Nollywood’s Villains and Victims: 12 Reforms To Make Nollywood Great Again

By Dr. Ope Banwo, Attorney, Mayor of Fadeyi, Founder Nollywood Fanatics TV

I love Nollywood. I’ve invested time, money, passion – and plenty of blood pressure – into this industry. I’ve also been badly burnt by it, more than once. So, what you’re about to read is not theory or gossip. It’s from someone who has put hundreds of millions of naira on the table and paid school fees in pain and experience.

Gist master at GistHouse, Dr. Ope Banwo

Nollywood is like a miracle baby nobody expected to survive – a child that started crawling and walking faster than anyone thought possible, then mysteriously stopped growing. Decades later, we are still taking baby steps.

I’ve spent months studying this industry deeply enough to write a book titled: “One Country, 2,500 Movies – Confronting the Problems with Nigeria’s Movie Industry, Who Is Responsible and How to Fix It Before It’s Too Late.” In that book, I expose the rot, name names, and propose solutions. This article is an extension of that ongoing conversation.

Today, I want to focus on the Villains and the Victims of Nollywood – and why the industry will either rise or collapse on their shoulders.

The Producer: Hero, Hostage, Villain
If Nollywood were a human body, the producer would be the spine – the unseen structure that holds everything upright. Right now, that spine is cracking.
The industry’s biggest problem is not scripts, cameras or acting talent. Nollywood is struggling because our producer class and senior crew have become a dangerous mix of:
• Exhausted heroes
• Accidental amateurs
• Unregulated tyrants
• Overwhelmed victims

All of them operating in an industry with almost no guardrails, no real enforcement, and very little professional structure.

Let’s stop pretending this is an abstract problem. The rot has faces, dates, and case files.

“When Film Sets Turned into Battlefields”
“1. The Strangling of a Make-Up Artist on Set”

On October 28, 2025, during the filming of Lagos to Opulence, production manager Anierobi “Nwa South” Courage allegedly attacked the Head of Make-Up, Mary Chizzy Eze, beat her, tore her clothes, and strangled her on set because she complained about unfair treatment (Premium Times, Oct. 29, 2025).

Crew members had to physically pull him off her.

A film set became a wrestling arena. Insiders were not shocked – because this kind of behavior is not rare. It’s just rarely documented and pursued.
Why does this happen?
• No clear structure
• No enforceable code of conduct
• No real training for producers, production managers or crew supervisors
• No consequences

This is what an unregulated industry looks like. Yet, we are supposed to have plenty regulations. Government has several for Nollyowood, and we ourselves have enough Guilds that we can probably sell some to Ghana

‘2. Actor vs. Actress-Producer: The Taye Arimoro Case

Shortly after, actor Taye Arimoro publicly alleged that he was assaulted, blocked from leaving a set, and injured during a confrontation involving actress-producer Peggy Ovire (Pulse Nigeria, Nov. 13, 2025). She countered that he was the aggressor.

Forget who is right for a moment. The real scandal is that a Nollywood set, which should be governed by a chain of command, safety rules, and professionalism, degenerated into a street fight.

Where were:
• The conflict-resolution protocols?
• The set safety officer?
• The guild-backed rules of engagement?
They don’t exist in any serious, enforceable way. Most Nollywood sets run on vibes, talent, brute force and hope – not systems.

*3. When Streaming Money Became Shopping Money*
In December 2024, comedian and filmmaker Basketmouth revealed that some producers collect money from Netflix and other platforms, use 10% to make the film, and allegedly divert 90% to personal luxuries – cars, houses, lifestyle (Vanguard, Dec. 18, 2024).

Ten percent for the movie. Ninety percent for enjoyment? This is not just a miscalculation – it is systemic mismanagement, made possible by zero accountability mechanisms.

*4. When Government Grants Vanished into Thin Air*
Filmmaker Mildred Okwo later revealed that some producers collected government grants to make movies and never produced anything (Ripples Nigeria, Dec. 19, 2024).
No script. No set. No rough cut. No deliverable. Just money gone.

Again: no accountability, no watchdog, no consequences. The government loses trust; credible producers lose opportunities; the industry loses credibility globally.
Producers and Senior Crew: Villains and Victims

*To be fair, producers, directors, DOPs, and production managers are not only villains. Many are also victims of a broken ecosystem.*

I know producers who:
• Used their children’s school fees to feed crew.
• Slept in cars because the accommodation budget disappeared.
• Negotiated with area boys and police, same day, to keep a shoot alive.
• Lost millions due to piracy, bad distribution, or crooked partners.
• Lost marriages and mental health under pressure.

