Netflix has denied reports it is pulling out of Nigeria but local film producers and industry insiders told Semafor Africa the streaming giant has been cutting back on original productions.
“We are not exiting Nigeria,” wrote a Netflix spokesperson in an email.”We will continue to invest in Nigerian stories to delight our members.”
However two filmmakers who have worked with Netflix on Nigerian productions said some local filmmakers were told last month that their Netflix original projects were either being put on hold or shelved. The conversations with filmmakers were said to have come days after Netflix threw a glamorous “Lights, Camera… Naija!” party on Nov. 2 with a raft of Nollywood actors and celebrities at a venue in Lagos.
The devaluation of the local currency and runaway inflation are said to have made production costs unsustainable in the near term.
Filmmakers said they believe Netflix will continue to license Nigerian films, but likely only ones which already had some traction at local cinemas or elsewhere rather than investing in production.
Nigerian filmmaker Kunle Afolayan, whose comments are believed to have sparked the speculation, said he never suggested Netflix was exiting the country: “I clearly said they are cutting down on their exposure.”
Netflix signalled its Nigeria ambitions with the acquisition of Lionheart, a film produced in 2018 by industry veteran Genevieve Nnaji, as its first original in the country. The streamer has since commissioned and co-produced multiple original series and films in the years since, opening up a new medium for Nollywood’s deep bench of screenwriters and producers to complement theatrical releases.
The King’s Horsemen, a Yoruba language epic that premiered on the platform in 2022, became the first cinematic adaptation of a novel by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. Last year’s hit crime thriller The Black Book had the kind of global reach that appeared to signal to audiences that the world was ready for African storytelling and that it would be a big part of Netflix’s content future.
On 25 October 1993, four teenage boys boarded a Nigeria Airways flight from Lagos to Abuja with a clear agenda: hijack the aircraft, take all 193 passengers hostage and force the government to bend to their demands.
The moment the pilot told passengers they could unfasten their seatbelts, the young men - aged between 16 and 18 - sprung into action.
After entering the cockpit with a fake gun, the second step of their plan was to declare that the commercial aircraft - which had several leading politicians on board - was now being controlled by the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy (MAD).
'Remain calm, we will not harm you,' they reportedly told the terrified travellers. 'You will be told where the plane will land you.'
But despite their claims that there would be no casualties, the teenagers' carefully constructed plan quickly descended into chaos - culminating in the death of a crew member following four days of tense negotiations.
31 years on from the incident, Netflix has dramatised the case in their film Hijack '93, which lands on the streaming platform tomorrow.
Here FEMAIL delves into hijacking that had Nigeria on tenterhooks in October 1993 - and why the men have since been celebrated as heroes.
Political unrest in run-up
The 1980s and 1990s were a particularly turbulent time for politics in the West African country.
In 1983, the Nigerian military staged a coup to overthrow President Shehu Shagri's elected government.
Over the next 10 years, power only passed through the hands of the military, which resulted in internal uprising and power struggles among leaders.
In 1990, Major Gideon Orkar attempted to overthrow the government through a failed military coup - after General Ibrahim Babangida took power via the same means five years before.
Three years later, the country went to the polls for the first time in over a decade - with Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, who was the leader of the Social Democratic Party, winning over the National Republican Convention's Alhaji Bashir Tofa.
Although MKO Abiola won in a landslide and secured eight million votes, the military government proceeded to annul the election - citing security threats.
At the time, military leader General Ibrahim Babangida said in a statement that 'these steps were taken to save our judiciary from being ridiculed and politicized locally and internationally'.
However, the decision led to unrest among the population amid growing fears there would be indefinite military rule.
A Western diplomat in West Africa told the New York Times in 1993: 'The military has only themselves to blame for this mess.'
Hijacking plane with a toy gun
After three months of protests, teenagers Richard Ogunderu, Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Rasaq-Lawal decided to send a message to the Nigerian government.
When they boarded the Nigeria Airways plane, the foursome had already prepared statements demanding MKO Abiola be instated as the country's rightful leader, which they handed out to passengers.
