Background

The Nigerian music and films industry has largely replaced foreign music and films as the major source of entertainment for many in the country, with unique brands of Nigerian music and movies. Both the World Bank and UNESCO report Nollywood to be the world’s second most prolific movie industry, employing over 200,000 directly and providing about 1 million with indirect jobs, while having the potential to generate US$400 million annual revenues.

Past Reform and Achievements

New policies were put in place to protect intellectual property rights in the industry. Rights enforcement was stepped-up to reduce the cases of copyright violations. The government introduced a number of fiscal policy measures such as tax holidays and import duty waivers for the industry. The government built and equipped twelve, new cultural industry centres in Benue, Edo, Sokoto, Enugu, Ondo, Taraba, and Ogun States and the FCT.

A $200million fund for grants, managed by the Bank of Industry (BOI) and Nigerian Export and import Bank (NEXIM) was established. The Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation managed a ₦3 billion fund under the Advancing Technology Project in Nollywood (Project ACT), to facilitate the development of new talents and incorporation of modern technologies into the movies to raise their quality and enable them meet the enhanced tastes of the populace for realistic movie stunts and graphic effects.

In the last three years, the music and movie industries have witnessed unprecedented growth and Nigerian movies and music have conquered the local airwaves, while penetrating into Europe and America. Nigerian’s exports and foreign earnings have been raised as a result. Jobs have also been created, as the industry’s contribution to the GDP has increased.

Challenges and Next Steps

Intellectual property should be urgently protected, to encourage further growth in the industry and improve the quality of the movies. The under-developed promotion, marketing, and talent detection value chains should be transformed.