Veteran Nollywood actor Nkem Owoh, popularly known as Osuofia, has addressed the debate over who started Nollywood.
He says Yoruba filmmakers pioneered home-video productions but did not establish Nollywood.
Owoh made the clarification during an appearance on Curiosity Made Me Ask.
The show is hosted by comedian and content creator Adebayo Abidemi, popularly known as Bae U.
The actor was responding to claims that he credited Yoruba people, rather than the Igbo, with starting Nollywood. However, he explained that the industry had already begun before the name became popular.
Rejecting the claim, Owoh said: “First of all, you have given me this wrong accusation that I said, Yoruba started Nollywood. No. Yoruba started this film on… when did Nollywood come out? When we started the thing, there was no Nollywood as a name.
“We sat together and we’re banding, you know, ideas and all that, how the thing is going to come to fruition. And eventually, we chose Nollywood,” he said.
Owoh acknowledged the role of Yoruba filmmakers in making home-video productions popular.
He mentioned veteran filmmakers Hubert Ogunde and Adebayo Papa as people whose works he admired.
He said: “So, Yoruba started the thing. They made the thing very popular home video and all that.
Yes, they did. And l’ve said it several. Okay.
Ogunde and Adebayo Papa. These are the people I love to watch their thing,” he added.
When Bae U jokingly suggested that Ogunde was Igbo, Owoh disagreed. He insisted that Yoruba filmmakers had gained wider popularity in the early years.
“Ogunde is not Igbo. I’m telling you that Yoruba started it. When Ogunde was out, I don’t think there was any Igbo man who was that popular in that,” he said.
The actor further explained his position, stating: “The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started Home video.”
Historically, Yoruba theatre pioneers, including Hubert Ogunde and Duro Ladipo, contributed to Nigeria’s early film development.
However, the 1992 Igbo-language movie Living in Bondage, produced by Kenneth Nnebue, is widely credited with popularising the modern commercial home-video industry.
The distinction between early home-video productions and the rise of Nollywood remains central to the debate.
