Untold Nigerian Stories -By Akinyemi Akinola

“Next time, when the youths say their fathers didn’t have the courage to fight their oppressors, remind them among other events that Nigerian teenagers hijacked a plane in Nigeria as part of the struggle to restore the democracy we all enjoy today” – Akin Akinola

Congratulations to the winner(s) of the election in Osun state, I hope it is not just the pragmatic citizens that has learnt a lesson or two about politics and how it is played.

Anyway, that’s not what is on my mind this evening;

I have always been a lover of good movies, can’t remember how that came to be but I guess it is partly because my parents loved movies too and fortunately, the cinema culture was still very much alive in Nigeria, Kaduna to be precise in the late 80’s and early 90’s. So, as a family we used to go see movies. I grew up loving good movies but not Nigerian movies though and for obvious reasons too. Anyone who understands fiction, loves and write fiction like me will understand why Nigeria movies didn’t appeal to me while growing up. That changed.

The entertainment industry evolved, I know a lot of people think it sort of happened on its own, but we have government policies to thank, most Nigerians, especially the young ones don’t know this, but some enforcement of the broadcast of 60% local content for TV and 80% for radio aided the growth of the industry. Then, content creators started churning out superb contents. Today, I stream Nigeria movies, I love our films even though we still have a long way to go compared to some others, especially Hollywood.

Despite the growth, I think we haven’t done enough, we have lots of untold stories that can further improve the industry if well told. The one that always come mind for me is the story of the first plane hijack in Nigeria- April 1967, but the most sensational one for me is the October 1993 hijack by teenagers with a toy gun to protest the annulment of June 12 presidential elections. That story would make an Oscar winning movie. ( Next time, when the youths say their fathers didn’t have the courage to fight their oppressors, remind them among other events that Nigerian teenagers hijacked a plane in Nigeria as part of the struggle to restore the democracy we all enjoy today).

Our Nollywood producers only need to look inward, we have so much untold stories that can match and even do better than Hollywood stories if well scripted and directed.