They also demanded the military return embezzled money to the state and reopen a series of closed newspaper companies and universities.
Before the incident, Ogunderu - who grew up in a middle class neighbourhood and was one of five children - told Sahara Reporters that some of them had not even been on a plane before.
Speaking to Neusroom in 2022, Richard Ogunderu's father Yemi described him as 'strong-willed and obstinate'.
He added: '[Richard] would tell me, "you old men just sat there bemoaning your fate, won’t you do something about this country?"
'The relationship between us was beyond father and son. We relate like brothers. I didn’t even know when he became a member of MAD. He had never discussed activism with me even though he knew I’m highly opinionated about socio-political issues.'
Speaking to The Punch, one of the hijackers said they targeted this specific aircraft because it 'flew the calibre of people we wanted to deal with'.
As well as China's vice president Rong Yiren, there were also top Nigerian government officials on board.
Speaking to the Sahara Reporters in 2009, Richard Ogunderu - who was the group's leader - explained: 'We were on a mission.
'We wanted to show the evil [military] regime that young people were prepared to go the extra length to free Nigerians from the yoke of military dictatorship.'
He then revealed how he was the one to enter the cockpit, where he pointed a fake gun at the pilot and told him to redirect the plane. A fellow hijacker later claimed that Ogunderu pretended to be a student who wanted to look at the plane's controls.
Although reports stated that Ogunderu wanted to land in Germany, the plane didn't have enough fuel - as their planned journey should have only taken just over an hour.
As such, the hijacker settled on Niamey in Niger instead - where they were met with armed forces.
While the aircraft was still in the air, the hijackers doused themselves in the six litres of fuel they had smuggled onto the plane and threatened to set themselves on fire if passengers didn't follow orders.
Threatening to blow up plane
After the plane landed, the hijackers began negotiations with the police - with the foursome initially demanding they get more fuel so they could fly to Frankfurt.
When this was denied, they teenagers urged the government to recognise the results of the June Nigerian Presidential election.
If MKO Abiola was not sworn in as President in 78 hours, the teenagers claimed they would set the plane on fire.
In an interview with The Nollywood Reporter in July 2023, Richard explained how he was connected to a BBC journalist to 'tell the world their message'.
He added: 'I said we were going to burn the plane within 78 hours if our requests were not met.
'Of course, that was just a scare tactic. We've decided to let the pleading passengers go the next day.'
In the first two hours, the hijackers released women and children - before releasing a further 129 the following day, including the Chinese vice president.
However, they refused to give up the crew or Nigerian government workers.
At first, the authorities offered not to arrest the hijackers - as long as they released the remaining hostages.
Ogunderu added: 'We were not afraid, at that moment, death meant nothing to us.'
Rescue operation leaves one dead
For four days, authorities held off on entering the aircraft - fearing the hijackers may detonate a bomb.
But on 28 October, police stormed the plane in the middle of the night.
'They thought we were asleep, so they came under the cover of the night and fired several shots,' Ogunderu said. 'They bombarded the plane.'
The rescue operation claimed the life of crew member Ethel Igwe while Richard was also injured. One of the hijackers later said over 300 shots were fired during the mission.
Richard told the Nollywood Reporter: 'I am deeply sorry about [Ethel's] death, and that in itself was one of the reasons we were clamouring for democracy.
The military government was notorious for wanton killing and abuse of human rights. That should never have happened.'
Following this, the hijackers were arrested and were sentenced to over nine months in prison in Niger. They claim to have served their sentence in one small cell, which also served as a toilet.
Remembered as 'heroes'
Despite the teenagers' efforts, the interim military government was replaced by General Sani Abacha's dictatorship.
The late dictator was in power from 1993 to 1998 and was the last successful military coup in the country's history.
Although they were unsuccessful in achieving their goal, Richard Ogunderu, Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Rasaq-Lawal are seen by some as modern-day 'heroes'.
