Nollywood Actresses debates over tribalism in Nollywood

President of the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria, Ibinabo Fiberesima and newly-wed actress, Nse Ikpe Etim, had diverged over ‘ethnic-favouritism’ and tribalism dominating Nollywood.
The two, who were panelists at the Nollywood section of the maiden edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Conference, which took place at the Grand Ball room of the Eko Hotel and Suites, had diverse opinion and belief of the topic, which was raised by one of the guests at the conference.
While the Mr&Mrs star believes that there’s no such thing as tribalism or ethnic-favouritism in the movie industry using herself as an example of a successful actress, who had worked with several producers from different parts of the country, the AGN president and ex-beauty queen posits that favouritism is quite rampant in the industry citing her recent experience in Uyo as an example.
Ibinabo disclosed that she was in Uyo recently and discovered that there are indigenous actors and there are Nollywood actors, who belong to the actors’ guild. She said further that she was surprised to find out that some producers would only go for some selected actors who are either from their tribe or have been working with them over the time thereby giving no room for new and younger ones.
Meanwhile, Nse, who wasn’t too pleased with Ibinabo’s argument insisted that she had worked with Kunle Afolayan, who is a Yoruba man on his flick, Phone Swap as well as Chinwe Egwuagu on the set of Mr&Mrs but haven’t been called up by any Hausa producer at the moment.
The argument was resolved by the major speaker, Amaka Igwe, who noted that irrespective of the people’s view, it should be noted that the producer solely has the right to pick or give his roles to whoever he or she thinks is good enough for his or her production because who ever pays the piper dictates the tune.



source-momo