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Nigeria
26 April 2007
Ayoyemi Lawal

PIRACY AND THE NOLLYWOOD MOVIE INDUSTRY

There was a time when the Nigerian community was nonchalant about piracy. Copying was no ‘big deal’. It was cheaper to buy a pirated copy rather than the original copy. It could be books, music or home videos, particularly the Hollywood movies. The Nigerian movie industry was not as popular as it is now in the 20th century. Copyright violation was condoned. Moreover, the technology used to copy during those days was not easily accessible within the Nigerian community.

Nigerian movies in the 1980’s had strong cultural contents. Apart from the Yoruba’s, the Ibo’s followed by the Hausa’s joined the movie industry. The boom of the Nollywood industry did not however come into existence until recently when English speaking actors joined the Nigerian movie industry and coined the word Nollywood. With Nollywood being in four different languages there is a wider audience.

Along with the Nollywood boom came stricter copyright laws within the Nigerian community. There is great concern that pirates of Nollywood movies are crippling the market. They are reaping were they did not sow at the expense of the actors and the producers. The use of the word piracy is no longer limited to the Western governments but has extended to the Nigerian government. Yes, pirates in Nigeria are classified as robbers and thieves and are treated as such. The war on piracy is in Nigeria on Nigerians.

The Director General (DG) of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has revitalized enforcement and public enlightenment actions under its Strategic Action Against Piracy (STRAP) launched by the Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005.1 It was from the DG of the NCC that I received my first original copy of a Nigerian music video. Honestly, it was better than the pirated copies which I was used to and was the same price. According to the NCC, piracy does not support creative enterprises and stops creative works from being profitable.

Therefore some of the schemes developed to discourage piracy are Copyright Notification, Video Rental and Hologram Scheme and the Optical Disc Regulation. Most importantly the sale and illegal distribution of copyrighted works is punishable under section 18(2) (a) and (b) of the Nigerian Copyright Act Cap 68 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 as amended. Pirated copies continue to be ceased and public burning continues to take place. For a country like Nigeria piracy has been declared an economic sabotage and an organised crime.

The view that ‘commercial pirates play a positive role in many parts of the South by enabling the distribution of low – cost technology, information and entertainment to millions of people who could not otherwise access or afford it’ has been flawed by the Nigerian situation.2 Nollywood movies are cheap and affordable in comparison to what is available in the western world. A Nollywood movie cost 200 Naira per disc which is the equivalent of less than a pound. The pirated copies are usually not cheaper and at times could be more expensive. Nevertheless it does not matter how cheap technology is millions of people particularly in Africa cannot afford it, even if it is worth less than a penny. Poverty is real in Africa. Therefore it is very important that the Nigerian government and people encourage creativity. It is about time Nigerians show the world their creative ability. The entertainment industry has become a gateway out of poverty for actors, musicians, comedians, producers, distributors and marketers in Nigeria and other West African countries like Ghana, Cameroon and Benin.

1 Nigerian Copyright Commission Bulletin, Volume 3 No. 6 December 2006
2 Copy South Dossier April 2006 72