Speaking to The Punch in 2023, Benneth Oluwadaisi said he wanted to 'fight for the stability of democracy in Nigeria'.
In response to the report, one X user wrote: 'These guys are heroes, honestly. The way they went about it, though, wasn't plausible, but they have earned my respect for their courage and brevity.'
Another added: 'In as much as this is a wrong thing to do, I'm proud of them. They fought for freedom, democracy and what they believed in.'
A newly released Nigerian epic movie, Lisabi has topped the Netflix chart in Nigeria and entered the top 10 charts in Kenya and Mauritius. Lisabi is a legendary story of local rebellion against an oppressive empire and its agents derived from a Yoruba historical account.
Released on Friday, September 27, Lisabi is produced by Niyi Akinmolayan and features an exciting list of actors. These include Boma Akpore, Adebowale Adedayo, Gabriel Afolayan, Ibrahim Chatta and Lateef Adedimeji.
Set in the 18th-century Oyo Empire, the movie attempts to tell to retell the story of the Oyo Empire, but from an angle not expected and not unfamiliar. It tells the story of Lisabi Agbongbo-Akala and the Egba people’s fight against the mighty Oyo Empire in the 18th century to highlight how bravery and unity can guarantee independence.
The Oyo Empire, one of the most powerful West African states at the time, exerted significant control over many neighbouring peoples, including the Egba. This control was marked by heavy tribute demands and forced labour.
Songodeyi, the ruthless head of the tribute collectors, alongside his brutal subordinates, terrorizes the Egba people, despite their compliance with the tribute demands. Their cruelty has no bounds—they take more than what is owed, rape young women, and kill anyone who dares to resist their tyranny. As their oppression worsens day by day, life becomes unbearable for the farmers and villagers of Egba land.
Lisabi Agbongbo-Akala was a resourceful Egba farmer who organised a rebellion against the oppressive Oyo rulers. With his strategic brilliance and leadership, Lisabi forms the Aaro society, a communal work group that secretly becomes the backbone of the uprising.
He also turned out to be a skilled military strategist and farmer who united several Yoruba groups to launch an attack against the Oyo Empire between 1775 and 1780.
According to the movie, Lisabi (Lateef Adedimeji) used the combined strength of his fellow farmers and the support of different deities to equip his folks to fight an evidently superior force and win their freedom.
Before gaining their independence, communities such as Ijaiye, Gbagura, and Igbeyin were all under the control of the Oyo Empire. Lisabi’s rebellion marks a turning point in Egba’s history, as he leads his people to victory and freedom from the Oyo Empire’s domination, cementing his legacy as a hero and liberator.
Netflix prices are going up in Nigeria. Starting today, the premium plan with 4K + HDR and downloads on six devices jumps to ₦5000. The standard plan also sees a bump, going from ₦3600 to ₦4000. While the basic plan stays put at ₦2,900, the price for the mobile plan has also been increased.
Since October last year, Netflix has been revising its subscription prices globally. The streaming platform also ended its free plan in Kenya which ran for two years.
"As we invest in and improve Netflix, we’ll occasionally ask our members to pay a little extra to reflect those improvements, which in turn helps drive the positive flywheel of additional investment to further improve and grow our service," the company said.
Since 2016, Netflix says it has invested about $175 million in film content production in sub-Saharan Africa, creating over 10,000 jobs within this period. Netflix holds the number two spot among streaming platforms in Africa, with an estimated 1.8 million subscribers by the end of November 2023; that's about 33.5% of the market share.
It is one of the most anticipated Nollywood films of all time and the trailer for King Of Boys: The Return Of The King was released Monday amid frenzy from fans of the crime and political thriller, who call themselves the KOB Army.
The seven-part project is Netflix's first Original Series from Nigeria and a sequel to the highly acclaimed 2018 King of Boys movie directed by leading director Kemi Adetiba.
Fans can now take a peek at what to expect, as formidable businesswoman Eniola Salami, played by Nollywood veteran Sola Sobowale, returns to Nigeria after a five-year exile eager to mete out blood-curdling punishments to her adversaries.
