Veteran actor Nkem Owoh, best known for his “Osuofia” roles, told comedian‑host Adebayo Abidemi (Bae U) on the YouTube programme “Curiosity Made Me Ask” that Yoruba filmmakers were responsible for launching Nigeria’s home‑video scene long before the industry acquired the label “Nollywood.” The interview was posted on Saturday, weeks after a public debate over the relative contributions of Yoruba and Igbo creators to the country’s film sector.
The controversy was sparked by comments from the late actor Francis Duru, who in August 2026 asserted that the Igbo community built Nollywood while the Yoruba later became dominant because of superior organisation and promotion. Owoh was asked to respond to claims that he had said “Yoruba started Nollywood.”
“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,” Owoh said.
He went on to highlight two pioneering Yoruba producers, Hubert Ogunde and a filmmaker known simply as Adebayo, whose works he said he enjoyed watching. Owoh insisted that Ogunde was Yoruba, not Igbo, and credited these figures with making home‑video productions popular across Nigeria.
“So, Yoruba started the thing. They made the thing very popular home video and all that. Yes, they did. And I’ve said it several…Ogunde and Adebayo Papa. These are the people I love to watch their thing…Ogunde is not Igbo. I’m telling you that Yoruba started it,” he added.
Clarifying his position, Owoh distinguished the origins of home‑video from the later‑coined term “Nollywood,” stating, “The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started Home video.” His remarks have reignited the long‑running discussion about the ethnic roots of Nigeria’s film industry, which began in the early 1990s with low‑budget video productions before evolving into the globally recognised Nollywood market.
<small>Source: The Sun Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
