Pirating Nollywood: AY Petitions Police IG Over '30 Days in Atlanta'

Dear Sir,

It is with the deepest sorrow that I pen these words. I have never understood the true meaning of the saying “only the one wearing the shoes feels the pain”, till recent times. Since the advent of Independent Producers, piracy has become the bane of the industry because as the saying goes ‘monkey de work, baboon de chop’.

The excitement that greeted the movie industry through the Box-Office success of 30 Days In Atlanta has quickly turned to sorrowful awe as I heard the news that the result of my sweat and sleepless nights has been sold by a traitorous miscreant, yet unknown, to a dubious marketer in Alaba.

Nollywood, Piracy and Poor Distribution

Nollywood: A Thing or Two About Piracy and Lost Revenues, by Jide Rotilu

Nigeria’s movie industry ‘NOLLYWOOD’ has witnessed a year unlike none other with a $200 million stimulus package from Mr. President and more international producers interested in our heart land stories, it is certain Nollywood’s future is extremely promising.

The triumphant rise of home video production began in the early 90’s with the production of ‘Living in Bondage’. In the early years, there were strong story plots with passionate film makers sweating to ensure the viewers felt their passion. This trend dwindled fast as demand for content increased and marketers were eager to see faster returns on investment, which meant hastened movie production. The demand increased and the production supply had to be rushed which inevitably replaced passionate film making with only a thirst for money. The movie productions got so fast that on average about 2000 movies were made annually. This sales figure led to Nollywood’s recognition as one of the largest Movie Industries in the World in terms of ‘quantity’ while Quality was a concept not understood by many.

Nollywood: A Resource That Needs Control

Resource Control has become an important political and economic lexicon in modern geo political realities. In the emerging economies of the world, most especially in Africa, resource control has accounted for numerous armed conflicts, political instability, and economic stagnation.

Resources in emerging economies like Nigeria are primarily ascribed to natural & physical properties like oil and gas, agricultural products, gold, diamond and like products that are discoverable fro under the bowels of the earth.

The attraction to tangible properties like oil, commonly called the “black gold” in Nigeria has resulted in the neglect of other resources which could compete, if not out-rank oil in terms of wealth generation. Intellectual property rights are resources that Nigerians have neglected or unaware of as a property. It is an intangible property that has generated economic growth and wealth in counties like United States, India, Japan, France and United Kingdom. In the United States, Hollywood has contributed  immensely to the nation’s GDP. In India, Bollywood has contributed greatly to the nations economy. It is the strength of its intellectual property  regime that has propel these entertainment capitals of the world to become economic and cultural model, that most of the world desire to emulate. The copyrights, patent, trademark & publicity rights policies of these countries have been a motivating factor for the economic growth of their entertainment industry.