The Learner

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim Bayero University, Kano @muhsin234 (Twitter) Introduction As students of Theatre and Film Studies here in India, we watch drama and films from across the globe, and of all genres. We encounter no hurdle or trouble in getting the movies as the internet has today simplified much access to them, broken many boundaries to any nation, any community, and any film industry except in a few cases. I must, however, admit that only very little is known about Africa or the films produced therein. Despite this, I often ‘boast’ saying my country, Nigeria, is the most populous African country, and its film industry is the third-biggest in the world. But a snag comes up when asked to bring forward the films; I couldn’t, for I shouldn’t just give them any films, for Nigeria’s being a unique country due to its sharp cultural and ethno-religious divide between the North and the South. This becomes necessary because the perceived national films do have little or no bear

I hope I have not kept my dear readers on tenterhooks. I have had a temporal hesitation whether or not I should write on any topic besides what presently goes on in the north-eastern part of my country, Nigeria. My non-Nigerian readers might not know about it; innocent people including some promising secondary school students are being mercilessly massacred, in multitude, by the marauding terrorist Islamists called Boko Haram. May Allah have mercy on them, expose and punish their killers. Please let’s say a big AMEEN. Yeah, to the NOTHING (II): Today’s Nothing, as its prequel , is something , though partly nothing. Here we go: Religion as Identity or for indictment? I have already mentioned how multi-religious a country India is. Religious identity is very crucial here, though it is a damning drawback to some in many cases. For instance, the majority Hindus have more than 300 million gods and goddesses in their creed. Thus, it’s very easy for them to pick one from those in