Veteran actor Nkem Owoh, popularly known as Osuofia, has clarified his position on the origins of Nigeria’s film industry, saying Yoruba filmmakers pioneered home-video productions but did not start Nollywood.
Owoh made the clarification during an appearance on Curiosity Made Me Ask, hosted by comedian and content creator Adebayo Abidemi, popularly known as Bae U.
The interview, published on the host’s YouTube channel on Saturday, followed a debate over the contributions of different ethnic groups to the development of Nigerian cinema.
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The actor dismissed claims that he had said Yoruba people started Nollywood, explaining that the name was adopted after filmmakers had begun producing films.
“First of all, you have given me this wrong accusation that I said Yoruba started Nollywood. No. When we started the thing, there was no Nollywood as a name,” he said.
He explained that the name emerged later after discussions among industry stakeholders.
Owoh, however, credited Yoruba filmmakers with popularising home-video productions, particularly through the works of veteran filmmakers Hubert Ogunde and Adebayo.
“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,” he said.
When the interviewer jokingly suggested that Ogunde was Igbo, Owoh disagreed, insisting that the filmmaker was Yoruba.
“Ogunde is not Igbo. I’m telling you that Yoruba started it,” he said.
He further clarified his position, stating, “The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started Home video.”
The clarification comes amid an ongoing debate over the contributions of Yoruba and Igbo filmmakers to Nigeria’s film industry.
In August 2026, late actor Francis Duru had argued that Igbo entrepreneurs played a major role in building modern Nollywood during the 1990s and early 2000s, while Yoruba filmmakers had become more dominant in the industry through their organisation and promotion of their productions.
The commercial growth of Nigeria’s direct-to-video film market is widely associated with the 1992 Igbo-language film Living in Bondage, produced by Kenneth Nnebue. The film helped popularise the home-video format that later became internationally known as Nollywood.
However, Yoruba travelling theatre practitioners, including Ogunde and Duro Ladipo, had established a film and performance tradition decades before the 1990s video-film boom.
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