In a sign that the economic headwinds have hit Nigeria’s movie industry, data released by the film censor’s board shows that the number of releases in Q4 2022 dropped by as much as 34 percent. In its heyday, Nollywood is reported to have produced about 50 movies weekly, which comes up to 600 movies in a quarter.
Adedayo Thomas, Executive Director of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) says the agency received and censored only 340 movies produced by the Nigerian film industry in the period under review, in a statement released recently. This, Thomas said, represents all films submitted to the board from across the country. “The report is for onward submission to the relevant federal government agency as an input for the compilation of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter (Q4, 2022). The report shows a decrease in the number of movies produced from 489 in the third quarter to 340 in the fourth quarter of 2022,” said the NFVCB boss.
Giving a more detailed insight into the data released by the board, he said: “One hundred and eighteen of the films came in from Abuja censorship centre of the board, representing the chunk of the movies produced during the period under review. Followed by Lagos State with 115 movies as indicated in the report, Onitsha recorded 91, Kano nine and Benin four movies, respectively.”
The Plateau State capital, Jos recorded three films, while Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Bauchi and Abeokuta did not record any film for the period under review.
“This clearly portrays the contribution of the film industry to economic growth in terms of direct and indirect jobs in the entire value chain in filmmaking. Our cordial relationship with the recognised guilds and associations in the industry has played (an) important role, as we urge them to ensure that their members submit their films for censorship and approval. As a Federal Government agency committed to providing enabling environment for filmmakers, NFVCB will always ensure that uncensored and other unwholesome films do not find their way into the Nigeria market,” added Mr Thomas.
Nollywood is reported to be the second biggest movie producer in the world, behind Hollywood in the United States, with a contribution of about ₦2.6trillion (US$6.4b) contribution to Nigeria’s GDP. Although some of these data are disputed, the contribution of Nollywood to job creation is not doubt; the industry provides thousands of jobs and ranks as one of the biggest employers of labour in the country.
However, in the last few years, the downturn in the economy, recurring recessions, scarcity of premium motor spirit as well as spiralling cost of production have combined to slow down growth in the industry. Erosion of the spending power of Nigerians as a result of inflation has also had an impact on the industry.
Thriving largely in spite of lack of support from the government, any upswing in the economy is expected to have a salutary impact on Nollywood.
