I Don’t Get Awards Because I Don’t Belong to Any Clique – Ruth Kadiri

Nollywood actress, Ruth Kadiri-Ezerika has come out to say that she was overlooked at the Eko Star Film & TV Awards.

She recently revealed this on social media, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to her, Mo Abudu and the Lagos State Government have clearly shunned her hard work all because she doesn’t belong to any clique.

Ruth added that she has faced the struggles every woman/filmmaker has faced in the movie industry, so she doesn’t understand the unfair treatment.

Her words, “I am a film maker. I am a woman. I am a hardworking woman. I have faced the struggles every woman/filmmaker has faced. Did my name at any point pop up yes. But because I do not belong to a click (sic). Yet again I have been overlooked.”

“I will not be pressured. I will keep working hard. @lagosstategovt @moabudu @ijayonah @nifsummit thanks for overlooking me and congrats to everyone who got recognized. the film industry is controlled by women, so if you’re going to do it, do it right or don’t do it at all.”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.