Video - Nollywood director Kunle Afolayan looking to improve production value for worldwide appeal

Less Nollywood, more Hollywood. This is the aim of a new wave of filmmakers wanting to turn around Nigeria's reputation for poor quality film productions. Kunle Afolayan is directing a film called 'The CEO' which he hopes will showcase Africa's cinematic potential to a global audience.

Related stories: Video - Nigerian filmmaker Kunle Afolayan wants to transcend Nollywood

Nollywood: most prolific movie machine

Video - Nigeria beats Chile 1-5 in FIFA U-17 World Cup

The Golden Eaglets blistering start to the Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup has been hailed by Prince Martin Apugo, the President of Diamond Football Academy, Umuahia which produced the Eaglets duo of Samuel Chukwueze and skipper, Kelechi Nwakali.

Nigeria’s cadet side trounced USA 2-0 in the first game played last Saturday before another blockbuster performance against hosts, Chile on Wednesday morning at the Estadio Sausalito Vina Del Mar which produced a 5-1 win.

Two goals from Chukwueze in the first and 61st minutes, additional brace from Victor Osimhen in the 66th and 86th minutes and a goal from the captain of the side, Nwakali in the 17th minute from the penalty spot put the Eaglets five goals up while Marcelo Allende’s 81st minute strike was only a consolation for Chile.

Apugo pointed out that the performance of the Golden Eaglets and especially two products of his academy shows that talents abound in the country and that if they are properly annexed they can go places.

He said he was specially impressed with the form of Chukwueze who produced a man of the match performance to score two goals including a strike after 25 seconds which is till date the quickest goal of the current competition, and also assisted the Eaglets additional two goals.

He said the form of Nwakali, Chukwueze and the rest of the Golden Eaglets’ players at the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup is serving as inspiration to other young players and in his academy who are now eager to train all day in their attempt to emulate them and also become stars of tomorrow.

“I am happy with the feat of the Golden Eaglets in Chile and I want to specially congratulate Samuel Chukwueze and Kelechi Nwakali who are players of my academy. They have set a good example to emerging players that hard work pays. They have distinguished themselves, especially Chukwueze who scored two goals and was felled three times in the 18 yard box for three spot kicks to Nigeria.

“The players in my academy have derived additional motivation from the performance of the Eaglets in Chile and they have started coming to us daily for training even though we are on break,” Apugo told SportingLife.

The Golden Eaglets are top of Group A with maximum six points from two matches and are through to the second round but they will play their last group tie against Croatia on Friday also at the Estadio Sausalito Vina Del Mar.


The Nation

Related story: Nigeria World Champions Super Eaglets start title defence by beating U.S.A

Video - Nigeria's version of Spotify attracting investors from MTN to Jay-Z

The mansion, the pool, the Bentley, the life-size portrait and the gold medallions are the spoils of a revolution in Nigeria and music superstar D’banj is enjoying them.

The 35-year-old used to have to bargain with street-market traders to sell his CDs because there were no formal distribution outlets. Today, MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest mobile-phone operator, and Emirates Telecommunications Corp. sell songs by D’banj and other stars like Davido and 2Face as ringtones and downloads. Now Tidal music streaming service owned by U.S. rapper Jay-Z is interested in the Nigerian market.

“Our consumers can’t get enough of it; you only need to give them a way to get the music,” 35-year-old D’banj, whose real name is Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, said at his home in the up-market Lekki neighborhood of Lagos, dressed in a shiny fuchsia shirt. “The telecommunications companies are bridging the gap and they’re raking in billions and billions of naira every year, just from content.”

Thanks to Nigeria’s answer to Spotify and Apple Music, the music industry has seen sales triple in the past five years as mobile downloads surged despite rampant piracy. With at least 550 albums each year, revenue to artists from sales is now worth more than $150 million annually, according to Sam Onyemelukwe, chief executive officer of Lagos-based Entertainment Management Co., partner of Paris-based Trace TV.
Enough for a Ferrari

Outside of his revenue from Apple Inc.’s iTunes, D’banj said that in the past 18 months he’s earned more than $200,000 from sales in Nigeria. “It’s close to buying me a Ferrari,” he said by the pool at his home, where he has his own recording studio.

