Veteran actor Nkem Owoh, popularly often called Osuofia, says Yoruba filmmakers pioneered Nigeria’s home-video trade however didn’t begin Nollywood, drawing a distinction between the early improvement of home-video productions and the emergence of the Nigerian movie trade.
Owoh stated Yoruba filmmakers had established a robust presence in theatre and home-video productions earlier than Nollywood grew to become broadly recognised, however rejected claims that they based the trade.
“The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started Home video,” he stated.
The actor made the clarification throughout an look on Curiosity Made Me Ask, a YouTube programme hosted by comic and content material creator Adebayo Abidemi, popularly often called Bae U. The episode was revealed on Saturday, November 7, 2026.
Asked about studies that he had claimed the Yoruba began Nollywood quite than the Igbo, Owoh described the interpretation as a fallacious accusation.
He credited Yoruba filmmakers with making home-video productions common in Nigeria, citing veteran filmmaker Hubert Ogunde and Adebayo amongst these whose works he loved watching.
Owoh additionally rejected ideas that Ogunde was Igbo, insisting that the veteran filmmaker was Yoruba and had gained prominence earlier than Igbo filmmakers grew to become broadly recognised within the trade.
His feedback come amid renewed debate over the contributions of Yoruba and Igbo filmmakers to the event of Nollywood.
In August 2026, the late actor Francis Duru argued that Igbo entrepreneurs constructed trendy Nollywood via the home-video increase of the Nineties and early 2000s, whereas Yoruba filmmakers later gained larger prominence via their organisation and promotion of Yoruba tradition.
Owoh’s clarification additionally revisits his earlier feedback, which had been reported as a declare that Yoruba filmmakers began Nollywood. He maintained that his place was about their contribution to theatre and home-video manufacturing, not the founding of Nollywood.
Living in Bondage (1992), produced by Kenneth Nnebue, is broadly considered the movie that launched the fashionable Nigerian home-video increase.
Nnebue had additionally produced Yoruba-language video movies earlier than its launch, together with Aje Ni Iya Mi (1989), highlighting the contributions of various teams of filmmakers to the trade’s early improvement.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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