Film shows on buses

Bus Company Screenings

In order to reach a wider cross-section of Nigerians with development messages, CFC uses both electronic and print media as well as non-traditional channels of communication. As part of a campaign against dehumanising widowhood practices, we aired our award-winning documentary “Till Death Do Us Part” on long distance buses during the 1999 Christmas/New Year peak travel season. The response was so overwhelmingly positive that another compilation of development films were aired on buses from December 2000 to January 2001.

Four major bus companies joined the campaign (Chisco, Ekeson, Ifesinachi and ABC) to show environment and development films as part of the on-board entertainment. These companies operate long-distance buses that cover the length and breadth of the country.  They aired a collection of 19 development films on AIDS, Gender and Population, including the Ready or Not videos, Rhetoric to Reality series and Scenarios from the Sahel.  100 buses carrying approximately 50 passengers each travelling to Port Harcourt, Jos, Abuja and Owerri via Benin and Onitsha showed the films. In total, we estimate that over 200,000 people viewed the compilation.

At the end of the film show passengers were asked to fill out questionnaires about their impressions of the films they had watched. Out of a sample size of 297 respondents, 188 were male and 102 were female, with 68% being between 20-40 years old.

Results showed that awareness of AIDS was high.  92% of respondents said that AIDS is real and 58% confirmed they would change some aspect of their lifestyle after watching the films.  84% said they would share the information with family & friends, 29% said they would practice safe sex with condoms, and 23% said they would abstain from casual sex.  85% of respondents found the films informative and over 60% asked for more information.