Following the success of the first installation, which made over N450 million ($1M) at the box office, Adetiba announced a sequel was in the works.
After a two-year wait, she revealed that the sequel initially intended to be a movie will be a Netflix Original limited series.
The KOB Army
The KOB Army has shown immense support for the franchise since the first movie, with fans making plans for viewing parties and special outfits when it premieres on August 27 on Netflix.
As the release day for the sequel draws nearer, the anticipation runs high as many wait with bated breath to see The Return Of The King. But fans are not the only ones eager; Adetiba describes the weight of the expectation as "awaiting a report card for the last year and a half of my life."
"My anxiety these days ranges from numb to severe...so I too am on tenterhooks, she says. "But I'm mostly absolutely thrilled by the love and support of the KOB ARMY. It's been so overwhelming. The massive anticipation simply shows us how well-loved KOB 1 is."
The King of Boys has been a stand-out movie for modern Nollywood. It was the sophomore film by Adetiba, whose directorial debut, The Wedding Party, was the unopposed Nollywood movie of the year 2016, being the highest-grossing film until January 2021 and spotlighting Adetiba, who already made her mark in the music and television industry, as a filmmaker of note.
The new installment will see old characters from the original, including actor Toni Tones, who reprises her role as a young Eniola Salami and musician Reminisce as Makanaki.
It also introduces new characters who have a bone to pick with Salami. Among them are seasoned actors Nse Ikpe-Etim and Nollywood heartthrob Richard Mofe Damijo.
King of Boys is a departure from the cheery, bright romcom of The Wedding Party into the dark crime-filled world of Eniola Salami, whose quest for power leaves a trail of dead bodies in her wake. It was a wager which paid off in an industry known of late for primarily producing comedies to meet the audience's demand. Of the top 10 highest-grossing Nollywood movies, King of Boys is the sole thriller on the list.
Trusting the audience
Adetiba says the successful outing taught her not to cage her audience.
"I remember once in film school, an instructor said, 'If you treat your audience as if they were intelligent, they'll love you for it,'" she says.
"Yes, I was told that the audience wasn't ready for a film like KOB." Still, Adetiba and her brother, Remi Adetiba, who co-produces the franchise, persisted in bringing the project to light.
"Running on blind faith, we were all, "Go Big Or Go Home." It was our very own 'Do It Afraid' moment, but we jumped in the deep end, and our amazing audience, aka KOB ARMY, thanked us with their massive support. Just as my instructor said."
Not only was the genre a deviation from the norm in modern Nollywood, but her lead figure was complex in a way that is rarely done in the industry, where characters are usually portrayed as either good or evil.
Adetiba says it was vital for her to highlight this complexity because it mirrors real life. "I love my characters to be relatable...There are many facets to you and I. Understanding this then creating a character that is one-dimensional is an injustice."
"So when I'm creating a character like Eniola Salami ... I'm interested in who s(he) is to all those different people. In Eniola's life, we have her family, those she encounters in everyday life, her legit business customers, then her interactions... in the 'underworld.'"
Adetiba says the production has been a real labor of love and promises a great time. "We threw everything into this production... including the kitchen sink. We gave everything we had, so it's a product of REAL love, blood, sweat and tears. Most important of all, it's a great story."
Three Nigerians have been selected among the twelve (12) African candidates chosen to participate in the 3-month Netflix Episodic Lab (EPL) and Development Executive Traineeship (DET) launched by the Realness Institute.
2 Nigerians were selected to participate in the Episodic Lab where they will develop their story concepts alongside expert story consultants and creative producers. They are Ayoade Adeyanju with Agent 419 and Kehinde Joseph with Osupa.
Other participants include Andile Ngcizela with Drummies (South Africa); Dominique Jossie with Fafi (South Africa); Kudakwashe Maradzika with Bad Influencer (Zimbabwe/South Africa) and Mary Waireri with Sheitain (Kenya/United Kingdom).
