I read this news and I was amused. In a nutshell, it tells that VFX artists in the US want to protest over the ‘importation’ of VFX services. It implies that services that should have been rendered by them are contracted elsewhere and it is the artists that are losing potential income. Don’t misunderstand me- I understand their plight perfectly and sympathize with them. But at the same time, I can’t but wish that Nigeria were a beneficiary of this situation.
A country like India benefits massively. Because they offer much lower work rates and much more flexible work conditions (thanks to a weaker currency, higher population and relatively high unemployment rate), they are in position to present better deals to US filmmakers. I wish Nigeria could do that too. We have almost all the advantages India has. We can probably even offer more competitive rates…
But we lack the most critical of the elements: education (in the VFX/Animation/Filmmaking line). We can boast of only very few people who are skilled. It makes no difference that we have a high population with an alarming unemployment rate and millions of youths who would not mind a few dollars per day. At the end of the day, we lack the most critical element needed to turn us into a global force for the supply of design services.
I’m hoping Twim Academy will change that. Big task, yes! But the journey of a thousand miles starts with a step.
