In a presentation to the minister of information in 2004, Femi Odugbemi, Nigerian filmmaker and president of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN) at the time, outlined the problem with Nollywood: “[While] Nigeria purportedly ranks as one of the largest producers of ‘film’ in the world, courtesy of about 20 home videos it produces every week, the industry has yet to take a proper shape [nor is it] accorded any serious respect internationally.”

The criticism masked much deeper issues of control and ownership that were affecting Nigeria’s booming film industry and have persisted ever since. In a decade and a half, Nigeria’s video film business has grown from a trickle of experimental productions to a multi-million dollar industry. Releasing between 600 and 900 films a year, Nollywood – the term first used in a 2002 article in the Washington Post, entitled ‘Step Aside Hollywood, Bollywood, here comes Nollywood’ – is the third biggest film industry in the world.