Relocating To Lagos Or Abuja Won’t Make You Popular In Nollywood – Patience Ozokwo

Nollywood actress, Patience Ozokwo has come out to share a piece of advice to upcoming actors and actresses in the movie industry.

She recently had her say via her social media page, and fans have been reacting.

According to Ozokwo, her younger colleagues must know that they don’t need to relocate to Lagos or Abuja to succeed, because both states don’t hold the keys to popularity in Nollywood.

Patience added that it is a shame to see how some actors and actresses began their careers in the east, but immediately moved to the west after becoming famous, thereby forgetting their roots.

Her words, “For me, I said I am going to stay in Enugu, inside the village and when I go to Lagos, I tell them I am a village woman.”

“I stay at Ngwo in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State and God has shown me that you can become a star from anywhere. You don’t need to be in Lagos or Abuja.”

“If you are good enough, they will call you even from America.”

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.