NAME: OSANYINGBEMI, OLAMIDE OLUWASEUN

MATRIC NUMBER:170305019

DEPARTMENT: EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS

COURSE CODE: HSS 338

COURSE TITLE: CULTURE AND TOURISM IN INDEPENDENT AFRICA.

QUESTION 1:

WITH REFERENCE TO JOHN IWUH’S “NOLLYWOOD, CINEMA CULTURE

AND TOURISM POTENTIAL OF THE MOVIE BUSINESS” EXAMINE THE
POTENTIAL OF THE CINEMA/MOVIE INDUSTRY AS AN ASPECT OF “SOFT”
CULTURE AND TOURISM IN AFRICA.

Introduction
Cinema as a public viewing experience brought with it a type of leisure and pastime, which
became a “culture” among the western populace where moving picture was developed. That
culture is strongly connected with the special apparatus for its projection such that public
cinema culture has continued centuries after the development of the television and portable
picture viewing devices for the homes. With colonialism, Nigeria immediately adopted this
culture with steady development of cinema houses, screening pictures up to the 1980s when it
lost its profitability. With Nollywood, the interest in movies rekindled but in the Home Video
fashion, thus, losing the glamour, the socio-economic and tourism potential of public cinema
culture. Silver Bird Cinemas saw the negative effects of a nation without a cinema culture in
the 21st century and began a re-launch of the culture as an aspect of tourism with
opportunities in cinema business. This study examines the loss and the reintroduction of
public cinema viewing culture by elite standard and its impact on motion picture industry in
Nigeria.

The creation of any product is given value when all parameters for the marketing of such a
product are given the required consumption space. Film as a recorded format for instance
enjoys various consumption channels, such as Video cassette players, CD/DVD players for
domestic viewing, cloud viewing using computers, and finally in public places as cinema
houses. Film in Nigeria is one such product that has witnessed acceptance at individual level
since its resurgence through home video, but it is yet to regain the group or collective
viewing consciousness, which was active until the 1980s. Group viewing consciousness
refers to the self-conscious desire to join other people in a film entertainment. It is a leisure
carried out by an individual, a couple, a family or group of friends in a public place known as
cinema house. By this group experience factor, film viewing compares to festival or sport,
with its own unique social group and learning benefits. Despite the fact that technology has
developed facilities for home viewing, the cinema is designed for group or public viewing
and no domestic viewing set up is yet to equal that of the cinema. In this case, film is just
another platform for the expression of theatre. Nollywood is the synonym for movies made in
Nigeria. The The name sprang up in the early 1990 with a revolutionary force when
Nigerians in the motion picture business discovered that their stories did not necessarily have
to be recorded on celluloid grade in order to qualify as film. This development excited the
public, and interest in the homemade stories grew. Lovers of movies in Nigeria quickly and
proudly identified with the format because they could see themselves in it. Since then in
Nigeria, film, a business long reserved for producers with huge budget for widescreen,
became demystified. Criticism trailed the initial efforts almost immediately, especially in the
areas of premature story, cinematography, and postproduction standard, while the multi-part
approach did not meet the approval of critics.

Culture and its Platforms

The definition of culture will continue to recur whenever history, tradition, religion, art, or
technologies, which affect the way of life of a group is discussed. History takes people back
to their origin, tradition is how people have sustained their worldview, and art is how they
have expressed them, while technology supports the skills that fashions the tools for
expression of arts and culture. Religion on the other hand has always been the compass for
the moderation of morals guiding the activities in human society. As the Nigerian Cultural
Policy defines it Culture is the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their attempts
to meet the challenges of living in their environment, which give order and meaning to their
social, political, economic, aesthetic and religious norms and modes of organization thus
distinguishing a people from their neighbours.

The cultural policy document shows that the components of culture are so diverse that there
is hardly any aspect of a people’s achievement resulting from their creative endowment,
which could be dissociated from culture. Thus, “culture” is synonymous with “development”,
if critical attention is given to it. It is the basis of discipline, social and psychological makeup,
which in turn drives their self-esteem as a people, and commands economic reward for
industry. Mohammed, a former minister of culture may have spoken eloquently about
Nollywood as a major sector of the culture ministry when he observed that culture contributes
significantly to job and wealth creation, and poverty alleviation if the resources are
effectively mobilized. He also believes that proper harnessing of the cultural sector can be a
credible alternative to crude oil.

