Ndiho Media,LLC.

By Paul Ndiho
Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry is rapidly growing in popularity, churning out nearly 3000 movies each year. Many of the films address issues that Africans across the continent can identify with. However, due to piracy, many filmmakers say they are struggling to make a profit.
Nollywood is a $5 billion dollar industry. Film producer, Sam Boye is on set taking his actors through their paces before shooting begins on his latest production, a soap opera series about family feuds. Boye has been involved in Nollywood films for more than 30 years. He says rampant piracy is the main reason film producers are barely making any money.
“A producer was in China, and he said he saw our movie. They call it 20 in 1. That is, you have 20 movies in 1 DVD in China and he saw Osofia speaking Chinese. That means it’s been dubbed into a Chinese language without the consent of the producers here. So when we say piracy has gone deep into this industry and it has been another major challenge.
Nollywood is best known for the quantity of films it produces, but not the quality. But there are those who are trying to change things. Producer-Director, Kunle Afolayan is the filmmaker behind “October 1”, Nollywood film set in 1960, against the backdrop of Nigeria’s Independence from Britain. The movie tells the story of a detective, who is dispatched by the British colonial masters to a remote town in the Western region of Nigeria to solve a series of murders that caused outrage in the community. With three films under his belt, Afolayan has earned a reputation in Nollywood for producing high quality movies.
“It’s a nightmare, it’s a universal problem but the kind of … the way it’s being done here is alarming when your film gets pirated and people flashes it in your face and no one is doing anything and when you even complain, they beat you up like there is no law in the land. All my films have been pirated but the most painful one is October 1 which has not been released on DVD.”
Every week, in Lagos alone, millions of pirated Nollywood and Bollywood movies – the Hindi language film industry based in Mubai, India, compete for customers against the original product. The pirated copies are sold everywhere, on sidewalks, street corners, under bridges and even on top of wheelbarrows for about one U.S. dollar per DVD — undercutting the production house price of the DVD.
Nigeria’s Copyright Commission, says the government is doing all it can to combat piracy. Afam Ezekude is the Director General of the Copyright Commission.
“The last four and a half years. We have actually reduced the rate of piracy, we are not boasting of trying to eliminate or eradicate piracy in this community but we have done a lot in terms of trying to limit the impact of piracy especially on the Nigerian economy.”
Still, industry analysts like economist David Omidiran believe Nollywood could be much more profitable and grow even further to boost the oil-producing economy if piracy was curbed.
“When all the piracy issues are resolved and there is more use of cinematography and we already have the likes of some cinema airing Nigerian movies, the industry has great potential.”
Since its inception, over 20 years ago, the Nigerian movie industry has remains one of the largest employers in the country, and analysts say the industry earns the third highest revenues in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood.

By Paul Ndiho
Sihle Tshabalala spent more than a decade in prison for armed robbery, but he now teaches township kids who are at risk of turning to crime I-T skills. He was recently highlighted by the World Economic Forum for his project which is giving disadvantaged youth, a new lease on life. VOA’s Paul Ndiho has more
Former inmate, Sihle Tshabalala spent nearly 11 years behind bars. He was just 19 when he was incarcerated — and while in prison, he taught himself how to write computer code and it helped to turn his life around. Today, Tshabalala is using those skills to touch other lives. He has partnered with another former inmate to start the “Brothers for All” center in Langa Township, Cape Town. It is a non-governmental organization that works to alleviate poverty and crime in South Africa.
The duo dual empowers disadvantaged children by them teaching basic computer skills. As the students get better, they learn more complex coding, which makes it possible to create computer software, apps
“I always tell people that we are in the business of selling hope even though the price tag is free but we sell hope to the people that have lost hope. Now the demographic of the people we work with, we work with high school dropouts, teenage mothers, unemployed youth and employed youth and also ex-offenders and offenders that we teach coding.”
According to the polling organization, “Statistics South Africa”, poverty, drugs and crime are rife in the country’s poor communities. But initiatives like the coding project can help to empower the youth who live in the poor townships to get life skills.
Gilbert Duquzumuremy is a volunteer who works with the “Brothers for All.” He is an IT graduate who immigrated to South Africa from Rwanda.
“I did computer science when I was in my country. I did it from 2012 to 2015 but I did not get a job because there is a problem of jobs, no job creation. I decided to come to South Africa. By intervention of one of my friends, he gave me a lead to “Brothers for All” and when I came there I said this is my place to be because I know how to code, I did coding then I decided to help them out as a volunteer.”
Those who attend the coding classes say they have not only gained valuable new skills but the classes also keep them away from more negative activities.
“It does help me a lot because in Khayelitsha there are a lot of gangsters there when you go outside there are lots of guys sitting on the corners smoking, and when you come across them you just get scared of them so computer programming it helps me a lot as I spend my time here programming it keeps me out of a bad mind.”
Tshabalala says his work is receiving recognition both locally and abroad including at the World Economic Forum earlier this year. Recently, the organization began the first coding program at a prison just outside of Cape Town. He says working with disadvantaged communities is his driving passion.
“Now, the response has been quite amazing because these are people that thought they would never do something magnificent with their lives but because they are now given the opportunity they then see something different and light at the end of the tunnel,”
The “Brothers for All” initiative is giving young people from Cape Town’s poorest communities the opportunity to turn their lives around. Still, with few job opportunities and little education, many more youth continue to struggle, resorting to crime and a life of violence.