Veteran actor, Yemi Solade, said the Nigerian movie industry, known as Nollywood, is presently a cover-up industry for internet fraudsters and prostitutes.
The 60-year-old actor made the comment in an interview with NigerianTribune when asked if he was pleased with the state of the Nigerian movie industry presently.
He said: “The Nollywood is not there right now. The Nollywood you see now is all-encompassing. It’s like an uncompleted building that is not guarded and what you meet there would amaze you. It has become an all-comers affair, anybody can stroll in and act. All the Yahoo boy are now there, all the prostitutes that you can imagine are there.
“People cannot even differentiate between the core professionals and these class of clowns who have infiltrated the association, but they didn’t just fly in, some people whom you refer to as core professionals brought them in.
“It’s just so porous that anybody can become an actor, the entry point is so porous and annoying. It’s a profession and it must be handled and treated as one. I am not really pleased with the state of the industry. It’s a professional body and we must portray ourselves as one that has mastered the art and craft of the profession.
When asked if there are plans in the industry for the aged, he said: “I am not in any professional body or administration to know what they are planning, but I will tell you that in any professional body, they should, as a matter of fact, have plans for their aged members. Little wonder we have some social media influencers raising donations for some actors on social media platforms, for people to help raise funds for them. If there were insurance schemes, and plans in place for the aged, or members of the industry, they won’t run to the social media to raise alms for their failing health conditions. So I don’t think there is anything like that. There is too much show, and we don’t need that, we send wrong signals to the world, we are giving the world a different impression about us, people see the few ones who are living large on social media platforms, you see them, everyone celebrating their material possessions, and if somebody falls sick and start asking for a donation, you start wondering that these people have money. So we need to do things right and set a good mark for others to follow.”