So, yes – the producer in Nigeria is both hero and hostage, and that contradiction is the heart of Nollywood’s crisis:
The producer is the engine and also the broken gear; the protector and the perpetrator; the victim and the villain.

Until we reform this producer class and key crew roles – root, branch, and soul – Nollywood will remain a miracle-based, not structure-based, industry.
12 Critical Reforms Nollywood Desperately Needs Now

*Nollywood does not need more motivational speeches. It needs systems, sanctions, and standards. Here are 12 urgent reforms I could think of:*

*1. Professionalize Key Roles*
Being passionate about movies is not enough.
Producers, directors, DOPs, and production managers must be treated as professional, certified roles – not something any random person can assume.

*2. Make Certification Mandatory for Access to Serious Funds*
No one should touch institutional, government, or investor funds without recognized training and certification in production, budgeting, and distribution.
If you can’t explain AVOD, ROI, licensing windows, or P&A, you have no business managing BOI money or platform funds.

*3. Create a Real 3-Month Intensive Certification Program*
A serious, exam-based Producer/Director/PM/DOP Bootcamp should be a minimum entry requirement for guild membership and major projects.
Not WhatsApp “masterclasses”. A real curriculum with business, law, ethics, and on-set practice.

You May Like: How Nollywood Actor, Odira Nwobu Died In South Africa

*4. Establish a Nollywood Bureau of Professional Conduct*
An independent body should investigate:
• Set assaults
• Investor fraud and vanished funds
• Abandoned productions
• Tampered budgets
• Unsafe sets and negligence
And publish enforceable sanctions.

*5. Maintain a Public “Nollywood Black Book”*
Not gossip – a verified record of:
• Producers who defraud investors
• Actors who abandon sets
• Crew who assault colleagues
• Directors who repeatedly breach contracts

A small industry needs more transparency, not less.

*6. Make P&A Budgets Mandatory*
A serious film must dedicate at least 20% of its budget to marketing (P&A).
Shooting a beautiful film with zero structured marketing is financial suicide. Investors must insist on seeing a P&A plan before releasing funds.

*7. Enforce Transparent, Auditable Accounts*
Producers and production managers must provide auditable expense and revenue reports to executive producers and investors.
Sentimental storytelling should give way to hard numbers. That’s how you build investor confidence and long-term financing.

*8. Make Production Insurance Compulsory*
Every production should carry insurance for cast, crew, and equipment.
Incidents like the Lagos to Opulence assault would be handled through professional, legal, and insurance-backed processes, not emotional damage control.

*9. Rank Producers and Key Crew by Tier*
The industry (or a private ratings body) should maintain a tiered ranking system based on competence, track record, and scale handled.
A director or producer with only low-budget experience should not suddenly be handed a ₦200 million project.

*10. Adopt Global Production Standards*
Nollywood must stop hiding behind the excuse: “Nigeria is different.”
The global market is one. If we want to compete for international recognition, we must use:
• Proper call sheets
• Safety officers
• Chain of command
• Conflict protocols
• Clear deliverables
Institutionalized rubbish will never win global respect.

*11. Zero Tolerance for Violence and Illegal Restraint on Set*
Any form of assault, battery or forced restraint on set must attract industry-wide sanctions and possible legal action.
Blocking an adult from leaving a set is not “discipline” – it can amount to kidnapping or even terrorism-related offences under Nigerian law. People must stop incriminating themselves on camera and start talking to lawyers.

*12. Make Digital & Streaming Monetization Core Curriculum*
Every serious producer and marketer must understand:
• AVOD, SVOD, TVOD, FAST
• International licensing and syndication
• Dubbing, subtitling and market segmentation
A producer who doesn’t understand the economics of distribution in 2025 has no business leading a serious production.

Conclusion: Time to Draw a Line in the Sand
The era of impunity in Nollywood must end.
This culture of “don’t spoil their name” is killing the industry.
Some names need to be spoiled – for the industry to heal.

We cannot keep shouting “global takeover” while the very spine of Nollywood – the producer class and key crew – remains fractured, unregulated and, in many cases, unaccountable.

If Nollywood truly wants to grow up, this is the hour.

Fix the producer, and Nollywood will rise.

