NG@62: 62 Facts About Nigeria’s Entertainment Industry

Creating mixed feelings of emotions in the heart of the people and spicing the society with dips of content, Nigeria’s Entertainment industry has been one of the “biggest bang” industries around the world.

Aside the money generated from it, it is so much celebrated because of the thrilling experience it gives to consumers.

The Nigerian entertainment industry has been among the top-list of entertainment industry in the world because of its prevalent growths and achievements within years. The visibility of these growths can be seen some aspect of the industry like Music, comedy, and Films.

The Nigerian entertainment industry has currently transitioned into serving the global market. One may ask how the industry gained such global relevance and dominance. There are so much facts every Nigerians should know about their entertainment industry since the independence in 1960.

In these article, we will show you 62 facts about the Nigeria Entertainment Industry:

1. The Hausa-language cinema is referred to as Kannywood a sub-industry of Nollywood, mainly based in Kano— The largest film industry in Northern Nigeria.
2. Did you know that AMP is an acronym for Association of Movie Producers? An association consisting of producers of video films in Nollywood.
3. Surprisingly, Nigerian producer spends between $50,000 and $200,000, or even more to produce a standard movie.
4. According to a 2018 IMF report, Nollywood accounts for 2% of Nigeria’s GDP, whose total value is about $500billion.
5. One of the films that skyrocketed the Yoruba-language cinema to the front line was named “Ajanu Ogun” in 1976.
6. Nigeria film industry celebrated “Nollywood@ 20” in the year 2013— Although it’s believed to be much older than 20 years.
7. Have you heard about Nollywood Reinvented? It’s an online publication that publishes content exclusively in the industry.
8. One of the earliest documentaries intended to introduce Nollywood to the western audience was Jamie Meltzer’s Welcome to Nollywood in 2007 in the USA.
9. Did you know that Latola Films was the first and earliest film production company in Nigeria? It started movie production as far back as 1962.
10. Nollywood’s top two movie directors are Kemi Adetiba; ‘The Wedding Party’, ‘King of Boys’ and Tope Oshin; ‘We Don’t Live Here Anymore’ ‘Up North’ and ‘New Money’.
11. Surprisingly, one of the top-notch movies that brought the Nigerian film industry to the limelight came from the Yoruba-language industry— A notable example is “Mosebolatan”(1985) by Moses Olaiya which grossed ₦107,000 (approx. 2015 ₦44.2 million) in five days of its release.
12. Here are the top 5 movies that have hit an all-time high in the cinema chart, they include The Wedding Party 2 (#522 million); The Wedding Party (#453million); Chief Daddy (#387million); King of Boys (#245 million) and Merry Men (#230 million)
13. Recently, Nollywood employs more than 1 million people. This is because the industry requires a large number of professionals and technicians to guarantee success.
14. Did you know that films produced by Nigerian filmmakers living in the diaspora are popularly called Nollywood USA?
15. Kongi’s Harvest” was the first Nigerian indigenous feature movie produced in 1970 which was based on a play written by Wole Soyinka.
16. In the late 1930s and early 40s, originally linked to the month of Ramadan, Akpala music, a rousing song for Yoruba Muslims, evolved into a song for general entertainment and became popular in the 50s.
17. Another brand of music that became popular is Juju music and those who became most known for it are artistes like King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obe, Sir Shina Peters, among many others.
18. Fela Anikulapo Kuti is one name synonymous to Afrobeat music which emerged as a tool for activism.
19. Presently, Nigeria’s music industry is one of the most vibrant in the area of entertainment and arguably measures up to what is obtained anywhere in the world, including the United States of America.
20. Nigerian Music is the second most streamed music on Spotify – According to Spotify (a digital platform for streaming music), Nigerian music ranked as the second most streamed music on the platform. No doubt, the revolution in Nigerian hip-hop songs in recent times deserve such an accolade.
21. Do you know that Nollywood is the second largest employer in Nigeria? -According to researchers, Nollywood has helped breached  the unemployment gap by employing a high number of people making it the second largest employer in the country. What a great role the entertainment industry is playing.
22. The first recording of Jújú music was in the 1930’s – Many people thinks the Jujú music originated in the 80’s. According to history, the first recording of Jújú music was by Tunde Kings and  Ojoge Daniels in 1929.
23. King Sunny Ade was the first Nigerian musician to be nominated for a Grammy awards in 1984 but Burna boy is the first Artiste to win a Grammy awards in 2021. His music album “twice as tall” won best world music album.
24. Alleluia Atunyota Akporobomeriere popular known as Ali Baba was the first to hold a stand up comedy show in year 1988.
25. King Sunny Ade is recognized as the first Nigerian Musician to incorporate electro-musical instrument. His band played with a phalanx of electric guitars, synthesizers, and vibraphones.
26. During Abacha days in 1993-1998, the music industry experienced a lot of set back because musicians, writers and producers where hunted and threatened. The entertainment industry didn’t thrive until the death of Abacha.
