Renowned Nigerian comedian and filmmaker, Basketmouth, has alleged that Nollywood producers are mismanaging funds provided by global streaming platforms, a practice he says is harming the quality of Nigerian films.
In a recent interview on Arise TV, Basketmouth claimed that many producers divert substantial portions of production budgets for personal use, leaving only a fraction for actual filmmaking.
“When the streaming platforms came in, they gave money to these producers, and I’ll tell you point blank: these producers would take the money—$1.5 million or whatever they give them—and use about 10% of that money to make the movie,” he said.
He further alleged that upon discovering these practices, streaming platforms opted to pay actors directly to promote transparency. However, producers reportedly found ways to continue their schemes by pressuring actors to return part of their salaries.
“Even to the point where the streaming platforms stepped in and said, ‘You know what? We are going to be paying the actors directly,’ these guys would still go behind and tell the actors to pay half of that money back to them. You can verify the information anywhere,” Basketmouth stated.
The filmmaker expressed frustration over how these actions have affected the quality of Nollywood productions, particularly epic movies.
“When you do that and expect your movie to be 100%, it can’t. It’s impossible. But these guys? They’ll cut, buy houses, buy cars. And that’s why when you see our movies, some of our epic movies look like stage plays,” he lamented.
Basketmouth’s remarks have sparked conversations about accountability in the Nigerian film industry and the need for better oversight to ensure funds are properly utilized.
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