Duru, however, claimed that actors and producers of Igbo extraction introduced home videos into the Nigerian film market in the 1990s and early 2000s.
By Kehinde Okeowo
Nigerian actor Francis Duru has explained why Nollywood is currently dominated by Yoruba actors, despite Igbos “being at the forefront in the early stages” of its inception.
The veteran thespian made these remarks recently while appearing as a guest on Gbam TV (also referred to as the Gbam Podcast).
According to him, despite people of Yoruba extraction—such as Hubert Ogunde—being widely recognised as early pioneers of the film industry in Nigeria in the 1950s, the phenomenon known as Nollywood was birthed when people of Igbo extraction introduced home videos into the Nigerian film market in the 1990s and early 2000s.
He, however, admitted that the Yorubas overtook the Igbos in Nollywood because they are better organised and more supportive of one another.
He added that Nigerian movies on Netflix hardly portray Igbo heritage, whereas their Yoruba counterparts create “opportunities for themselves and utilise them”.
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Speaking during the interview, Duru claimed: “The Yorubas epitomise the saying, ‘Charity begins at home.’ We need to learn from them. If you don’t protect and project your own, who will do it?
“We [Igbos] created Nollywood, but if you go to Netflix today, you hardly see a movie that speaks of Igbo heritage. But the Yorubas, on the other hand, created opportunities for themselves and utilised them.
“Igbos failed to learn because of their individualistic mentality. You think you are the big man, so you are self-centred. But you forget that a time will come when you need to be expansive.
“You need to be proactive and ask yourself, ‘There is a new market space; why am I not there?’ Most of the persons who pioneered Nollywood were mere traders. So, you created something, and some people saw the gold in it, got together, called their people who have the ‘dough’, and they invested in it. The Yorubas protected their own.
“Don’t get angry with them. These are people who saw their own and protected their own. What happened to you? Igbos have many great men in Nigeria.
“When was the last time you saw the epic of one of these great men? We have great writers who are now writing for the Yorubas. You even see the Yorubas crossing over to write Igbo stories like Ahamefuna and making a mess of who we are.”
