By Benjamin Njoku

Grand patron of Nigeria’s Association of Movie Producers,AMP, and producer, Andy Boyo, has raised alarm following the rate at which Nigerian movies are pirated in some African countries, saying the ugly trend is currently depriving the filmmakers of potential international income.

The award-winning producer raised the alarm while in a chat with NollyNow. He said that he had been in court for the past four years with the  governments of Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania over the pirating of Nigerian movies.

According to him, copies of Nollywood movies are hawked indiscriminately in these countries, and nothing is being done to stem the tide.  Revealing the efforts he has made to arrest  the  trend,  Boyo, who is the CEO of Nollywood Cinemas, the biggest and leading film distribution company in the country,  regretted that most of the pirates are Nigerians.

He said the passion he has for the industry  inspired his decision to embark on this fight against piracy outside the shores of Nigeria.

“I have been fighting piracy silently outside the shores of the country. I’m working with the copyright associations of Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania.  In these countries, our movies are displayed indiscriminately on the streets. I decided to fight piracy in these countries because of  my business interest  and also, as a patron of Nollywood,” the popular producer said.

Speaking further, he said “Sadly, the people pirating our movies in these countries are Nigerians. They come here to buy few copies of these movies and take them to China, where they would pirate the movies and ship them to these countries for sale.

I have gotten the Zambian government to seize some of these movies in addition to arresting some of the pirates. The fight has been going on for about four years now. The problem I am facing is that of distance. We have recorded a huge breakthrough in Zambia. I was with the Nigerian ambassador to Zambia last week in Abuja. He has gone back to Zambia  to set up a piracy committee.”