By Miebi Senge

WITH total production of 850 titles, in 2003 alone, the Kano movie production mills place second in terms of indigenous films according to figures by the National Films and Video Censors Board, (NFVB). And this is not all there is about the home film industry in the ancient city of Kano, the big news is that unlike Lagos and Onitsha where traders hold sway, women hold the magic wand in this very religious climate.

The Hausa for film is ‘majigi’ a derivative from the English word, magic. Cinematic images were simply magical to the audience of Kano club of 1932 which had the privilege of watching the first film and so the coinage of the word majigi by the people.

According to Alhaji Abdulkareem Mohammed, 1st Vice Chairman, Motion Picture Council of Nigeria (MOPICON) and Managing Director, Moving Image Ltd, the introduction of film to this very traditional society was view with suspicion and raised religious issues.

“The arguments against it were: Is it religiously permissible to watch cinematic images? Is film a false image?.” Alhaji Mohammed noted that there were even rumours “cinemas might be showing the image of the Prophet (SAW).”

And like in the South, the Kano Home Video industry is devoid of any form of financial assistance from either the government or banks. It’s just a product of private enterprise and industry, using the abundant artistic talents of mainly unemployed, cheap youths and exploring production and post-production facilities of TV stations in the city.

With the Hausa language being spoken across the West African sub-region, films produced in Kano simply have a ready market of over 40 million people. “The Hausa Home Video took its roots from the activities of majigi, commercial cinema, drama groups, broadcast systems, literary movements and the like which were introduced to the Kano market in the 1980s,” said Mohammed.
The women and power of film production

In a society where women were basically confined to their homes and not to be seen with men in public, the women of Northern Nigerian saw the emergence of the Home Video phenomenon as a welcomed pastime and soon, they discovered it could also boost their power of freedom without annoying the religious purists.

With the first Hausa adaptation of a Chinese film, and Bakar Indiya, an adaptation of the Indian depiction of dance and songs, the local production mills moved up to its first real indigenous commercial movie, T urmin D anya in 1995.

Although Mohammed credited 1995 with the surge of Hausa language films in Kano, he stated that the first commercially successful film, Gimbiya 1 by Tumbin Giwa Drama Group grossing over 100,000 copies was released in 1994.

With the women confined to their homes, the new wave of films became their getaway and pastime. And that was how the Kano women were brought into the big picture and executive producers and financiers in the same way that the Idumota and Onitsha traders did for the Igbo and English language films of the Nollywood fame.

“Most of the Home Movie makers lack the capital to venture into the business as a result of the activities of the piracy, and with the women already enjoying the ‘freedom’ of watch majigi at the comfort of their homes, they became ready sponsors of most of these films,” Mohammed submitted.


However, he admitted that the Hausa language films had its controversies occasioned religious and cultural belief of the Muslim environment.

“Hausa films borrow extensively from Hindu masala film motifs that are mechanisms of the Hindu religious worship and thus run contrary to (the) Muslim-Huasa mindset and worldview.

That the participation of women in the industry has moral, social and religious implications, just as the dress mode of women on-screen and dances were unacceptable,” said Mohammed of a survey conducted among Kano Islamic Ulamahs, on Hausa movie in 2003.

Vanguard - Technology : In Kano, women take the lead in movie business

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Hmmm... I am not surprised, when I lived in Kano, there were so many dramas and programmes to watch on CTV Kano and NTA Kano.... talented folks for real...


problem with Nigerians is that they look down on the Hausa people, but you will be shocked at the number of Havard and Yale graduates that work in State Parastatals in their cities, they acquire their degrees from Abroad and HEAD BACK HOME!

Check around you, how many hausas do you see flipping burger at McDonald or doing LPN abi na CPN, /RN?

Strip them of their babanriga, take away their traditions-tied-to-Koran, and you will see human beings with above average IQs.

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I agree with you to an extent those you refer to also have financial backing that a lto of southerners dont have

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I agree with you, I met one hausa guy and I had to ask him where his other brothers were 'cos he is the first and only Hausa person I've met since I've been in this country, 14yrs to be precise.

Funny enough, I was told he's the son of some kinda ambassador and works at the Nigerian Embassy. His wife who is yoruba tells me hausa people don't have minimal jobs like the rest of us so it will be difficult to run into them just like an Igbo man will run into a yoruba man at Giant.

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bolded That was just funny...

I agree with the general sentiment. I went to school in the northern area (Kwara state) and so was never sold into the hype about who the northerners and or moslems are. Just human like the rest of us.

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So wetin dey wrong with the burger flippers, LPN's and Rn's? are they not human beings trying to get by in a foreign land. Many hausa people get backbone wey others no get, so they can offered to get their harvard degree and not work for the rest of their lives but many of us have to work to survive.

Nice job Kano women.

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No Big M, not true there, not all of them have financial backing, shebi I lived and worked with then. hausas are not generally as 'greedy' as southerners are to 'acquire' the whole world! Sure they have been in Naija politics for long and sure do have good tastes, but they are mostly contented with what they have!

They do not compete with their brothers/sisters to make it big. Sure, there are exceptions to the rules in all society, given....

My mindset about Northerners {hausa, Fulani, Kanuris} changed by 2 events.
1. On assignment as the Press Attachee (NYSC) Govt House Damaturu, we had to travel with the Governor and his entourage on his courtesy calls to traditional rulers and projects so as to write the news report to submit to NTA and the print media, and while on this trip to The Emir of Potiskum (Yobe State), I needed to take a drink, and I wandered through the Palace lounge and saw a picture of the Emir amongst so many white faces (picture was black 'n white) and of course, curious me went to read the caption! It was our own Emir (without his turban and that humongous robe he covered himself with then) sitting with HIS CLASSMATES at Havard University!!!! WHAT?SSS Him, Havard!?!!! of course my Director of press went through some interrogation with me, who then gave me a list of so many American Top University Graduate in Damaturu there alone! Some were just ordinary grade 2 civil servants, living simple lives!

2. Upon finishing my NYSC, I was given an appointment at Yobe State TV, which btw was constructed from top to bottom, from the huge satellite dishes yard to the tiny collar mikes, all were imported brand new from SONY, USA! And our Engineer at the station then schooled at either Yale, Havard or Oxford, (cant remember which), and he lived in USA to school and returned back home , married 2 wives, living his life easy.....

My point is, not all of them want to stress themselves with the harsh American living.... because their culture is different from ours (southerners). I have heard so many southerners who whine here daily that if they can just make a little more money to show that their time is USA was not a waste, they would relocate back to Naija finally!

Nothing wrong with flipping burger, man must survive! In my book, its better than pushing coke, or doing 419, its a honest living, but if we didnt think of the 'possible' yabs and snide comments back home as per, "he/she no fit ship cars home like all his mates" he/she no fit build 'common' house for his village etc....how many of us would still be living in USA permanently and not just coming here for vacations?

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Quadruple Kpom for this Estella.

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