Cinema Culture and the Film Business in Nigeria

Since the 1980s, and perhaps, up to 2004 when Silverbird Cinemas engaged in cinema
business, Nigerians may have been the most cinema-starved people in the world. This is
viewed from the background that before 1980 there were over forty cinema houses in Lagos
State alone, a history that dates back to the colonial era. In fact, cinema had become a major
means of entertainment, and Lagosians already had a vibrant cinema culture by 1960. Post-
independence youths of ’70s and ’80s in Lagos would remember cinema houses in Lagos
Island, Yaba, Ebute Meta, Oshodi, Mushin, Agege, Ajegunle and Surulere. Popular and
unforgettable among these cinema houses were Rex, Regal and Royal Cinemas. The
following also come to mind: Capitol, Odeon, Central, Rex, Rialto, Casino, Roxy, Idera,
Plaza, Sheila, Oregon, Sheila, Rainbow, Glover and Corona cinemas. Cinemas culture as a
veritable pastime, was given a populist national recognition with the addition of two cinema
halls at the completion of the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu as a testimony to the vibrant
cinema culture in Lagos. No doubt, cinema also added to the attraction of urban Lagos. As
population increased, demand for cinema entertainment increased and available cinema
houses were put under pressure. During this period, Indian and Chinese movies were shown
among the low-income class since they were cheaper and attracted appreciable viewership.
To restore this old tradition therefore, would need huge investment in the sector. As it is, it
would appear that the current investment in cinemas is yet to target these once flourishing
cinema locations.

During this period, Indian and Chinese movies were shown among the low-income class
since they were cheaper and attracted appreciable viewership. To restore this old tradition
therefore, would need huge investment in the sector. As it is, it would appear that the current
investment in cinemas is yet to target these once flourishing cinema locations. Cinema has
one attraction; it is a leisure product that is consumed with ease. It is also one of the easiest
means of education, information, and cultural exchange available apart from reading. It was
and still remains an invaluable avenue for many who are not as educated to read books, and
yet want to learn about people from other cultures. This attribute made it possible for youths
of the ’70s to be familiar with American, Indian and Chinese names, cultures and religions.
Although American names like James Bond, Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts remain
ever familiar for their consistency, Chinese names like Bruce Lee, Wang Yu and Jackie Chan
were popular heroes of the Chinese movie while the practice of Kung Fu martial art had
many training centres in Nigeria.

Thus, the advantages of cinema culture are numerous to the individual, family and nation.
There are at least four possible gains as follows:

1. It leads to faster assimilation of a story: Unlike the print, the cinema is an

entertainment bundle that presents in less than two hours, what would take a reader days
or weeks to exhaust. Films are delivered in simple dialogues and beautiful scenery; every
action is seen in real time and conflict building and resolution are carried out via
entertaining acts. This makes information and education empowerment very easy through
the film.
2. Encourages family harmony: The family unit is one that requires planned leisure to
enhance bonding. The behavioural sciences have shown that collective exercises like
picnics, holidaying, and cinema outings greatly improve family harmony. Evidently,
“during the recession, the creative economy continued to thrive, as people depended on
cinema and museums, music, videos and TV shows and video games to get some
psychological support”.
3. Easier and faster direct learning and action: Cinema contributes a great deal to
learning. Before video/VCD/DVD players became affordable items to Nigerians, cinemas
were means through which youths learned new fashion, slangs, certain exercises and
sporting skills especially martial arts. Cinema engages social change, and like applied
theatre, group participation endorses common ethos.
4. Interest group socialization and networking: People with common interests share
video materials of common interest either for knowledge or pleasure. Film enthusiasts
from different parts of the world often engaged in exchange of films via mails until the
era of video downloading. For this reasons, reviving the cinema culture through active
investment is a task that should be embraced to succeed.
Recent corporate investors in Nollywood infrastructure found it incredulous that a country the
size of Nigeria, with a thriving film industry remains underserviced with public viewing
centres per million people of its population. Accordingly: It is unbelievable that a country of
more than 170 million people currently has less than 60 modern screens in multiplexes
located in five cities, namely Abuja -15, Lagos – 17, Port Harcourt – 14, Enugu– 5, Uyo – 5.
This when compared with India, is one of the lowest in the film market, with India having
over 13,000 screens translating to 12 screens per million people.

