There is currently simmering a spat in the Nollywood industry as to who
owns the actual industry .
Many Igbo film makers seem to think that Nollywood is theirs and that
it was started by an Igbo man when in actual reality it was started off by
Herbert Ogunde with the epic cinematic piece Aye, please feel free to correct
me if I am wrong.. by the way in copyright cases one has to establish who wrote
the work first to see who the original author is.
Ogunde made the cinematic piece which propelled the Nigerian Film
industry then came the Video mass production era which was cornered by the
Igbos, there were also Yoruba video makers .
Whilst I congratulate Mrs Theodora Ibekwe Oyebade on her many awards in
the industry she is a hard worker .
However I cannot accept that Nollywood the Nigerian film making
industry is an Igbo creation or that it belongs to the Igbos only as it is
being insinuated... Again please feel free to establish how it was that the
Igbo are sole owners of the industry?
London Nollywood is not an Igbo thing neither there are also Yoruba and
other Nigerian Ethnic film makers here who are doing their own thing. Eg. Deola
Folarin who is established in her own right made films with the Bfi and gone on
to direct episodes of Sesame Squares in Lagos..there are others too you get my
point.
This a long held debate I recall this came up in 2010 when I presented
an item at the Nollywood Now film festival in Deptford , there was a division
in the audience even then and I had to point out to the white organiser Phoenix
Fry that Hebert Ogunde is known as the first film maker and the kick starter of
the industry as we know it.
Ms Toyin Moore also pointed this fact out on the Pauline Long show
during the promotional tour of her summer film At Home and Abroad .
As Christians we are told by the Word of God to give custom and credit
unto whom it is due etc..so what is up with this change of historical facts?
Has there being new discoveries ? Please share so we can shut up and be
corrected.
I was told by a close friend a Nollywood researcher and author that for most
Igbos they consider themselves as separate from the rest of Nollywood ( Yoruba
and Hausa and Christa( Christian) woods!) and feel that English speaking
Nollywood and therefore Nollywood itself is theirs.
I personally don’t see how or why , if we looked at who made the first
epic cinematic piece we see that it was a Yoruba man, and if we consider the
language issue, Igbo is not an English language nor is English an Igbo
language.
Nollywood consists of Nigerian made films whether they be Nigerian
English and or Nigerian Ethnic language films . That is what Nollywood is ,
Films made by Nigerians and those of Nigerian ancestry /descendants and as such
belongs to the whole nation of Nigeria .
Whilst its true within it you can have on sub groups eg , English Igbo,
English Yoruba etc…but the whole of the Nigerian Nollywood English or otherwise
does not belong to the Igbos only nor was it started by the Igbos…unless you
know something we don’t know if you do please share …
In her interview with The Punch, she said that she will also ask God when she will have her own kids.
album “2 Kings”.
Hosted by
ace comedian and Nollywood actor, Okey Bakassi, the glamorous event
which held at The Dome had in attendance leading players from the
Nigerian film and television industry including many who were
instrumental to the industry's founding with early Igbo language
content.
Some Nollywood filmmakers and fans have joined Kunle in the fight against piracy. 
Nollywood act, Moyinoluwa Olutayo, is the actress whose face is seen
in many soap operas, which ardent followers of the Nigerian film
industry love to see on their silver screens.
