Yoruba Started Home Video, Not Nollywood — Osuofia
Veteran Nollywood actor Nkem Owoh, popularly known as Osuofia, has clarified his position on the origins of Nigeria’s home-video industry, insisting that Yoruba filmmakers pioneered home video 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 was published on the host’s YouTube channel on Saturday.
Osuofia Clarifies His Earlier Comments
The actor was responding to a question about reports that he had claimed Yoruba people started Nollywood rather than the Igbo.
Rejecting the interpretation, Owoh explained that the name Nollywood did not exist when filmmakers began producing movies.
He said filmmakers eventually came together to discuss the industry and agreed on the name Nollywood after the film-making movement was already underway.
Owoh stressed that his original comments concerned the development and popularisation of home-video productions, not the creation of Nollywood as a brand or industry name.
“The Yoruba did not start Nollywood. They started Home video,” he said.
Hubert Ogunde Credited for Popularising Home Video
Owoh credited Yoruba filmmakers, particularly veteran filmmaker Hubert Ogunde and Adebayo Papa, for their contributions to Nigerian film and home-video production.
He described Ogunde as one of the filmmakers whose works he admired, while insisting that the celebrated pioneer was Yoruba.
During the interview, the host jokingly suggested that Ogunde was Igbo, but Owoh rejected the suggestion.
The actor maintained that Yoruba filmmakers played a significant role in developing and popularising home-video storytelling in Nigeria.
Debate Over Nollywood’s Origins Continues
Owoh’s clarification comes amid renewed discussion about the contributions of different ethnic groups to the Nigerian film industry.
The debate gained attention in August 2026 following comments by late actor Francis Duru, who argued that Igbo entrepreneurs built modern Nollywood during the home-video boom of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Duru reportedly said Yoruba filmmakers had become more dominant in the industry because of their organisation and promotion of their productions.
The discussions have highlighted the distinction between earlier Yoruba theatre and film traditions and the later commercial growth of Nigeria’s direct-to-video market.
Living in Bondage and the Home-Video Boom
Historical accounts of Nigerian cinema recognise the influence of Yoruba travelling theatre groups, including those associated with Hubert Ogunde and Duro Ladipo.
Their stage performances evolved into film and video productions well before the commercial home-video boom of the 1990s.
However, the modern commercial expansion of the direct-to-video market is widely associated with Living in Bondage, the 1992 Igbo-language film produced by Kenneth Nnebue.
The film helped popularise the home-video format and became a major milestone in the development of the industry that later gained international recognition as Nollywood.
The name Nollywood emerged years after early Nigerian film and video productions had begun.
Owoh’s comments therefore draw a distinction between the historical roots of home-video filmmaking and the later emergence of Nollywood as the widely recognised name for Nigeria’s film industry.
His clarification adds another perspective to discussions about the respective contributions of Yoruba and Igbo filmmakers to Nigerian cinema.
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