Why Nollywood Can't Lose This Goodluck, by FAJ

President Goodluck Jonathan decorated as Actors Guild of Nigeria's Grand Patron

Let us admit it - we have never seen any President so besotted with entertainment like Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, especially the movie-making sector. And this is not a satire.

Yes, his detractors may point at his "weakness" for entertainment as a signpost of an unserious mind frittering the commonwealth on 'joli-joli' matters! Even the opposition may grumble loudly that the lively engagement with the Nollywood is essentially exploitative and window-dressing - to the detriment of more important and critical sectors of the national economy.

However, no one is in doubt that the life and essence of the Creative wayfarers was initially ignited by Bayelsa governor, the much maligned Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, immediate boss of GEJ around year 2000. With dizzying state support and elaborate razzmatazz, the duo of Alams and GEJ wallowed in the sudden euphoria of showbiz

King Jona's Snub, by Pius Adesanmi

Ipile ti Jesu

Fi lele leyi

Ti Baba Aladura n to, 

Keda mase ro pe 

O ye kuro nibe 

O duro le Kristi apata

Kerubu e yo

Serafu e yo! 

A o fi ipile lele lori otito

A o fi ipile lele lori otito

After I finished singing this song, the angel with the seventh seal appeared to me and saith: remove your white garment, put on a red garment, discard your white candles, replace them with red candles and repeat the song.

And I did.

After I finished singing the song a second time, the angel with the seventh seal appeared to me and saith: remove your red garment, put on a yellow garment, discard your red candles, replace them with yellow candles and repeat the song.

And I did.

Nollywood Pays Pres. Jonathan Thank You Visit

President Jonathan in a group photograph with members of Creative Professionals of Nigeria

Nollywood stars, under the aegis of Creative Professionals of Nigeria (CPN), recently paid a courtesy visit to President Jonathan at the State House, Abuja, to thank him for his support of the creative industry in Nigeria. The President, who reiterated his government’s resolve to continue to support the industry, acknowledged that “the creative industry in Nigeria has been a catalyst for change and has been in the forefront of promoting our core values as Nigerians as well as putting our Nation in the world map”. 

CPN President, Segun Arinze, led top stars like Ibinabo Fibresima (President, Actors guild of Nigeria, AGN) and Monalisa Chinda as well as popular journalists, Azuh Amatus and Chris Keyinde Nwandu, on the visit. Other top members of the group in attendance included Abu Yakubu (secretary, AGN), Prince Ifeanyi Dike (chairman, AGN’s BOT), Zeb and Chico Ejiro, Emeka Ossai, Emma Ogugua, Fidelis Duker, Sunny McDon, Teco Benson, Fred Amata, Ralph Nwadike, Keppy Ekpeyong, Chike Bryan, Victor Okhai, Kingsley Ogoro, Lancelot Imasuen, Grace Amah, Kate Okunnu, Toyin Aimakhu, Fathia Balogun, Gideon Okeke, Joseph Benjamin, Charles Novia, and Sammie Okposo.

Nigeria: Nollywood's Tale of the Middle Class

Want a feel-good story about an African middle class with a Hollywood ending? It is set in Nigeria, the continent’s biggest country by population, brashest by reputation and ballsiest by self-conception.

Outside its borders, Nigeria is defined by Boko Haram hashtag campaigns, imploding mega-churches and the occasional piece about political dysfunction. But as an entity (“country” does not quite fit the description), led by the unloved Goodluck Jonathan and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP), it marches towards a general election in 2015, and into a future without certainties or precedents.

Inside, the mise en scene is somewhat more complicated. No state that is home to 170m souls can ever be properly united; it will always be a nation of nations. That is certainly the case with Nigeria, which is riven by the tenth parallel, the line of latitude that separates the mostly Muslim north from the largely Christian south. So many of Nigeria’s problems, to say nothing of its indefatigable energy, are generated by this division. But as the energy increases, it becomes more unstable at the core. Regional observers worry that Nigeria will eventually explode into a cluster of Balkanised mini-states.