Ignore the producer, and Nollywood will bury itself.

This is my first article in a series of articles i am planning. More will come – including my full commentary on the Taye Arimoro vs. Peggy Ovire saga and the shocking decision of three guilds tasked with leadership.

As for me, I have chosen my lane:
• A committed observer and outspoken commentator; and
• A champion for AI-based productions that can help disrupt and reset the system.

Everyone in Nollywood must now decide: Which side of history are you standing on?

Dr Ope Banwo
Mayor Of Fadeyi
Founder, Nollywood Fanatics TV

Crestal Group Expands West African Energy Operations with JuWonEnergies’ Marine & Logistics Unit

Crestal Group today announced the strategic integration of its maritime operations under the newly established Marine & Logistics Unit of JuWonEnergies Ltd. This unit consolidates the former operations of JuWonTankers UK Ltd, continuing its legacy in ship brokerage, vessel chartering, and marine logistics while strengthening the Group’s energy supply chain across West Africa.

The transition reflects a strategic shift of the former UK operations to focus on the West African market, where most of the clients previously served by the UK entity operate, primarily along the Mediterranean and Gulf of Guinea region.

The Marine & Logistics Unit of JuWonEnergies now provides:
• LNG and CNG distribution support
• Petroleum product haulage and transport services
• Vessel chartering and ship brokerage solutions

This integration ensures a seamless alignment with JuWonEnergies’ energy operations in Nigeria and the wider West African region, where the company holds full licenses for crude oil and natural gas trading, LNG/CNG retail operations, and downstream energy infrastructure development.

Statement from Crestal Group Media/Publicist:
“By combining proven maritime logistics expertise with JuWonEnergies’ licensed energy operations and shifting focus to the region where our clients primarily operate, we are building a stronger, more reliable energy supply network across West Africa. This strategic integration reflects our commitment to operational excellence, sustainable growth, and long-term value for our clients, partners, and investors.”

The Marine & Logistics Unit maintains the historical legacy of JuWonTankers UK, ensuring continuity of service and operational reliability for partners and customers, while positioning the Group for accelerated growth in the region’s expanding energy markets.

About Crestal Group:
Crestal Group is a diversified multinational enterprise with operations across energy, logistics, agriculture, aviation, and infrastructure development. Its subsidiaries include JuWonEnergies Ltd, JuWonOil LLC, Eleven Ocean Ltd, and Cropyfy Ltd, each focused on delivering strategic growth and sustainable solutions across global markets.

KIDNAPPED, NEGOTIATED, OR RESCUED?

By George Omagbemi Sylvester | Published by saharaweeklyng.com

“The messy politics behind the release of Kebbi’s schoolgirls and why Nigeria’s silence fuels banditry.”

On November 17, gunmen brazenly stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School (GGCSS), Maga, in Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State, killed a school official and whisked away 25 female students. For a week the country waited and then on November 25–26 the girls were reported freed. What should have been a straightforward moment of national relief instead exposed Nigeria’s deepest vulnerabilities: conflicting official narratives, a combustible mix of secrecy and rumor and the unmistakable risk that negotiation as policy will continue to fatten criminal cartels.

The federal government and state authorities insist the girls were rescued through a coordinated security operation. President Bola Tinubu spoke of a successful rescue; Kebbi’s governor, Nasir Idris, declared no ransom was paid and lauded the military, the Department of State Services (DSS) and other agencies for bringing the girls home unharmed. Those are the accounts the state has chosen to burn into the public record.

As almost immediately a competing story re-emerged: circulating video footage and statements attributed to the abductors claim otherwise. In the clips and in commentary that followed, armed men who held the girls are heard saying the students were released because a NEGOTIATED UNDERSTANDING (not a military raid) CONCLUDED the MATTER. One bandit in the footage reportedly mocked government claims of a forceful rescue and told the girls they were being returned “based on peace deals.” If authentic, that footage tells a familiar story: the state insisting on a clean, kinetic narrative while shadow deals with criminal actors are quietly sewn up.

This contradiction matters. It is not a mere semantic skirmish between the rhetoric of rescue and the fact of negotiation. Negotiations and ransom payments change incentives. They transform violent entrepreneurs into providers of “security” and convert abduction into a profitable, repeatable enterprise. Academic and policy studies have documented how ad hoc settlements and clandestine payments enable bandit networks to consolidate territorial footholds and expand targeting strategies. A 2025 DIIS (Danish Institute for International Studies) analysis and other field studies warn that repeated, opaque deals with armed gangs institutionalize impunity and hollow out state authority.