27. Nollywood is believed to have started in the year 1993, but film as a medium first arrived in Nigeria in the late 19th century, in the form of peephole viewing of motion picture devices.
28. Nigerian Film unit had it first copyrighted film in 1957 by Sam Zebba; which is also the first Nigerian film to be shot in colour. The name of the film was “Fincho”.
29. The Nigerian cinema business experienced rapid growth and expansion after the Independence in 1960.
30. After the Independence, Movie theatres was still owned by foreigners. This made the number of Nigerians in movie scene low. In 1972 Yakubu Gowon issued an indigenization decree for foreigners to transfer ownership of Theatres to Nigerians. This resulted in more Nigerians playing active roles in the cinema and film
31. The TV series Papa Ajasco by Wale Adenuga started in 1984 became the first blockbuster with a gross gain of #61000  in three days.
32. The number of film production yearly is 2500 with a projection of US$22million for total cinema revenue alone in 2021, while the total music revenue in Nigeria is estimated to rise to US$73million, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.4%.
33. The first telegraph lines were provided to Nigeria by Britain in 1895 to facilitate the construction of the railway between Lagos and Abeokuta.
34. The radio distribution service grew from serving less than 1,000 subscribers in 1939, to serving about 74,000 subscribers and listeners  in 1960.
35. The first Nigerian Newspaper “Iwe Irohin” was established by Henry Townsend in 1859.
36. On 1st of October 1960, three broadcasting systems were established; NBC in Lagos, WNBC in Ibadan and ENBS in Enugu.
37. New York Times Journalist, Norimitsu Onishi coined the name “Nollywood” for the Nigerian movie industry in 2002 when he had seen the circumstantial events surrounding film production.
38. The Nigerian movie industry is globally recognized as the second largest film industry in the world.
39. The Nigerian entertainment industry has the largest number of creatives in the world.
40. The brand Lagos is highly valuable to the Nigerian entertainment industry that it is not surprising that Nigeria has more artistes based in Lagos than any other city in Nigeria.
41. Nollywood won UNESCO’s People’s Choice Award for the promotion and preservation of cultural heritage and diversity through its films in 2010.
42. The most profitable genre of Nigerian films is home video and it accounts for more than 90% of yearly revenue generated by the industry and more than 80% of profits generated by the industry.
43. The Nigerian entertainment also has some awards and they are the African Movie Academy Awards, Nigeria Entertainment Awards, and the Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards (GIAMA).
44. The Nigerian entertainment also has some awards and they are the African Movie Academy Awards, Nigeria Entertainment Awards, and the Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards (GIAMA).
45. The three universities with the highest number of music artistes are University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University and University of Ilorin.
46. The most popular radio station in Nigeria is Wazobia FM.
47. The first cinema in Nigeria, Kings Cinema, was established at Idumota in 1912 by Mr. Palmer.
48. The first recording studio in Nigeria was Duro Soleye’s Studio in 1960.
49. In June 2011, Tiwa Savage became the first African musical artiste to be signed to Roc Nation.
50. In 2010, Akon opened up a new recording studio in Lagos to support local artists like D’banj, P-Square and Wande Coal.
51. According to Forbes, Davido is currently one of the richest & most influential artiste in Nigeria with an estimated net worth of $18 Million dollars.
52. Olamide’s “Bobo” was the first single to reach one million views on YouTube in less than two weeks.
53. Tales by Moonlight was a popular initiative by the government in the 1960s to use folk stories performed by storytellers in public spaces to encourage literacy and promote positive social interactions across groups.
54. The first Nigerian Music Video was recorded in 1972 by Mike Odumosu.
55. Wizkid is the first Nigerian to win a BET Viewers’ Choice award (2017).
56. The industry is dominated by two major film languages – English and Yoruba.
57. Nigerian films are shown in over 50 countries.
58. There are 68 cinemas in Nigeria with south west having the highest number of Cinema.
59. The Village Headmaster is one of the most iconic Nigerian TV series of all time. It ran for 2 decades making it the longest-running series aired on the National Television Authority (NTA). The series began in 1968 and ended in 1988.
60. In the early years of the Nigerian movie industry, the majority of the actors, writers, directors and producers were former staffs of the Nigerian Television Authority. (NTA). The staff had left the national broadcasting station to work in movie production after the station stopped producing in-house media contents.
61. Most Nigerian artiste in the early 2000 to 2010 originated from church choirs except few of them like 2face Idibia.
62. Nigeria Entertainment Industry  tells so much stories about Nigerian culture, lifestyle and growth since the independence in 1960.

Looking into this industry, one could say that Nigeria as a country has achieved much despite the hurdles and deters. In years to come, the entertainment industry would have recorded more achievement and industry would create more economic importance.