Osuofia: Yoruba Filmmakers Pioneered Home Video, Not Nollywood
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| Nkem Owoh (Nigerian actor and comedian) |
Veteran Nollywood actor Nkem Owoh, popularly known as Osuofia, has clarified his remarks on the origins of Nigeria's home-video industry, maintaining that Yoruba filmmakers pioneered home video, not Nollywood.
He made the clarification while appearing on Curiosity Made Me Ask, hosted by comedian and content creator Adebayo Abidemi, popularly known as Bae U. The interview was published on the host's YouTube channel on Saturday, and it featured the actor responding to a question about his alleged claim that the Yoruba, rather than the Igbo, started Nollywood.
The remarks come months after the late veteran actor Francis Duru sparked debate in August 2026. He argued that the Igbo built Nollywood, but that the Yoruba community has since become more dominant because of its ability to organise and promote its own. Duru, who died in October, said the modern Nollywood home-video industry was largely driven by Igbo entrepreneurs during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Osuofia was reported at the time to have dismissed the claim, saying the Yoruba were already deeply involved in filmmaking, theatre and "stage performances" long before the Igbo-led home-video boom of the 1990s.
Rejecting the suggestion that the Yoruba started Nollywood, Osuofia explained that the name did not exist when he and other filmmakers began making films. He said it was adopted later, after discussions among industry stakeholders.
He 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."
The actor nonetheless credited Yoruba filmmakers, including veteran Hubert Ogunde and Adebayo, with popularising home-video productions in Nigeria.
He said, "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. Okay. Ogunde and Adebayo Papa. These are the people I love to watch their thing."
When the host jokingly suggested that Ogunde was Igbo, Owoh disagreed and insisted that the filmmaker was Yoruba.
"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.
He further distinguished between the origins of Nollywood and the home-video tradition, saying, "The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started Home video."
Osuofia's clarification comes amid long-running debates over the ethnic contributions to Nigerian cinema. Historical accounts note that Yoruba travelling theatre groups, led by figures such as Hubert Ogunde and Duro Ladipo, moved from stage to early film and video production in the decades before the 1990s boom.
The commercial explosion of the direct-to-video market is widely associated with the 1992 Igbo-language hit Living in Bondage, produced by Kenneth Nnebue, which helped popularise the format later known globally as Nollywood. The term "Nollywood" itself was coined years later.
In a related development, veteran actor Pete Edochie appeared on Bae U's show in September 2026 and declared that he had no favourite actor, because he considered himself bigger than all his colleagues. He challenged anyone claiming to be on his professional level to come forward publicly, noting that his stage career dated back to 1962, well before the formal emergence of Nollywood.
