Filmmakers, UNA don start again O! By Francis Ewherido

If you look at the sectors that put Nigeria on the global map, Nigerian films take a front seat. The Nigerian film industry dates back, but it wasn’t until Nollywood debuted that the rest of the world took notice. Some African countries even describe it as cultural colonialism. But many of the early Nollywood films were double-edged swords. They made Nigeria more popular. At the same time, the storylines were mainly good triumphing over evil (ritual killings, cultism, evil uncles, stepmothers and business partners, etc) at the end. Unfortunately, many of these films had parts one, two, three and sometimes four. Evil will linger from parts one to three and only a quarter of the final part will be devoted to the good. While the videos made Nigerian films popular in Africa, people seem to see or remember only the rituals and other evils. Nigerians got stereotyped and stigmatized. 

That was Nollywood in its infancy. Now Nollywood churns out mind-blowing films with great plots, storylines and quality. I no longer watch movies as I used to in the past, but in 2021, I spent an unplanned nine months abroad. Sometimes, I watched Nigerian movies with my host on Netflix. What I saw blew me away. The Nigerian film industry has evolved. No wonder it dominates Africa and it is a force to be reckoned with globally. The production quality, casting, storylines and other attributes that make movies great have improved tremendously. 

But a recent trend is getting me worried. I have been seeing many short, low-budget films with the same story lines: kidnapping for rituals, putting poisoned substance in syringes and emptying the contents into drinks to kill husbands, wives, siblings, business partners, etc. At the end of the day, good overcomes evil, but these storylines are crap. They do not reflect who we are, our current realities, our dominant paradigm and our true societal problems. We know what our problems are. These days, people kidnap mainly for ransom (money), not for rituals. Kidnapping for ritual killings has reduced drastically.

In fact, some youngsters and spouses organise their own kidnap to get ransom money from their spouses, parents and other family members. This is our current reality. Banditry in Nigeria is fueled by land grabbing, genocidal reasons, ethnic cleansing and other evil intentions. Internet fraud is fueled by the get-rich-quick syndrome and desire for wealth without sweat. These and other challenges known to many Nigerians are our major problems.

These low-budget, short film producers should not drag us back, I appreciate your Nigerian hustling spirit, but it should reflect our current realities. It should criticize positively or proffer solutions, not denigrate or diminish Nigeria, or create non-existent problems. We have achieved many milestones with our music, quality movies, skits, comedies, sporting triumphs and in other spheres of life. Our artistes more than artists from other countries have put African music on the global scene. We have the most educated immigrant African community in America. Our doctors are among the best in the world. If you travel to Europe and America, there is a high possibility that you will attended to by medical personnel of Nigerian origin. Our Super Falcons just won the Africa Nations Cup for a record 10th time. Only two countries have won it South Africa, once an Equatorial Guinea, twice. These are monumental achievements, but only negative news about Nigeria trends. 

Right now, Nigerians are not the most liked people in Africa. The reasons are many: our self-confidence, aggressive business drive and acumen, envy, pettiness, hatred, etc. But part of it is also self-inflicted like these short films. Some Nigerians who travel out of the country have ulterior motives to be involved in criminal and illegal activities. I always insist that criminality has no nationality or ethnicity. Foreigners get involved in crimes in Nigeria too. We don’t drag their countries. We simply arrest and persecute them. That is what we expect from other countries. Do not stereotype Nigerians. Do not use one brush to paint all us of us. 

When it comes to Nigeria, African countries cherry pick. Right now, there are demonstrations of “Nigeria must go” going on in Ghana. They blame Nigeria for the rising crime in Ghana. Yes, some Nigerians are involved, but the fabled Ghana Police should pick out the bad eggs and prosecute them. Ghanaians are also involved in crime. FBI came to Ghana recently and arrested some Ghanaians for internet fraud. Cars stolen in Canada were traced to car shops in Ghana.

Nigerian banks revolutionized banking in Ghana. They will never acknowledge that. They won’t acknowledge hundreds of thousands of Nigerians contributing immensely to Ghana’s economy. Nigeria has many traders doing business there, but they discriminate against them and accuse them of undercutting Ghanaians traders in pricing. But honest Ghanaians acknowledge that their traders do huge markups while Nigerian traders rely on the strategy of small markups and huge trade volumes. If your strategy is defective, you change it, not blaming competition. 

Nigerians based in Ghana are also a major part of their problem in Ghana. On social media, they DENIGRATE Nigeria. I once cautioned one of them, a YouTuber. She threatened to block me; a small girl who was not yet born when I started my media journey 41 years ago as an undergraduate of mass communication (SMH). You can celebrate and promote your host country, but you don’t DENIGRATE Nigeria. You travelled there courtesy the Nigerian Passport. Pikin when dey use left hand dey point to im papa house, nor be slave im be? (A child who uses his/her left hand to point at his father’s house for a stranger is akin to a bastard or slave). 

Every Nigerian leaving our shores has an obligation to be a good ambassador. I can never support Nigerians who go to other countries to commit crimes. They should be arrested and prosecuted. At the same we should not be intimidated. God did not create Nigerians with a spirit of timidity. There are millions of foreigners, including Ghanaians, going about their lives without let or hindrance in Nigeria. Only those who break our laws run into problems. The foreign terrorists amongst us be given the treatment terrorists deserve. 

Short film makers should engage in intellectual rigour and come up with better stories. I won’t comment about the quality because as the Urhobos say, it’s penis the you have that you use to impregnate or have sex with your wife. You don’t borrow or rent a penis from a neighbour. You have a limited budget and I empathise with you, but the storylines should change. Sometime ago, they interviewed people from other countries of what they knew about Nigeria. Some responded that we are ritualists and very fetish. When the interviewer asked them how they knew, if they have ever been to Nigeria. They answered in the negative. So how did they come to that conclusion. They said it’s from our movies! Now that the narrative is changing because of our blossoming entertainment industry, sports and other sectors, don’t set us back. Don’t amplify our negative image and tell the world what we are not. Please. 

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