I saw Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD) flanked by members of his family, Nicol and Tega, ring the closing bell on the last trading day at the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NGX) in an atmosphere one would want to relish forever. It was pretty cool. A family chosen for such honorific was a defining finale for a year many would wish not to see again.
But instead of seeing it as an honour done the RMD family, what occurred to me was a Nollywood on the ascendancy, commanding attention and enjoying a stratospheric rise that has been its fortunate lot previously. Which is good, really. For me however, a new layer of conversation has started at the NGX, and there are several layers of conversations going on at the moment concerning how to further unlock the fortunes of an industry which has done the nation a lot of favour.
Just a few days prior we had met somewhere to talk about a transcendental opportunity to survive in an industry that continues to record a lot of casualties in form of incapacitation or even death. RMD has survived and doing great things not just to cement his place in history but to transport his adorable images into homes and movie theatres around the nation while staking out for a place on the global entertainment platforms.
He does that with a winning smile. In his face I recall the enchanting words of the American actor, Gary Busey, a much older person, “I like acting. You fly from place to place and count your money in the plane.” Yes, the life of the film actor is on the movie sets that could feature in different ends of the earth. I know that RMD has done a lot of flights to shoot movies. Yes. We do talk. I am in Kigali or I am heading to South Africa for Netflix or I am in Canada or in the US. Quite an enviably busy schedule but I am not sure if he is counting his money inflight yet!
Which makes his journey to NGX even more interesting as it may provided an opportunity for a double pitch – on the side of NGX which seems to know when to hit a home run and even for RMD to stake the misunderstood fortunes of his industry.
But I was speaking about several layers of conversations going on about Nollywood. The Vice President has had two meetings with a team of industry players. RMD is in the team. A Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative industry has been created to accommodate the demands of, and aggregate the fortunes of Nollywood and the entire entertainment spectrum. A certain bank wants to throw in some cash. And the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is retooling the Digital Switchover (DSO) process to ensure that Nollywood is a major beneficiary. There is so much going on at the moment that demands strategic and painstaking aggregation in order to achieve desired results.
Back to the floor of the NGX. Having pursued money all year round, trading ravenously at the Exchange, the high-wired traders needed to be reminded of their humanity, according to an official, that they still have blood flowing in their veins. They cornered the reality check of a Nollywood razzle-dazzle personality, RMD, whose latest film, The Black Book, may have hit a nerve at the NGX to alert them to a business that is ready for the taking.
Nobody wants to mess with the scent of money. The Black Book which cost a million Dollars featured a stellar cast which include: RMD, Alex Osifo,Sam Dede, Ireti Doyle, and Shaffy Bello, among others. The film is executive-produced by some tech founders in the persons of Kola Oyenyen, Ezra Olubi (co-founders of Paystack), Odunayo Oweniyi (co-founder and COO of Piggyvest), Gbenga Agboola (founder and CEO of Flutterwave), Kola Aina (founding partner at Ventures Capitals), and Olumide Soyombo (co-founder Blue Chip Technologies).
It was a daring but very creative fund syndication which has produced the most expensive Nollywood film directed by Editi Effiong for Anakle Films.
“There is a convergence between business and the show biz sector. There is a reason it is called show business. We have concentrated too long on the show side without giving business a deserved thought. My coming here is like a precursor of the possibilities that we can have,” RMD stated very succintly.
I stated earlier that Nollywood has done the nation a lot of favour. Let me try to give an explanation with the help of RMD himself. “We are magicians in Nollywood. We defy all odds to raise money from families and friends to do movies,” he said.
Nollywood has depended on unstructured finacial sources to make movies, sometimes, at great pains to everyone involved in the value chain. The actors get themselves so financially exposed by ploughing their last drop of funds into their productions and even earn pittances to the extent that they are unable to protect themselves at the approach of any challenge. They give the society so much glitz and glamour and burnish our tattered image abroad that all we can do is to write great lyrics and obituaries when there is incapacitation and even a death, which happens so often.
But the industry has survived and can earn the bragging rights of doing more for Nigeria than several politicians put together in a bunch.
Just before one could fully absorb the stirring relationship between Nollywood and NGX, gbam!! landed the big one which has sent reverberating echo across the nation. A Tribe Called Judah, a film by Funke (Jenifa) Akindele, has grossed over One Billion Naira from the box office, a record breaking feat. She has been receiving commendations from the industry, the business community and even from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who couldn’t let that opportunity slip to confer recognition on her even when they don’t belong to the same party. Cosmopolitan reasoning by the President. She was the runnng mate to Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos.
Nollywood, once described as very woolly and therefore cannot attract investment, is producing films that are globally appreciated while one has just hit the billion Naira mark. Gone are the days of big fights at Idumota and Alaba markets in Lagos, and Iweka Road in Onitsha, Anambra State, where Nollywood films were marketed in tapes before VCDs. This is the big season and Jenifa, oh, Funke Akindele has just broken the entertainment barrier.
She has taken the conversation some notches higher. Asked to make some comments on how Funke’s achievement would impact his efforts to attract investments to Nollywood, RMD was full of praises and very excited for the industry impresario who has continued to drop one hit movie after the other.
“She is breaking her own records right now. This is breakout time. All the glass ceilings are being shattered. Funke Akindele just made it more exciting with her efforts,” RMD enthused.
There is a coalition of thoughts and opinions on how Nollywood and the entire entertainment industry can create jobs for the youths, become much bigger and stake a valid claim to one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world. But more work needs to be done. The government must go beyond words to make a commitment by providing seed funds for the industry, and activating flexible policies and conditions that can attract investors and enhance creativity.
Believe me, Nollywood needs help. The industry needs a solid structure that can carry the weight and accommodate the fears of practitioners. There has to be a structured monetisation of content that can be beneficial to everyone in the industry value chain. Because really, some of the practitioners are in a state of nirvana whose end would always bring pain to those around them and even the nation at large.
Let there be more robust conversations. Let the layers of discourse be richer. And let more attention be paid to Nollywood. After all, the actors hardly live for themselves anymore. They live for us all and make the nation look good while some politicians steal money in billions and pour dross on our faces.
