Nollywood is demonizing the Nigerian culture

Azuka Onwuka
Twitter: @BrandAzuka

Azuka Onwuka

~Punch Nigeria. Tuesday, October 31, 2017

The Nigerian film industry, popularly called Nollywood, has been a big source of pride since it officially took off in 1992 with the production of Living in Bondage. It has provided wealth, fame and prestige to Nigeria and thousands of Nigerians.

Ironically, right from Living in Bondage, producers of Nigerian movies have tended to cast the Nigerian traditional life as evil, as well as portraying Nigerians as people who make their money through the power of the occult and human sacrifice.

The reason Chinua Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God was to present a balanced view of the African life before the advent of the European colonialists, thereby puncturing the negative portrayal of Africa by Europe as barbarians. Achebe did not seek to glorify Africa; rather, he chose to present a society that was not irrational or lawless, even though it had its flaws.

Sadly, many Nollywood writers and producers have adopted the neo-colonial mindset in their films which focus on Nigerian traditional ways of life. For the sake of specificity, I will focus on Igbo culture in this discourse.

Anytime a Nigerian film focuses on an Igbo village as well as the city, there are some constant narratives: 1. The village is the home of poverty, while the city is the place of wealth and good life. 2. The village is the home of witches and wizards while the city is the home of good men and women. 3. The traditional religion in the village is evil but the Christian religion in the city is the good that always overcomes the darkness in the village. 4. The village is a lawless society where one man can seize the property of anybody, especially widows, with nobody stopping him except by divine intervention, while the city is the land of order.

It has become a joke passed around that once you see an actor like Pete Edochie or Chinwetalu Agu in a film set in a traditional Igbo community, a widow will be dealt with mercilessly. Her goats and chickens will be confiscated in broad daylight. She will be barred from farming on her husband’s lands. Sometimes, the terror is a king in an Igbo community that acts as he wishes, confiscating people’s property as well as daughters and wives, arresting people and even killing some.


One is forced to ask: In which fairy Igbo village do these things happen? If they were old events, in which fairy Igbo society did these things happen?

In the distant Igbo past, a girl could be pushed into a marriage with threats by her parents, but no girl could be forced into a marriage if she chose not to marry a particular man. During the marriage introduction, a girl was expected to visit the bridegroom’s home and spend at least four market days with the mother of the bridegroom, without any sexual relations with the bridegroom. This was the opportunity for her to be studied by the prospective groom’s family and for her to study the man’s family. If she returned and said she did not like the family or the man, the marriage would not proceed.

A boy used diabolic means, sexually abused me – Rita Edochie

~Vanguard, Nigeria. Sunday, May 29, 2016

Abuja – Popular Nollywood actress, Rita Edochie, said on Saturday in Abuja that she was unaware that she was pregnant when she was in primary six.

Edochie said in an interview that contrary to a story that she did not tell her mother about the pregnancy, she was not even aware of her situation.

“Though a boy used diabolic means and sexually abused me; I was not aware, I could not tell exactly how it happened.

“I was not aware that I was pregnant then; I was so tiny.

“We were playing games in the school; the type that the instructor or referee will say `number one' and pupils with number 1 would run and collect something.

“It was during the game that a fellow pupil insulted me that my tummy was like a breadfruit; I was angered and beat her up,” she said.

She explained that the lesson teacher then asked them to go home and bring their parents.

The actress said that she was a young innocent girl who could not tell lies to the mother or against the mother.

“When I got home, I told my mother what led to the fight; she then asked me to raise up my dress; I did and after examination, she said that I was pregnant.

“When she said, ‘do you know that you are pregnant,’ I fainted; any other story aside this is not true,'' Edochie said.