Uche Usim, Abuja
A fresh vista in television entertainment opened last weekend in Abuja as pay TV company, StartTimes, launched its Chinese animation season in Nigeria.
The event attracted various stakeholders in entertainment who noted that television animation production for Nigerian consumers was long overdue, considering the fact that the country boasts of the first television station in Africa (the Nigerian Television Authority, Ibadan, established October 31, 1959).
Television content providers at the event insisted that animation must also have rich Nigerian flavour and character as virtually all Nigerian children love cartoons.
Speaking at the launch, the vice president of StarTimes, Ms Guo Zi Qi, said the company has so far invested $220 million in the country in the last nine years.
According to her, the sustained investment in television content, along with other initiatives, has positioned the company as one the fastest growing television networks in Nigeria.
She added that the robust investment was an indication that Nigeria remains the company’s strong business partner.
She said the company was open to more mutually beneficial engagements in efforts to deepen television programming in Nigeria.
Also speaking at the event, the director-general of the Nigerian Television Authority, Mr. Yakubu Ibn Mohammed, lamented that despite the fact that almost every child was fascinated by video animation, especially cartoons, there was no single dedicated cartoon channel that was African in origin and content on any of the television networks currently operating in Nigeria.
Mohammed, who was represented by Mr. Rabiu Adamu, director of programmes, NTA, stated that this was probably because the country’s local content producers and animators do not have access to the huge funding and technical know-how required to produce animated content.
He said, “This trend is not healthy for us as a nation, because our children today are the leaders of tomorrow who should be embodiments of our culture and values; we need more local animated content and I hope we can collaborate with foreign partners to achieve this objective.”
Mohammed expressed optimism that the visit of a team of Chinese animation companies to Nigeria would ensure that areas of cooperation are found between the experts and local producers to improve the quality and quantity of indigenous animation content and which would be suitable for export.
“NTA has a long history of working with various partners from all over the world as long as they are in line with our core mandate of informing and educating Nigerians and preserving our culture and values. We are open to discussing various areas of cooperation with the Chinese team for the benefit of both parties,” he noted.
Speaking in the same vein, Executive Director of the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB, Mr. Adedayo Thomas, stated reiterated the fact that China is Nigeria’s biggest trading partners, noting however, that more cooperation is still needed in the area of film and animation content production.
He called for increased collaboration between Nigeria and the government of China to arrest the influx of uncensored and unclassified films into the country, stating that such contents are capable of destroying the cultural fabric of the country.
According to him, arresting the influx of uncensored and unclassified materials from China could only be better achieved if there was a synergy among StarTimes and its partner, the NTA, Chinese firms dealing in providing contents for the film industry and the NFVCB.
He further disclosed that the NFVCB is opened for more collaboration that would be beneficial to both countries.
Children who were at the launch also expressed their joy over the anticipated roll out of animated television programmes.