Osuofia speaks on Yoruba filmmakers’ role in emergence of Nollywood

Veteran Nollywood actor Nkem Owoh, popularly known as Osuofia, has clarified that Yoruba filmmakers pioneered Nigeria’s home-video industry but did not start Nollywood.

Owoh made the clarification during an appearance on Curiosity Made Me Ask, a show hosted by comedian and content creator Adebayo Abidemi, popularly known as Bae U.

The actor was responding to questions about his earlier comments on the contributions of Yoruba and Igbo filmmakers to the development of Nollywood.

He dismissed claims that he had said Yoruba people founded Nollywood, explaining that the name did not exist when he and other filmmakers began producing movies.

He said the name Nollywood was adopted later after industry stakeholders met to discuss ideas on how to develop and brand the Nigerian film industry.

“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.

However, Owoh credited Yoruba filmmakers, particularly veteran filmmaker Hubert Ogunde and Adebayo Salami, popularly known as Oga Bello, for pioneering and popularising home-video productions in Nigeria.

He maintained that Yoruba filmmakers played a significant role in the early development of home-video entertainment.

“The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started home video,” he added.

His clarification comes amid renewed debate over the contributions of Yoruba and Igbo filmmakers to the Nigerian film industry.

In August 2026, late Nollywood actor Francis Duru had argued that Igbo entrepreneurs played a major role in building modern Nollywood through the home-video boom of the 1990s and early 2000s.

The 1992 film Living in Bondage, produced by Kenneth Nnebue, is widely credited with helping popularise the commercial home-video market that became the foundation of modern Nollywood.