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The banker opened up that whenever the money was above the lawful threshold that could be deposited into the judge’s account, he split it into two, deposited a portion into Ofili-Ajumogobia’s account and the remaining portion into his own personal account.
One of the suspects, according to the eyewitness, alighted from the car and opened fire on some policemen at the junction.
“The EFCC wants him to testify against Agbele which will also build a strong case against Fayose who currently enjoys immunity. Obanikoro has agreed and will be listed as one of the EFCC witnesses.
“The experience people can get in cinema cannot be replicated anywhere on a small screen of TV… The whole experience; the sound, the picture, the guest service, you can't get it at home. But the way we see it, we see Netflix and the rest of them as complimentary. We don't, personally, see them as competitors. Because the same audience that will come to a cinema to watch a film, then three months or so down the line.”With Filmhouse Cinemas being the largest cinema chain in Nigeria, Asher asks Mkparu about the market as a whole and what genre of films are the most popular to Nigerian audiences.
“At the moment, it's about 60-65 per cent Hollywood, the taste. And then about 35 per cent Nollywood… But what we're finding is that Nollywood films are generating the kind of revenues that Hollywood films are generating in cinemas.”Asher asks Mkparu whether he could present a unique characteristic about Nigerian audiences and their movie tastes.
“I think the mistake people make is to look at Nigeria as one demographic. Nigeria is not. To us in the cinema business, Nigeria is three different kind of demographics of people… And it's very important to understand this because their behaviour, their taste, their economic power - completely different. And where they live, completely different. We set up three different kinds of cinema. The cinema we're sitting in now is our signature cinema, but we also have the regular multiplexes for the regular middle class and lower middle class folks.”On the topic onto piracy and the film industry, Asher asks Mkparu where responsibility lies to combat it.
“I think it's everybody… There are only about 35 cinemas in Nigeria, and that's not enough. People yearn and demand film entertainment in cinema, or film entertainment as a whole. They don't get it, so pirates fill that gap.”Continuing on the topic of piracy, Asher asks Mkparu on what could be done to stop the consumer accessing pirated materials.
“By building them their own cinema… Once we have those in place, and Nigeria needs at least 500 of those, once we have those 500, I tell you piracy will reduce significantly.”Concluding the ‘Marketplace Africa’ facetime interview, Asher asks Mkparu what he believes the future of Nigerian film is.
“Last year alone, the Nigerian theatrical box office value was $50 million. And that was only in about 20 cinemas. We expect this year for that value to jump 40 per cent… we expect the footprint to almost double or grow by 50% in Nigeria this year. So we expect year on year a minimum 15 percent growth in cinema business. There are probably about five cinemas open every single year and that's been happening like that for the past three years.”
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Scene of the plane crash in Colombia. Photograph: @AndresFelipe/Twitter |
"The plane broke in two and the situation is complex."Among the survivors are Alan Ruschel, a defender for Chapecoense. He has been taken to a nearby
“My contract expired and that was why I left Five Star music to set up ALTERPLATE. I am thankful to 5 Star Music Group and everyone who have put in an effort to make the Harrysong brand what it is today.”
“When the contract expired I aspired to grow and express myself in another light and that’s why I put together ALTERPLATE. This is my vision and this is a dream that I have nursed for so many years. There is no friction between 5 Star Music and I.
There is also no bad blood brewing between my record label and I. I will always respect my former labels, Questionmark Records, and Five Star Music, because I learnt a lot from them. I will always respect them any day and anytime; there are my bosses.
So is the feeling mutual? To this he responds, “I don’t know about how they feel but I know how I feel. I had their blessings to move on.”
“I don’t want to talk about that. Other record labels have approached me but I can’t leave Five Star Music for any other record label. My dream has always been to put together a new platform having learnt a lot from other platforms.”
“I started playing music as a music director and choir master in a church. So ALTERPLATE simply encapsulates the various ways I express my music. It also reflects all the effort that I have put into my works and how it has satisfied my clients and my fans over the years. I needed to put this label together to meet the expectations that people have for my brand.”
“My label mates and I will perform with a live band at any event or concert where we are billed to perform. The ALTERPLATE band is set up to back me up on stage whenever I am performing.
Having grown in my career, I also have to improve on my craft. ALTERPLATE is also a stand-alone band that will perform without me at events because it is a complete music team. This is a business I have been meaning to do full time for a long time,” he reveals.
“I didn’t go solo two years ago because perhaps I wasn’t strong enough to stand on my own. But it’s been a long time coming. I am a strong believer in the popular saying, which says, ‘ A child who doesn’t know how to walk but decides to run will fall down.’ This saying pretty much sums up my situation,” he says.
“I have a team that is assigned to different offices and this will allow me focus on my own music. I will release my own album next year. Writing seminars, live band sessions, vocal sessions.
I have missed performing live music all these years and this is what I intend to do henceforth. I have no regrets so far because it is all a learning curve for me. For now, there is no bad blood between Five Star Music and I,” he concludes.