- Odibo Victory
Veteran Nollywood actor, Francis Duru, has advised Igbo filmmakers to learn from their Yoruba counterparts in promoting and protecting their cultural heritage.
Duru made the call during a discourse with GBAM Podcast while expressing concern over the decline of Igbo movies and the growing presence of Yoruba films and music in the Nigerian entertainment industry.
According to him, the Yoruba film industry has done well in promoting its culture and creating opportunities for its people, urging Igbo filmmakers to do the same.
“They say charity begins at home, that’s what happens to the Yorubas. We need to learn from them. If you don’t project or protect your own, who would do it?” he said.
Duru said it was disappointing that Igbo culture was hardly represented in films available on streaming platforms such as Netflix.
“We created an industry. It’s so shameful. You go to Netflix today, you hardly see one Igbo film that speaks of the Igbo heritage. It’s annoying,” he said.
He said the Yoruba industry had created opportunities for itself and made good use of them, adding that Igbo filmmakers should have paid attention to the approach.
“But the Yorubas created an opportunity for themselves, utilised it very well for themselves. So why weren’t you learning or seeing it?” he asked.
Duru also called on Igbo filmmakers to stop focusing only on individual success and begin to look for new opportunities to grow the industry.
“It is because of that same concept that you think you are the big man alone and it’s just you. But you forget that there will come a time that you need to be expansive. You need to be proactive and ask yourself that there is a new market space, why am I not there?” he said.
He explained that many of those who started some aspects of the Yoruba industry were traders who saw opportunities, developed themselves and worked together to build the industry.
“So you created something that people felt the goal in it and they perfected themselves, got together, called their people who were able to spend money,” he said.
Duru said the Yoruba approach to promoting their culture had helped protect their identity.
“So the Yoruba-centric nature protected their own,” he said.
He urged Igbo filmmakers not to be angry about the success of the Yoruba industry but to learn from how they have promoted their own culture.
“So don’t get angry with them. These are people who saw their own and protected it. What happened to you?” he asked.
Duru also questioned why films about great Igbo personalities and their stories were not being produced.
“We have how many great men in Nigeria. When was the last time you saw the epic of one of these great men?” he asked.
He further criticised the way some Igbo stories are written by non-Igbo writers, saying they sometimes fail to properly represent the Igbo people and their culture.
“We have great writers who are even writing for the Yorubas. We see the Yorubas crossing over to write Igbo stories just like Aamefuna and made a mess of who we are,” he said.