Thus, economically and socially, Nigeria misses all the advantages of

cinema exhibition. It also goes to say that if the movie industry in Nigeria were to depend on
public cinema exhibition, it would have gone moribund soon after it started. Crucial to
corporate interest is that:Nigerian film industry has literally upstaged the global movie world
through its innovation, imaginativeness and prolific performance, resulting in revenue
receipts of about $300m to $800million per annum in revenue earnings in recent years with
over 2,000 titles in Nigeria’s three major languages since 2008.

Nollywood, Virtual Tourism and Culture Assimilation

Tourism refers to visits or visitations. It has long remained within the purview of “pleasure”
since it is a personal decision to see, learn and share the creativity or natural endowment of
other cultures. The term tourism of course has widened; it can no longer be restricted to
physical visitation and site seeing. With the Internet, websites now host personalities and
conferences, and have become the highest repositories of information in audio and video
formats with interactive designs, where people visit at will for everything other than pleasure.
It has become a virtual tool for different kinds of social organization. Tourism interests
include all aspects of the gifts of nature, landforms and water resources, including places of
historic importance, which have been developed into local and international attractions.
Tourism is determined by economic, social and cultural factors, but majorly expressed
through skills in art, music and social organization, an interest that has led to the phrase
“cultural tourism”, which itself is broad. The energy dissipated through cultural advocacy is
premised on the capacity of the culture sector to attract patronage through the improved
utilization of the products of the creative industry, especially as may be driven by improved
domestic and international tourism which results in the actualization of the much-touted
capacity of the culture/tourism sector to generate alternative revenue for the nation as Ben-
Iheanacho observed.

Even though tourism is designed for pleasure, tourist activity is not a time wasting and
aimless adventure; it is a search for intense experience beyond the familiar. Cultural tourism
then, is about difference, newness, and rarity in a cultural product exotically packaged to
attract someone culturally different from ours. The “cultural space” of any nation embraces
the tangible and intangible creative endowments of its cultural sector. If a tourist does not
have the promise of a strong intrinsic or aesthetic experience, it would be a wasted effort to
expend the energy and resources involved in a cross-border venture in search of cultural
experience. Therefore, the yearnings of tourism experience are sustained by the foreigner’s
perception of particular cultural practices, as exotic, being different from what they (the
tourists) are used to.

Conclusion
The biggest impediment to Nigeria’s cultural tourism development is her inability to harness
her cultural heritage in their naturally endowed sites (Osun Oshogbo, Argungu Fishing
Festival etc). There are little or no strategic investments by most state governments in Nigeria
to exploit these gifts in modern terms as has been done by Cross River State government
through TINAPA, or the initiative to expand existing traditional festivals, which it pioneered
through the Calabar Carnival. In line with that, only Lagos State government has followed
suit with EKOFEST, while Delta State also has an ambitious plan for its cultural sector. Out
of 36 states, the effort of the Ogun State government must be appreciated for installing an
elevator to propel visitors to the top of Olumo rock. It may be argued without doubt that the
experience of manually climbing the rock is part of the expected experience. However, at the
national level, there seems to be some reluctance or perhaps fear to give our traditional
festivals and cultural sites a modern outlook. First, there is really no reason why relaxation
resorts in Nigeria should not have at least one international cinema hall to cater for visitors
who patronize such resort centres.
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Husseini, S. (2010). Moviedom...Nollywood Narratives: Clips on the Pioneers, (Lagos: African Film
Academy).

Jerry V. D, (2004). Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services. (Belmont, CA: Book/Cole),
pp. 23-26.

Mathias, K & Okome, O. (2013) “Nollywood and its Diaspora: An Introduction”, in Mathias Krings
and Onookome Okome eds, Global Nollywood: The Transnational Dimensions of an African Video
Film Industry (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), p.1.

Shaka, F.O. (2004). Modernity and the African Cinema: A Study in Colonialist Discourse,
Postcoloniality, and Modern African Identity5 (New Jersey: African World Press), p.39.!The Nigerian
Cultural.