VIDEOS IN MOTION - fasopo

With the progressive enforcement of the Indigenization Decree the number of imported filmswas drastically reduced, 15 but this did not lead to a proportional growth in local productions. On thecontrary, the decree led to an explosion of pirate cinema theatres screening foreign films. 16However, the economic crisis brought about by the application of Structural Adjustment policiesand the spread of social insecurity that followed it progressively eroded cinema-going culture inNigeria. In the early 1990s only a few cinema halls were still open in Lagos, while most of themhad been transformed into churches and shopping malls. 17While the cinema market in Nigeria was largely dominated by foreign products, the firsttelevision channel, created in 1959, 18 was introduced as part of the nationalist project and, at least inthe intentions of its founders, it was supposed to show mainly local programs. Nigeria was at thattime still a British colony, and the political parties fighting for independence considered televisionas a tool for the transformation of Nigeria into a modern independent nation. Within this history,what is particularly relevant for my analysis is the way in which the introduction of televisionparticipated in shaping specific viewing practices. When the first Nigerian channel startedbroadcasting, in fact, only a very small percentage of the Nigerian population could actually afforda television set, and those who could were concentrated in the main urban conglomerations in theSouth Western region of the country, Lagos and Ibadan. As reported by Oluyinka Esan (2009), animportant study conducted by the station in 1962 established the difficulties faced by ruralaudiences in accessing local programs. As a result, the regional government started a campaign tointroduce community viewing centers in small villages. “At these venues television sets wereprocured for the community, powered by petrol generators and located in central places where15 As Françoise Balogun reported, the number of imported films in Nigeria passed from 716 in 1975 to 25 in 1982 and 0in 1983 (1984: 30).16 These were cinema halls without any license. According to Ekwuazi in the mid-1980s there were around 40 of themin Lagos, compared to 28 legal halls (1987: 44).17 While the crisis of cinema culture in southern Nigeria has been particularly dramatic, theatre halls never completelydisappeared in the northern region of the country. For an analysis of the cinema-going culture in northern Nigeria seeLarkin (2008). In the southern part of the country, and particularly in Lagos, Yoruba video films continued to bescreened at the National Theatre all throughout the 1990s and the 2000s. In regards to the Igbo/English section of theindustry, in the mid 1990s some directors, like for instance Zeb Ejiro with the release of Domitilla, tried to revitalizecinema going culture, but they obtained poor results and finally decided to stick to the consolidated straight-to-videostrategy of distribution.18 Television was firstly introduced by the western Nigerian government in 1959 (Western Nigerian Television –WNTV), followed by the creation of the Eastern Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation Television (ENBC-TV) in 1960 andthe Radio Television Kaduna (RTK) in 1962. For further details see Esan (2009).22