Pidgin and the effect of Nollywood

By Catherine Kamundi

Nigerian accent is the new craze in town thanks to the influx of Nollywood movies. It has become common to hear people greet each other: "How are you now ohh." or saying: "Oga now."

With cheap DVDs flooding the market and TV stations fighting to attract viewers to their fold, Kenyans are now spoilt for choice.

Local viewers have watched Nigerian productions grow from poor quality whose main themes were voodoo to more realistic drama.

Some of the leading actors in Nollywood

"My son has started selling DVDs to neighbours. Though he doesn’t watch them a lot, he knows the latest in the market.

"Thank God for Nigerian movies, they are an escape from news where politicians dominate coverage," says Grace.

According to analysts, many factors have contribute to the ‘storming’ of Nigeria movies in Kenya.

Low cost is among the factors. Most of the movies are for home video market and with as little as Sh50 shillings, one can get a DVD.

africa’s largest cinema

The other reason is market regulation. Although the Kenya Film Censorship Board is supposed to regulated productions coming into the country, the Nollywood productions seem to get in easy.

With technology, it is even harder to think the board can play any role.

"If there was heavy censorship, the material would still find it here because file sharing is easy on the Internet. All one would require is a flash disk or a memory card to copy various movies," says Ian Kinoti, who owns a movie library in the city centre.

Nigerian cinema is Africa’s largest movie industry in terms of value and the number of movies produced per year.

Although Nigerian films have been produced since the 1960s, the rise of affordable digital filming and editing technologies has stimulated the country’s video film industry.

The movies are available in even the most remote areas of the continent. The last few years have seen the growing popularity of Ghanaian and Nigerian films among the people of African Diaspora in Europe, North America and The Caribbean. Nigerian films are currently receiving wider distribution as Nigerian producers and directors are attending more internationally acclaimed film festivals.

So is the Nigerian accent bound to grow in Kenya?

For some it is a phase like the one ushered by the Mexican soaps. For others, only time will tell.

Additional information and photos by Jenipher Wachie.