‘Kannywood on the verge of collapse due to piracy’

Weekend Magazine: Can you give us a brief background of yourself? Sani Abubakar: My name is Alhaji Sani Abubakar, popularly known as Sani Rainbow. I am Managing Director Rainbow CD Nigeria Ltd, which involves marketing and producing of Hausa films. I was born in Gasau town, Zamfara State. I had my primary and secondary education […]

Weekend Magazine: Can you give us a brief background of yourself?
Sani Abubakar: My name is Alhaji Sani Abubakar, popularly known as Sani Rainbow. I am Managing Director Rainbow CD Nigeria Ltd, which involves marketing and producing of Hausa films. I was born in Gasau town, Zamfara State. I had my primary and secondary education in Zamfara State. I have a Diploma on Public Administration at Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi State. I also have my HND in Business Administration from Federal Polytechnic Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State. I did my NYSC in Oyo State. When I finished my youth service I ventured into marketing of Hausa films.
WM: What inspired you to venture into Hausa films production and marketing?
Abubakar: As I aforementioned, I had my HND in Business Administration, after my youth service I started thinking of how I could be self-reliant, I can remember when I was at Federal Polytechnic Kaura Namoda, one of our lecturers told us that anybody who read Business Administration has advantage over those that read Engineering, Medicine etc because with a little amount of capital he can start a business and be successful, he can also be self-reliant unlike engineers and doctors that have to depend on government, organisations or require huge capital before they can set up their own business. What he told us keeps recurring in my mind. I told myself I would be self-reliant. After wide consultation I decided to start marketing Hausa films, though I also have other businesses, but most of the people know me with Hausa film Industry, because it is popular.
WM: How did you start marketing Hausa films?
Abubakar: I start marketing Hausa films from zero level; I tasted its sweetness and bitterness, though the sweetness has outweighed the bitterness. I started marketing in 1999. During that period I went to Kano to buy video cassettes, before I come back people will queue and be waiting for me; I can remember films like ‘Sangaya’ and ‘Wasila,’ made strong waves in the market. I later changed the market by introducing VCD.
WM: What are the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
Abubakar: From the beginning I didn’t have bottle-necks, everything went smoothly. I started facing hurdles and bumps after I decided to introduce DVD, this happens due to storyline and budget of ‘Dan Marayan Zaki’ and ‘Qarangiya.’ I met the companies that produced VCD for me and told them about my plan, unfortunately they told me they could not produce DVD for me. I met with most of Kannywood stakeholders and told them about my plan, after a series of meetings I went to China to print ‘Dan Marayan Zaki’ and ‘Qarangiya’ on DVD plates, but things went sour, instead of getting profit I ended up getting huge losses. I brought the DVD to Nigeria but they aren’t working with our DVD players, I was forced to change it to VCD. It was a sad experience.
WM: So far what makes you happy about Hausa film industry?
Abubakar: I am always happy if I consider the number of people benefitting from Hausa film industry. You will see make-up artistes, lighteners, location managers, producers, directors, actors, editors, marketers etc, all living happily.
WM: What are your achievements so far?  
Abubakar: They are many, I will mention a few. Since when I opened my company Rainbow CD, I have always come on top, I started marketing ‘Garinmu Da Zafi,’ which I bought from UK Entertainment eight to nine years ago. Viewers are still eager to watch my company’s films because I didn’t fail them, they are always asking when I will release my films; this is a big plus and an achievement for me. Even if the Hausa film market is stagnant if I release my film, it will be like a conveyor-belt.
WM: Despite the achievements, what are the challenges facing the industry, most especially the marketing sector?
Abubakar: Kannywood is facing trying times because the challenges we are facing now we didn’t face them in the past. Now we can say Kannywood is on the verge of becoming history because of piracy. Piracy is like a deadly virus that has eaten deep into the body system of Kannywood.  Before if you spent N10 million on a film, you could make triple the amount you spent, this serves as morale-booster to go back to location and shoot another film. Now if you spend N5 million before you get N1 million pirated copies have flooded the market, at the end you will be counting a huge loss.  Viewers patronise pirated copies because they are cheaper.
WM: What measures have you taken to curb the menace of piracy ravaging the marketing sector?
Abubakar: Innumerable; we had written a complaint letter to Nigerian Copyright Commission about the piracy, we stated that if necessary and appropriate action was not taken, the film industry in Nigeria would collapse. The film industry is not something that can be toyed with in this country; I can remember Nigeria is the first in Africa based on GDP rebasing, after the oil sector, the film industry is second.  The film industry consists of Kannywood and Nollywood. I can remember some years back in two months, there were transactions of about N2 billion; but now there are no transactions of about N200 million. Everything has crumbled.
One of the roles of the Nigerian Copyright Commission is to protect the film industry from threats posed by anything, most especially piracy; we submitted the complaint letter to commission’s director general, we also copied it to the commission’s zonal office in Kano, but to no avail.  We have sent reminders to them, every time they are demanding money from us before the fight piracy.
There is also a challenge of Hausa-Indian films, it is an Indian film with a voice over in Hausa language, and it is also the work of the commission to fight it. Indian culture is far different from ours; it will not augur well for our society. We want the commission to know many people benefit from the film industry; if it collapses unemployment will increase.
WM: Do you know the people who are producing Hausa-Indian films?
Abubakar: We know them; they have their shops in Kano, Kaduna and Jos. We notified Nigerian Copyright Commission, but nothing was done to bring their activities to a halt. I can remember on 4 March, 2013, President (Goodluck) Jonathan celebrated with us when the industry was at 20 years old; the dinner was held at State House Marina, Lagos. The president unveiled a N3 billion package to help turn-around Nigeria’s movie industry. The name of the project is “Project Nollywood Act.” With him there was minister of finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and minister of culture and tourism. He said marketers will get N50 million each, while producers will get N10 million each, up to now we haven’t received anything. We told the president that the money that government will give us is just a support, but if it will fight piracy we will be the ones creating source of income for the government. Okonjo-Iweala said she will work with the EFCC and the police to fight piracy, but now it was just a story.
WM: Did you follow-up after you didn’t receive the money?
Abubakar: They keep on sending mails telling us sooner than later we will receive the money, despite all these challenges before we release our films we pay to National Censorship Board, Kano State Censorship Board and Nigerian Copyright Commission, still they haven’t done anything.
WM: Any other thing you will want to add?
Abubakar: I want viewers to stop buying pirated copies, if they continue one day we will not produce films. I am also appealing to the government to fight piracy for the sustenance of the film industry.