the Opportunities” at a regional capacity building workshop to enhance services Exports held in Mombasa, Kenya in June 2011, Nollywood was reported to have directly employed about 200,000 people and created a further one million jobs in related retail.

  In spite of high level of piracy, it was estimated that Nollywood films took in US$107.6 million from exports annually, according to the World Bank report.Nollywood films spread beyond its borders to the African region and African diaspora markets in the UK and the US. Export of Nigerian Film was solely driven by demand with informal channels of export cut across Sub Saharan Africa. Primary export countries include Ghana, Namibia, Kenya, Cameroon, Angola, Senegal, and Cote D’Ivoire. Nollywood films produced in English language have opened up export channels for movies in other Nigerian languages especially Yoruba and Hausa, with increased access to diaspora markets in Europe and US.

According to the FDC report released on June 27, 2014, titled “Exporting Nollywood as an alternative to Oil and Gas”, Nollywood is now Africa’s most valuable film industry, generating $590m annually. In its report, the company states that this development, no doubt, makes it imperative for government to continue and improve its support for the industry, recognising the entertainment industry as not just a strategic medium through which the rest of the world gets a cultural education on Africa’s most populous country but also as a potential source of increased tax revenues and foreign exchange flows. In the report, FDC noted that Nollywood is now estimated to be worth about N853.9billion ($5.1billion), about 1.2% of the revised GDP number.

 If Nigerian government can intensify efforts in supporting the sector to achieve formalization of distribution channels within and outside Nigeria, strengthen intellectual property protection and anti-piracy implementation, fund film festivals in and outside Nigeria, facilitate access to domestic capital, create training institutes and offer government subsidies like tax credits and other incentives that will bolster international collaborations in production and distribution, the creative industries are the next path of non-oil exports to revive the economy.

Music

Nigeria’s airwaves were dominated by foreign songs until mid-1990s. Majority of songs played by club DJs were from foreign records while Nigerian artists earned very little incomes from performances. However, the trend has reversed tremendously in the same manner it occurred in the movie industry. TV stations and club DJs now have their airwaves dominated by local products. Before the rebasing of the GDP, the music industry had been showing impressive performances. The music industry produced an average of 550 albums of different kinds of music annually, according to ABMP & Company’s findings. Record sales tripled within three years, averaging 10 million in 2005 and rising to an estimated 30 million in 2008. Huge revenues were generated from musical shows and concerts held in Nigeria. An estimated 1,200 concerts and shows took place every year and accounted for a combined annual turnover of $105.5 million.

The music industry has also witnessed impressive growth in the quality of products and marketing techniques. Technology and increased internet penetration has contributed significantly to the progress of the industry by providing relative ease to entrants. Mobile channels like the “MTN Callertunez’’ platform provide local musicians with an added revenue stream. Harrisong’s hit song “Mandela”, a dirge celebrating the life of the late African leader, recorded millions of Naira on commissions that accrued from sales of callertunez. Similarly, P-Square, Davido, Wizkid, Dbanj, Flavour and many other music stars have become household names and attracting huge revenues. Wizkid was recently applaude for his sold-out concert at the Abbey Music Hall in London.

Fashion

The promising potential of the fashion industry has also been identified. According to the British Council report, the highest average earnings in creative businesses from outside Nigeria were from Fashion in 2010 and 2012. It is evident in the report that, majority (84%) of those engaged in creative businesses in Lagos State are in Fashion while 9% and 7% are in Film and Music respectively.

Upping the game through the movies

”…I am happy to announce that we have struck a global tripartite partnership that will give the Creative Industry in Nigeria a big boost. Under the partnership, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the global news leader CNN will use the film industry as a lens through which we will project various aspects of the Nigerian Culture, Tourism and similar areas. We are kick-starting the project with a 13-episode production showcasing the various stages in a movie production. These include the choice of location, which will allow us to showcase the various beautiful sceneries available in Nigeria; the choice of wardrobe that will show the rich options in the country’s fashion industry; the choice of sound track that will highlight our rich music genres, the casting that will showcase our abundant talents and the technical part that will provide the platform to show that there is no camera and other gadgets that we don’t have here. As part of the project, we will also run a programme on CNN showcasing the 20 Nigerians to watch in the Industry. The Nigerians to be showcased will be selected by the industry players themselves to ensure authenticity.” – Alh. Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information & Culture