Netflix’s Episodic Lab and Development Executive Traineeship are part of efforts by the global streaming giant and the Realness Institute to produce more original local content from creative writers in Africa.
For the DET, Ololade Okedare is the only Nigerian selected to participate in the program where they will accompany the incubation of the six potential Netflix African Original Series.
Anneke Villet, Antionette Engel and Thandeka Zwane (South Africa), Damaris Irungu Ochieng’ (Kenya) and Lara Sousa (Mozambique) make up the other five DET participants.
The Episodic Lab will take place remotely till 5 September 2021, where selected participants will receive about $2,000 monthly stipend so that they can focus entirely on their development. At the end of the lab, each writer will have an opportunity to pitch their incubated concept to Netflix to have their series further developed for production.
Meet the Nigerian writers taking part in the Netflix Episodic Lab.
Ayoade Adeyanju
Ayoade has aggregated over 10 years of career experience creating content spanning various local and international TV shows, including MNet’s Tinsel and EbonyLife’s Ojo’s in ‘d House. He created African Magic’s Hustle and was the story editor for African Magic’s Battleground. He developed content for the critically acclaimed, award-winning show, MTV Shuga.
Kehinde Joseph
Kehinde Joseph has worked for 9 years as a radio presenter on Eko FM in Lagos. He’s the sole Nollywood screenwriter with 3 movies that’s grossed over 100 million at the box office.
When the Nigerian Official Selection Committee sat down to select Nigeria’s nominee for the 2021 Academy Awards last December, the jury voted overwhelmingly for Desmond Ovbiagele’s film The Milkmaid over the sex-trafficking drama Oloture and film festival toast Eyimofe.
Unlike Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart which the Academy disqualified from the international feature film category last year for having English as the main language of the script, The Milkmaid fulfils the requirement for a predominantly non-English dialogue track. It conveys authenticity with Hausa, Fulfulde and Arabic, three languages hermetically spoken throughout the film.
The film follows the story of two sisters, Aisha (Anthonieta Kalunta) and Zainab (Maryam Booth), who get separated when insurgents attack their village. Aisha is determined to rescue Zainab from her captors and traces her whereabouts to an enemy camp, where she is enslaved and treated inhumanely.
A sophomore feature from Ovbiagele after his 2014 crime thriller debut Return to Caesar, The Milkmaid is a compellingly superior entry into Nollywood’s Boko Haram-themed cinema.
The genre is relatively new, inspired by the Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria, which began its deadly uprising in 2009 and has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 people and displaced 2.5 million. Most of these films are not made to be box office hits as they usually employ largely unknown actors, so they sail under the radar.
But with Joel Kachi Benson’s Daughters of Chibok winning a Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and Netflix picking up Adekunle Adejuyigbe’s The Delivery Boy a year later, the genre is slowly occupying an expanding space in the public imagination and has set off some conversations about violence in society.
Tackling such sensitive issues as religious extremism and violence, The Milkmaid has predictably faced censorship at home. The Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), the government agency whose mandate is to regulate the creation, distribution and exhibition of films and video products by rating them, denied the film classification because it felt it portrayed Islam as an enabler of religious extremism.
To obtain a classification for pubic screening in Nigeria, 24-minutes-worth of footage was cut from the director’s original version. “We had to remove everything – costume, dialogue, language that was an authentic depiction of a particular religion, even though there is nothing in the film that states that the religion was directly responsible for violence,” Ovbiagele said in a December 2020 interview.
The Milkmaid’s censorship was to be expected, considering the NFVCB’s history of stifling artistic freedom and paranoia that films can threaten national unity. The film does not suggest Islam inspires extremism and it also does not glorify terrorists and whatever their motivations are. Rather it exhumes the traumatic experiences of women and girls in a world blighted by insurgency. Although the film is yet to do a wide release, the response from the members of the Muslim community who have seen it at private viewings has been positive.
