17th May, 2024
Nigeria has long been considered one of Africa’s prime locations for anything tech-related, with every aspect of business being impacted. It goes without saying that Nigerian businesses as a whole are feeling a lot of benefits thanks to new innovations and connections with the wider world. With that said, those benefits may not always fall evenly. With the entertainment sector being so important to national culture, is tech giving it the same level of boost?
Casino Entertainment
As a whole, the casino scene in Nigeria is attracting a lot of attention from around the region. The recent opening of the Cobra Casino in Lagos is just the latest in a long line of investments in the industry, and technology is a huge part of this. After all, any video slot game you find at a casino will likely run on the latest software, whether you’re playing at an online casino for real money or at somewhere like the Cobra.
Casinos are also taking advantage of things like connectivity to bring in games and events from other parts of the world. Examples include progressive jackpot games that share an increasing grand prize across the world, or bringing access to high-tier poker games from Texas to local players. When you add in VR technology and things like crypto, it’s opening up the industry in a dramatic way.
Music
Nigeria’s music scene has always been well-regarded, being a prominent home of the Afrobeat genre as well as juju and highlife. For the longest time, Nigerian music suffered from the same issue as music from the rest of the continent in that getting an audience outside of Africa was a big challenge. Despite a massive African diaspora in Europe and elsewhere, there simply wasn’t a successful way to generate mass interest.
Music streaming services like Spotify as well as video platforms like YouTube have done wonders for all kinds of African genres. Spotify, for example, can automatically generate an Afrobeat playlist, meaning that anyone who comes across a single song can get a whole list of recommended extras.
Film
Regardless of where you stand on the origins of Nollywood, no one can doubt the sheer love of cinema in Nigeria. YouTube has again been instrumental in popularizing parts of Nigerian cinema, even if it started with the surprisingly popular low-budget productions made by independent creators. These videos gained huge attention in the 2000s and made many around the world aware of the potential.
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Source: Unsplash
International awareness has naturally led to greater investment from outside companies and the new era of Nigerian cinema owes a lot to it. The past few years have seen representation at the Sundance Film Festival, and 2022’s Battle on Buka Street claims to be the first directly
Nollywood release in US cinemas and the highest-grossing film ever from the industry.
With more major tech investments on the horizon, Nigeria looks set to take advantage of the future. It’s unclear what the next innovations will be but experience says it’s likely to be a positive.