Nollywood: Yoruba Filmmakers Pioneered Home Video, Not Film Industry, Osuofia Says

Nkem Owoh says Yoruba filmmakers pioneered Nigeria’s home-video industry but did not establish Nollywood as it is known today.

Veteran actor Nkem Owoh, popularly known as Osuofia, says Yoruba filmmakers pioneered Nigeria’s home-video industry but did not start Nollywood, drawing a distinction between the early development of home-video productions and the emergence of the Nigerian film industry.

Owoh said Yoruba filmmakers had established a strong presence in theatre and home-video productions before Nollywood became widely recognised, but rejected claims that they founded the industry.

“The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started Home video,” he said.

The actor made the clarification during an appearance on Curiosity Made Me Ask, a YouTube programme hosted by comedian and content creator Adebayo Abidemi, popularly known as Bae U. The episode was published on Saturday, November 7, 2026.

Asked about reports that he had claimed the Yoruba started Nollywood rather than the Igbo, Owoh described the interpretation as a wrong accusation.

He credited Yoruba filmmakers with making home-video productions popular in Nigeria, citing veteran filmmaker Hubert Ogunde and Adebayo among those whose works he enjoyed watching.

Owoh also rejected suggestions that Ogunde was Igbo, insisting that the veteran filmmaker was Yoruba and had gained prominence before Igbo filmmakers became widely recognised in the industry.

His comments come amid renewed debate over the contributions of Yoruba and Igbo filmmakers to the development of Nollywood.

In August 2026, the late actor Francis Duru argued that Igbo entrepreneurs built modern Nollywood through the home-video boom of the 1990s and early 2000s, while Yoruba filmmakers later gained greater prominence through their organisation and promotion of Yoruba culture.

Owoh’s clarification also revisits his earlier comments, which were reported as a claim that Yoruba filmmakers started Nollywood. He maintained that his position was about their contribution to theatre and home-video production, not the founding of Nollywood.

Living in Bondage (1992), produced by Kenneth Nnebue, is widely regarded as the film that launched the modern Nigerian home-video boom.

Nnebue had also produced Yoruba-language video films before its release, including Aje Ni Iya Mi (1989), highlighting the contributions of different groups of filmmakers to the industry’s early development.