More than two-thirds of MTN’s almost 63 million subscribers in Nigeria are using its ringtones service, for as little as 50 naira (25 cents) a song, with downloads on its Music Plus platform growing about 25 percent a year, said Richard Iweanoge, MTN Nigeria’s general manager for consumer marketing.

“We have become the largest distributor of music in Nigeria,” Iweanoge said. “It turned out that Nigerians actually wanted to buy music, they just didn’t have a legal way to acquire it.”

The boom has drawn the attention of Jay-Z, the rapper whose real name is Shawn Carter. “My cousin just moved to Nigeria to discover new talent,” he said April 26 on his Twitter account. It was part of his move to make his Tidal music-streaming business “a global company,” he said.

Boosted by satellite television outlets such as Trace TV and MTV Base Africa, a unit of Viacom Inc., many Nigerian musicians have won international acclaim.

“Trace and MTV Base have played a very good part in bringing the artists to the rest of the world,” Onyemelukwe said. “We pay royalties and it brings the viewers to whom we can advertise to gain revenue.”
Awards Sweep

At the 2015 MTV Base Africa Awards held in South Africa in July, Nigerian musicians swept the most prestigious awards, with Davido winning best male artist and Yemi Alade best female artist. D’banj, ambassador for brands from Apple’s Beats Music to Diageo’s Ciroc Vodka, clinched an award for popularizing African music.

“We’re operating in a music industry that doesn’t really have clearcut structure,” D’banj said. “It’s a global thing. Everyone is trying to come up with new formulas.”

In the 1960s and 1970s Nigeria had a robust music industry, with EMI Group Ltd., Philips Records and Polydor Ltd. publishing the works of musicians including the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, King Sunny Ade and Osita Osadebe who went on to achieve global appeal. Most of the companies pulled out in the 1980s as an economic crisis led to currency devaluations and lower disposable income.
Mobile-Phone Revolution

“When the big recording companies left Nigeria and the local ones took over, things went south,” said Tola Ogunsola, co-founder of Nigerian music-download website MyMusic. “There was no formal distribution in Nigeria anymore.”

That left musicians resorting to selling their rights to distributors for a one-time fee, or heading over to the open-air Alaba market in Lagos to get traders to distribute their recordings.

Then, in 2001, MTN led the introduction of mobile phones in Nigeria, and today there are almost 149 million lines. That’s given local artists an unparalleled avenue to distribute their songs.

“In the last five years, the market was ready to buy, the market was ready to consume, consuming more of our own content,” D’banj said. “I believe it is just the beginning; it has not even reached the threshold yet.”

Bloomberg

Video - Al Jazeera talks with President Muhammadu Buhari about effforts to defeat Boko Haram

In this week’s Headliner, Hasan speaks to the Nigerian president about his pledge to defeat Boko Haram and his efforts to bring back the kidnapped Chibok girls.

Emmanuel Emenike quits international football

Nigeria striker Emmanuel Emenike on Tuesday announced his retirement from international football, after a barren spell in front of goal.

The 28-year-old said on his Instagram account he was calling time on his five-year career for the national side, telling fans he was “no longer a Super Eagles player”.

“It has always being my pleasure to play and win for the team,” he wrote.

“I am always proud of my successful years in the team and I am pleased to call it off at this point in order to avoid insults.”

Emenike, who plays his club football for Al Ain of Dubai, is the second player to announce his retirement from Nigeria’s senior squad this month.

Lille goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama– Nigeria’s most-capped player — said he was calling it quits after a much publicised row with coach Sunday Oliseh.

Oliseh was reportedly considering leaving out Emenike for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Swaziland because he has not scored at international level for two years.

The former Spartak Moscow player, at Al Ain on loan from Turkish side Fenerbahce, has, however, featured in the first four matches since Oliseh took over from Steven Keshi.

Emenike made his international debut in a friendly against Sierra Leone in Lagos in February 2011 and was top scorer at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations that Nigeria won.

But he soon after hit a bad patch and his last goal for Nigeria was in October 2013, in a World Cup qualifying play-off against Ethiopia.

In all, he made 37 appearance for the Super Eagles, scoring nine times.

The Guardian