Veteran Nollywood actor Kanayo O. Kanayo has attributed the Nigerian film industry’s greater prosperity to the country’s apprenticeship culture and stronger financial support from wealthy individuals.
Speaking in Ghana during the press event for Lil Win’s Journey to Africa, Kanayo said Nigeria has more wealthy and generous individuals who are willing to support people learning the trade, even when there is a risk of losing their money.
“There are more rich men in Nigeria than Ghana, that’s true, more rich men who are more generous,” he said.
He also argued that Ghana’s film industry has not fully completed the kind of apprenticeship process that helped build Nigeria’s entertainment industry.
“Ghana started this apprenticeship under this kind of circumstance in Nigeria. But did not stay to finish the apprenticeship,” Kanayo said.
He claimed some Ghanaians learnt the trade in Nigeria for about nine months before considering themselves trained, unlike the longer Igbo apprenticeship system where young people learn under experienced business owners before being settled to start their own ventures.
Kanayo said the difference in training and financial backing contributed to why Ghana’s movie industry is not as progressive as Nigeria’s.
“That’s why your industry is not as prosperous as Nigeria’s,” he said.
He also recalled the sacrifices behind Nollywood’s early growth, saying filmmakers sometimes used cooking allowances, borrowed cars and relied on people’s houses to shoot movies.
“Some women make movies with their cooking allowance given by their husbands,” he said, adding that filmmakers once stopped cars on the street and asked owners to allow them to use the vehicles for scenes.
