Circuits deploys digital cinema in economic expansion drive

L-R: Vice President, Business Growth and Partnership, Circuits, Darlington Abuda; Co-Founder/Chief Operations Officer, Imade Bibowei-Osuobeni; Vice President, Content and Acquisition, Mohammed Sedik; and Film maker & Talk Show Host, Amina Atairu, during a media roundtable by Circuits Africa's Premier Virtual Cinema in Lagos recently. Credit: Circuits

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Africa’s fast-rising virtual cinema platform, Circuits, has sparked a new economic conversation in Nollywood after revealing a welfare intervention that delivers monthly pay for life and comprehensive health insurance to ageing screen icons.

The initiative, the company says, is aimed at correcting decades of financial injustice in Nigeria’s multi-billion-naira film sector, and it also declared that the firm’s deployment of digital cinema would further boost the country’s economy.

Speaking at a roundtable with senior journalists in Lagos, Chief Operating Officer of Circuits, Mrs Imade Bibowei-Osuobeni, said the pension-style support for three industry pioneers—Chief Pete Edochie, Idowu Philips (Iya Rainbow), and Chief Lere Paimo—signals a structural shift in how African cinema accounts for those who built its cultural and commercial value but grew old without institutional protection.

She said, “This is not charity; it is an economic responsibility. The men and women who built Nollywood’s cultural wealth deserve lifetime dignity, not abandonment. We designed the Film Veterans’ Dignity Fund to correct a long-standing economic injustice in the creative industry.”

Bibowei-Osuobeni described the Fund as the first private-sector, recurring welfare mechanism in Nollywood’s history, specifically for veterans aged about 70 years and above, with a lifetime approach—not a one-off.

“For years, the industry depended on informal structures. Contracts were weak, royalties were inconsistent, and piracy wiped out incomes,” Bibowei-Osuobeni said. “We believe the new economy must honour the old creators and create a sustainable economic pathway for the new.”

She added that the Fund will scale in phases, with more veterans joining in the coming months as partnerships deepen. “No Nollywood trailblazer should grow old in financial distress,” she said.

Bibowei-Osuobeni said Circuits’ broader strategy is to position African cinema as a platform for economic growth, job creation, and global market expansion. She described Circuits as “Africa’s first true pan-African virtual cinema: scheduled, pay-per-view, and designed to protect intellectual property while expanding revenue channels for filmmakers. With a content library from Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, etc., we have shown that we are truly pan-African.”

“Films premiere on the platform at specific times, mirroring the experience of physical cinema attendance. When you buy a film on Circuits, you are paying for a scheduled seat, not random access,” she said. “That ensures creators receive real-time, measurable income.”

The COO noted that the platform’s limited-release model, in which films remain available only for a set period, has increased scarcity value and improved yield for producers. But the greatest financial battle, she stressed, remains piracy.

“In one day, we can record 10,000 infringements, and we take down more than 9,900 almost within minutes,” she said. “In under a year, we removed over one million illegal channels and URLs. Without this fight, creators cannot earn what they truly deserve, and the economy cannot grow.”

Circuits’ state-focused creative development programme is another economic pillar. Ekiti State was the first to commit $15 million to the Ekiti State Creative Impact Fund, which will train residents, produce state-owned content, and drive new Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

“Fifteen other states are in the pipeline and are at different levels of conversation,” Bibowei-Osuobeni said. “This is not another government project; this is a commercially anchored system that builds jobs, strengthens state finances, and gives young people paid digital skills.”

She said the rollout begins in January, with projections that thousands of young people across participating states will enter creative and technical employment pipelines.

In December, Circuits will debut its most ambitious distribution experiment, working with its theatrical distribution partner, Blue Pictures: a community cinema model for Agesinkole: King of Thieves Part 2. The platform also secured rights to reintroduce the blockbuster after part one sold hundreds of thousands of tickets in cinemas when it was released.

“We are taking cinema to communities across the South-West—halls, event centres, town squares—at ₦3,000 outside Lagos and ₦4,000 within Lagos,” she explained. “We want families at the grassroots to experience Nigerian film at a price they can afford. This is an economic inclusion model.”

The platform will also stream AFCON matches to more than 100,000 viewers who join the waitlist at no cost. “It is part of testing mass-market digital behaviour in a tough economy,” she said.

A new Kids’ Corner launches in January to deepen family-oriented content consumption and expand subscription value.

Through a partnership with NIHOTOUR, Circuits is enabling digital training for hospitality and tourism workers nationwide. “Entertainment technology must serve multiple sectors,” Bibowei-Osuobeni said. “If we strengthen tourism training digitally, we expand another job-creating value chain.”

The LaunchPad programme, Circuits’ flagship youth employment scheme, has also on-boarded more than 1,600 trainees, with hundreds already earning stipends in digital marketing, customer support, content operations, and technical roles across more than 25 states.

“Our goal is one million young Nigerians empowered within 18 months. Creativity and digital work are now economic lifelines,” she said. Bibowei-Osuobeni said Circuits’ long-term vision is to anchor a combined creative-technology-tourism economic network.

Justice has over three years experience spanning digital and print media. At The PUNCH, he currently covers the automobile sector with special interest in features and industry analysis.

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