Intervention Fund and Project ACT Nollywood

President Jonathan and Fiberesima, Actors Guild of Nigeria President

AGAIN, the Federal Government [recently] in Abuja walked the talk as regards the special film intervention fund approved by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2013.

Less than two months after it released the names of 32 movie production companies that would receive the Film Production Fund (FPF), one of the three components of the N3 billion Presidential Intervention Fund for the Nigerian movie industry managed under a scheme called Project ACT Nollywood, the government through the Federal Ministry of Finance has commenced the process of disbursing funds to beneficiaries who satisfied the requirements for accessing the funds that should best be called a production grant.

26 out of the 32 movie production companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Government. They would any moment now start getting alerts of sums ranging from N2 million and N15 million. However the amount each of the production house will get depends on the magnitude of the film project that was proposed.

Apologies To The Past by Okey Ndibe

Last Wednesday—the 54th anniversary of Nigeria’s Independence—was a day of silence for me. I didn’t have the stomach to leave any comment on Facebook or Twitter. Two or three friends and family members sent me texts of felicitation. Demure, I merely wrote back: Thanks!

But at the back of my mind I was thinking, What is all the fuss about? What was one supposed to celebrate?

Last Wednesday, Nigeria reminded me of nothing so much as—to invoke the title of Wole Soyinka’s short polemical book—an open (festering) sore.

I know: many super-“patriotic” Nigerians now insist that, before one says a critical word about our dear, dear Nigeria, one must first pause to count the country’s blessings. So let’s count them.

Blessing Number One: We all woke up on October 1, 2014 and Nigeria was still there. As we Nigerians love to say, nothing spoil. We still had our transformational president sitting pretty in Abuja, he and his beloved wife amused to see all the “transformation ambassadors” staging rallies all over the country to draft him to run again, to win again (by a landslide of course), and to, once again, bestow on us that magic rule of his that created so much prosperity that Nigerians raced to the front ranks of private jet ownership in the world.

Dear Nollywood, Bollywood May Double Revenue by 2018

WHILE Nollywood is still being spoon-fed by President Goodluck Jonathan’s largesse, the Indian entertainment industry, according to a new study, is soaring in commercial maturation, and is expected to double its revenue to $37.2 billion by 2018, growing at a compound annual rate of 15 percent.

An annual report by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers India and the Confederation of Indian Industry said that in 2013, the Indian entertainment industry recorded revenue of about $18.3 billion, a 19 percent gain over the previous year.

The entertainment industry has contributed strongly to India’s economy, according to other recent reports. And interestingly too, while TV is predicted to be a big growth driver, the film business reportedly will also grow steadily.

Against the backdrop of digital migration in 2015, one begins to wonder what will happen in the Nigerian entertainment space when the spectrum is further enlarged for more contents.

Cardinal Okogie Speaks on Life in Retirement, Nigeria, Church & Politics

Cardinal Okogie

Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, former Archbishop of Lagos and first president of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in this interview with MICHAEL UCHEBUAKU speaks about the politicisation of CAN, involvement of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor in the $9.3 million cash-for-arm deal, among other issues.

How is life in retirement and what is a typical day like for you now that you are retired?

Well, it is still the same life, except that we do not engage ourselves in too much pastoral work as we used to do when on active duty. On a typical day, I wake up in the morning like any other person. I say my prayers, go for my Mass, then do some exercises and go for a walk because of my leg. Then I take my breakfast and after that I sit down and people start coming to see me. And I will be there sitting in my office until 2 or 3pm listening and answering people’s questions. That is what a typical day looks like.

What are your most memorable moments as Archbishop of Lagos?

Doing my duties gave me the greatest joy. Anytime I am with people, each time I am officiating I know I’m doing what God wants me to do, I derive the greatest joy. But now, it’s not that I’m not doing what God wants me to do, but the concentration is more now on my spiritual life. That time was different from now. That time, even sometimes when I would be saying my prayers, I would feel so tired, then I would say, God I know you understand, I would be trying to justify being tired while saying my prayers. I don’t know how I can justify such a thing before God.