Because of censorship at home, The Milkmaid turned to Cameroon and Zimbabwe for its theatrical release in November, then went on a limited run with its toned-down cut in select Nigerian cinemas in afterwards. Garnering local buzz, the motion picture swept last year’s Africa Movie Academy Awards with eight nominations and four awards, including Best Film.
For the Oscars, Ovbiagele sent the film’s original version, which contains all the elements of a potential winner: a compelling story, captivating actors’ performance and masterful cinematography.
Through Ovbiagele’s deft handling of the camera, audiences can see how beauty tightly intertwines with violence, creating a stunning artistic patchwork. This visual language is defined by the crisp cinematography of Yinka Edwards whose technical detailing does not just dwell on scenery but also within interpersonal spaces.
At the core of that is a feminine reckoning with extremism and its fallouts – the abduction of women and girls, violence and enslavement.
There is something particularly auspicious about The Milkmaid’s Oscar campaign footprint. But will it appeal to the Academy?
Aside from its obvious artistic merit, the Oscar fate of The Milkmaid will be determined by how the Academy voters – representing the American audience – see anti-terrorism messaging almost 20 years after the start of the US “war on terror”.
Like Nollywood, Hollywood too has experienced a boom in the production of films inspired by the themes of extremism and insurgency. A few have even made it to the Oscars and won.
The genre has successfully propelled the US government narrative of its forces fighting foreign terrorism and restoring stability to faraway conflict-torn regions and has done little to illuminate the disastrous consequences of US anti-terror-driven imperialism.
Although it does not tackle the international aspect of the Boko Haram insurgency, The Milkmaid fits well into this mainstream US narrative about terrorism. Its story would feed into the American viewers’ self-righteous disdain for overseas terrorist groups and will probably be well received. Whether this is what the Academy will be looking for in this year’s international film feature category remains to be seen.
Set in the shady underworld of Lagos brothels, Nigerian thriller Òlòtūré gives viewers an inside look at the sex trafficking schemes that ensnare thousands of Nigerian women each year.
The film is fictional but aims for a realistic and gritty picture to raise awareness of what is a persistent and little-discussed problem, said 36-year-old director Kenneth Gyang.
For decades, scores of Nigerian women and girls have been lured to Europe with promises of work, then trapped in debt bondage and forced to sell sex.
The United Nations migration agency estimates that 80% of Nigerian women arriving in Italy - more than 11,000 in 2016 - are potential victims of sex trafficking.
“I know people are not always receptive to documentaries, so sometimes you have to put these things in fiction so that people will see it,” said Gyang, who won international acclaim for his first film, Confusion Na Wa, in 2013.
His thriller debuted on Netflix this month and quickly became the streaming service’s most-watched film in Nigeria, reaching the top-10 list in another 13 countries.
“For me it’s about people watching the film and then trying to push for policies that will protect these young women from getting trafficked,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
In the movie, a journalist goes undercover as a sex worker to expose human trafficking and quickly gets in over her head.
It is worlds away from the films that are usually popular in Nollywood, Nigeria’s massive film industry, which favours comedies and light-hearted tales about rich people, said Gyang.
“The producers were not sure how it was going to be received,” he said.
“When the film came out, it was #1 on Netflix in Nigeria and on social media, everybody was talking about it. People were angry. People were talking about the fact that they didn’t know this is what happens when people get trafficked.”
In one scene, sex workers undergo a religious ritual that binds them to their traffickers with black magic - a common practice that renders women too fearful to mount an escape.
Gyang said he sought support from NAPTIP, Nigeria’s anti-trafficking agency, to make sure he got the details right.
Part of his motivation, he said, was seeing Nigerian women on street corners when he travelled in Europe.
Foreign donors have poured money into anti-trafficking programmes in the traditional industry hotspot, Edo State, but experts say sex traffickers are now moving to other parts of Nigeria to avoid detection.
"I hope what will happen is that the right people in the right places will see the film, and then the relevant bodies will push for policies to try to help these young women," said Gyang. (Reporting by Nellie Peyton, editing by Lyndsay Griffiths; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit news.trust.org)
