Women Should Have As Much Power As Men When It Comes To Standing In As A Guarantor – Mary Njoku

Nollywood actress, Mary Remmy Njoku has come out to say that the movie industry is controlled by women.

She recently revealed this while recounting an incident where a law firm refused to allow her to stand as a guarantor for her family member, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to her, a family member needed a guarantor for her rent and she went to the lawyer’s office to sign on behalf of the relative, however, the lawyer refused to let her sign even after she showed proof that she is a trustworthy guarantor and contributes to society.

Mary added that a male colleague eventually had to show up to be allowed to sign as a guarantor for her family member.

Her words, “Today, Nollywood is arguably controlled by women. We sign almost all the cheques.”

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.