Nollywood actors Femi Durojaiye, Monalisa Stephen, and Biodun Okeowo, have sensitised critics of the Nigerian filmmaking industry, who took to social media to accuse them of enabling money ritual with their character projections and storyline.
Speaking with BizWatch Nigeria in separate interviews, the thespians unanimously stated that the critics are ignorant of how Nollywood has positively impacted Nigerian society.
According to them, in view of how Nollywood has brought to fore societal ills by exposing the evils victimising many Nigerians, it is unfair to now blame actors for increasing ritual activities in the country.
Sharing his sentiment on the matter, Durojaiye, who pioneered Project 100 -Beyond Acting to ensure good storytelling is sustained in Nollywood, told our correspondent that “there’s no institution in Nigeria that does this important service for our society better than Nollywood. So instead of knocks, we ought to be commended.”
According to the veteran actor, “those who maliciously accuse Nollywood of promoting money ritual killings, while stark evidence shows the contrary, may actually be enablers of the dastardly act who are jittery of the sustained focus of Nollywood on their evil act.”
Durojaiye, however, maintained that people’s greed and lust for money and power are to be blamed for the increase of ritual activities in the country.
Corroborating Durojaiye’s sentiment, Okeowo said what Nollywood does is to bring people’s awareness to the wrongs that persist in the society, adding that money ritual, which has overtime been exposed by films, were released for moral purposes, and not to encourage people to do it as widely claimed.
When asked what could be responsible for the increasing number of ritual activities, Okeowo credited it to poor parenting.
Her words: lI strongly believe the assertion that -‘charity begins at home.’ I’m not calling their parents murderers, but they should be questioned.
“Whatever any child does, check his or her background first. Again, I’m not saying we don’t have children who deviate from good upbringings, neither am I disputing the fact that social media has its own effects… but I believe if a child’s foundation is based on the love of others and not greed, such a child does not have the conscience to do evil.”
Like Durojaiye and Okeowo, Stephen also stated that Nollywood has put a spotlight more on the consequences of evil.
According to her, the filmmaking industry has successfully made its viewers believe that every action has its karma.
“Movies are fiction. It is stories that are sometimes made up. I grew up loving the Nollywood narrative of when you do bad things there are consequences. So, our films have always taught me that there is a bad ending for evildoers,” she added.
