I Never Said Yorubas Started Nollywood – Nkem Owoh

Veteran actor Nkem Owoh, known as Osuofia, has addressed his earlier comments about the Yorubas founding Nollywood. He recently had his say during an episode of Curiosity Made Me Ask hosted by Bae U, and fans have been reacting.

Distancing himself from the claim, Nkem Owoh stated that the word “Nollywood” did not even exist when he and his contemporaries first began making films across the country.

The legendary moviestar concluded by clarifying that the Yoruba icons like Ogunde can only be credited for starting home video, not Nollywood.

His words, “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.

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.

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.

The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started Home video.”