Voices across Nigeria have responded with fury and alarm. Some parliamentarians now openly demand sanctions for officials who negotiate with bandits. Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu has proposed criminal penalties for government officials who engage in ransom negotiations or unstructured amnesty deals through an effort to place legal guardrails around what many believe has become an unofficial marketplace for peace. If adopted, such a law would be an admission that informal bargaining has become frequent enough to warrant formal prohibition.

Civil society and security experts make the same blunt point: paying or tacitly allowing negotiations may save lives in the short term, but it also invites more abductions. Hannatu Pamela Ishaya of the Hannis Foundation memorably warned that ransom payments “empower” kidnappers and encourage repetition — a paradox of mercy that ends up imperilling more children. That observation is not rhetorical; it is borne out by the steady tempo of school kidnappings across the northwest and middle belt — regions where criminal gangs treat abduction as a core revenue stream.

Two immediate consequences flow from the government’s mixed messaging. First, credibility is eroded. When the public receives one version from the presidency and another from footage and eyewitnesses, trust in official institutions suffers. Trust is the fragile currency of state legitimacy; once spent, it is difficult to restore. Second, ambiguity undermines accountability. If deals are cut in shadow, neither legislatures nor oversight bodies can properly scrutinize who authorised payments or why soldiers were allegedly withdrawn from vulnerable outposts shortly before attacks; a charge Kebbi’s governor has demanded the military investigate, till date we’ve not heard any report come back. Nigeria is business as usual.

We must also confront the operational reality: in many rural theatres the security architecture is simply inadequate. Intelligence gaps, poor logistics and shallow troop deployment create conditions in which negotiating becomes a tactical default. That does not excuse covert deals; rather, it underscores the need for a coherent national strategy that combines prevention, prosecution and protection. Researchers who have mapped bandit networks across northwest Nigeria show that without integrated community intelligence, economic alternatives, and credible prosecution, tactical rescues or transactions will not stop the cycle.

So what should Nigeria do now is beyond expressions of relief? First, transparency. If negotiations occurred, the public is entitled to a full accounting: who negotiated, under what authority and what concessions (if any) were made. A blank wall of silence invites speculation, corrodes trust and allows destructive bargains to be normalized. If no ransom was paid and military action achieved the rescue, the security agencies must present verifiable evidence (timing, assets deployed, chain of command) to restore confidence. Either way, concealment is not a policy.

Second, law. The House’s proposal to penalise officials who negotiate with bandits is blunt but necessary if implemented judiciously. The state must remove perverse incentives. Where local governments or individuals have previously paid ransoms, the federal government must step in with legal clarity and victim support, not punishment alone. Criminal prosecutions should target the kingpins and the corrupt enablers who profit from prolonging insecurity.

Third, prevention. Military and policing responses must be married to community resilience: better roads and surveillance, reliable communications in rural areas, community policing that integrates local trackers and credible witnesses, education investments that harden boarding facilities, and economic programmes that shrink the recruitment pool for bandit groups. As scholars note, an exclusively kinetic response is necessary but insufficient. Lasting security requires reducing the economic and social conditions that produce banditry.

Finally, moral clarity. Nigerian leaders must decide whether they will accept a trade in which safety is bought one incident at a time. The alternative is uncomfortable: deny payment, risk lives in the short run and reckon with the political cost; or concede payment and let the market for lives expand. Neither choice is painless. Though continued secrecy and equivocation will only worsen the calculus for future victims.

The return of the Kebbi girls must be celebrated and their welfare prioritised such as medical checks, counselling and swift family reunification are imperative; but the celebration must not mute inquiry. Every rescued child carries the story of how she was taken and how she came back. If those narratives are shaped by statements of both state rescue and bandit negotiation, Nigerians deserve the truth in full. The nation cannot both claim strength and tolerate shadow commerce in human freedom.

If Nigeria hopes to end the steady procession of school abductions, it must start by refusing the convenience of half-truths. RESCUE without ACCOUNTABILITY is a REPRIEVE, not a SOLUTION. Negotiation without oversight is a subsidy to crime. And silence in the face of conflicting accounts is the state’s most expensive currency. The girls are home but let that not be the last chapter. Let it be the moment when POLICY, LAW and COURAGE converge to make sure no more classrooms fall silent.