The Economist - USA (2020-08-29)

34 Middle East & Africa The EconomistAugust 29th 2020

2

1

I

n the pasttwo decades Nigeria’s film in-

dustry has blossomed into a mighty na-

tional asset. Its romances, family sagas and

tales of derring-do are lapped up by many

millions of viewers at home, across the rest

of Africa and in the African diaspora. It em-

ploys more than a million people and gen-

erates nearly $2bn a year from cinema tick-

ets and dvd sales, tv rights, royalties and

fees. Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital

and film hub, is said to produce more films

than there are stars in the sky.

Films like “Ije”, “The Wedding Party”

and “2 Weeks in Lagos” have premiered at

the poshest international festivals, from

Toronto to Cannes. Netflix has set up part-

nerships. In 2018 it released its first Nigeri-

an film, “Lionheart”. In June it teamed up

with EbonyLife Films, based in Lagos, to

embark on a string of Netflix-branded pro-

jects. “Death and the King’s Horseman”, a

play premiered in 1975 by Africa’s first No-

bellaureateinliterature, Wole Soyinka, is

to be adapted for the screen.

But covid-19 has given Nollywood a nas-

ty viral knock. Emem Isong, a leading pro-

ducer, laments the obstacles facing her lat-

est tv series, “City Crimes”. She was only

two weeks into her six-week filming sched-

ule when a government-imposed lock-

down forced her to stop. When production

resumed in June, she had to cut her crew in

half, buy protective equipment and con-

tactless thermometers, expand accommo-

dation (the crew normally share rooms)

and disinfect her locations. The produc-

tion took much longer. Her budget jumped

by a third. She sorely wishes she had taken

out an insurance policy.

Yet the pandemic may nudge the indus-

try to tackle some of its shortcomings and

improve its chaotic infrastructure. “Maybe

this will motivate people to get their own

production lots where you can accommo-

date artists and put all safety measures in

place,” says Shaibu Husseini, a veteran film

critic. There is a dearth of good film stu-

dios. Moses Babatope, who founded Film-

house Cinema and FilmOne, a distribution

and production company, looks forward to

many “better practices”.

For one thing, Nollywood would benefit

from a national umbrella organisation,

overseen by government, that would set

standards and would have protected the in-

dustry better against covid-19. There are a

good two dozen associations and guilds

within the industry, but no unifying body

like those in Hollywood. The Nigerian gov-

ernment recently set up an ad hoc commit-

tee, including actors and comedians, to co-

operate against the pandemic. “The indus-

try is so individualistic in its approach,”

says Mr Husseini. “Nollywood needs a col-

lective front.”

That is a challenge. Some of Nigeria’s

200 ethnic groups, especially the big ones,

have their own film associations. Hausa-

language cinema, based in the northern

Nigerian state of Kano, has its own label:

“Kannywood”. “There are so many sub-sec-

tions,” says Mr Babatope. “For too long the

mentality has always been about being

giants in our little corners, as opposed to

collective, harmonious growth...As we get

better, as we get more investments, as we

get more attention, you’ll find out that the

best practices will rub off on us.” 7

Covid-19 highlights the challenges

facing Nigeria’s film industry

Nollywood and the pandemic

Time to sharpen up

Lights, camera, covid

T

here areno lifeguards at the south-

ernmost beach in Tel Aviv, just before

the rocky promontory where Jaffa begins.

That doesn’t bother Palestinian children

paddling in the shallow water. Few of them

can swim. Some don’t even own bathing

costumes. But many are seeing the sea for

the first time—enough to bring them great

joy. After their parents dry them off, fam-

ilies may take a stroll around the central

square in Jaffa. Then it is back to the land-

locked West Bank.

Such scenes have played out several

times this summer on beaches up and

down Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Only

about 70,000 Palestinians out of the

roughly 3m who live in the West Bank have

work permits that allow them to travel out-

side the territory, which is under partial

Palestinian control. But on some Saturdays

Israel’s security forces turn a blind eye to

families slipping through gaps in the secu-

TEL AVIV

A trip to the sea highlights the

Palestinians’ isolation

The Palestinians

Very brief holidays

in the sun

tries grow richer their emigration rate

rises. This trend continues until they have

an annual income per head of about

$10,000 (see chart). Income per head in

sub-Saharan Africa is about a third of that.

None of this means that aid to poor

countries should be cut. Foreign assistance

used sensibly improves health care and

education, and reduces poverty. Those are

worthwhile goals in their own right. Aid

can also make countries more stable and

reduce their vulnerability to conflict or di-

saster—perhaps lowering the chance of a

future sudden surge of emigration. But

spending on aid to stop migration is like

buying a car for the cup-holders, says Mr

Clist—it misses the point.

Rather than trying to create pro-

grammes to deter migrants, aid agencies

could instead spend on schemes to chan-

nel them towards legal pathways, which

tend to be safer, and which give the host

country more control over who comes. The

European Union says this is one of the four

pillars of its approach and a focus of the

trust fund. Yet a review by Oxfam, an ngo,

found that just 1.5% of the fund is allocated

to supporting legal-migration schemes.

The irony is that Europe needs mi-

grants. Its working-age population is pro-

jected to decline by almost 30% by 2100. Af-

rican migrants could help solve this

problem. In any event, Europe will struggle

to stem the flow. 7