Osuofia clarifies: “The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started home video”

Actor Nkem Owoh, known as Osuofia, said in a YouTube interview that Yoruba filmmakers started Nigerian home video but not Nollywood, which he said was named later after industry discussions.

Veteran Nollywood actor Nkem Owoh, popularly known as Osuofia, has clarified comments on the origins of Nigeria’s home-video industry, saying Yoruba filmmakers pioneered home video, not Nollywood, The PUNCH reports.

Osuofia spoke on Curiosity Made Me Ask, hosted by comedian Adebayo Abidemi, known as Bae U, in an interview published on YouTube on Saturday. He was responding to an alleged claim that Yoruba people started Nollywood.

He said: “The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started Home video.” He added that the name Nollywood did not exist when he and other filmmakers began, and credited Hubert Ogunde and Adebayo for popularising home video.

When the host jokingly suggested Ogunde was Igbo, Osuofia said: “Ogunde is not Igbo. I’m telling you that Yoruba started it.”

The remarks follow a debate sparked in August by the late Francis Duru, who argued that the Igbo built Nollywood while the Yoruba community has become more dominant.