Nollywood filmmaker Niyi Akinmolayan has alleged that the withdrawal of some international movie streamers, such as Netflix and Amazon, from the Nigerian market to the devaluation of the naira.
Akinmolayan made the claim while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Youth Forum themed ‘Pressing Issues Affecting Nigeria’s Youth’ on Thursday.
In a sharp policy shift, President Bola Tinubu abolished the fuel subsidy and consolidated multiple foreign exchange windows into the single Importer and Exporter (I&E) window, leading to a drastic depreciation of the naira’s value.
According to Akinmolayan, that move to devalue the naira is the major reason the streamers left. He also blamed the government for not doing anything the cushion the effect of the withdrawal of these streamers.
“When the big streamers pulled out of the market, the Netflix and Amazons, we the filmmakers just woke up and saw emails and we were like, this isn’t just some random companies, the government is aware, the government tax these people, how come the government isn’t even aware of some of these changes because that made a big shift of how we are now doing the productions that we are doing?
“Typically, people will make films and they know that there is a revenue stream that is coming down the line but that is gone. The government didn’t do anything to caution that, the reason they left is largely because of the devaluation of the naira and the fact that it didn’t make any sense to be paying the amount they are paying for licence and it became a big deal,” Akinmolayan said.
He also regrets that the government are not engaging creators to find out what they really need to grow the industry.
