Tele-Novellas: An emerging threat to Nollywood!

Lately, Mexican television series have taken the shine off indigenous soaps on the Nigerian airwaves. Most advertisers fight to air their campaigns on these tele-novellas, while those from the Nigerian producers beg for sponsorship for months and get yanked off when none comes. 

This trend has begun to worry practitioners in the Nigerian movie industry, who feel something must be done to change the fortunes of Nollywood. 

Speaking on the issue with National Mirror, ace producer, Chico Ejiro, who has a soap, 'Treasures', claimed lack of sponsorship of Nigerian contents has fueled the rise of Mexican soaps in Nigeria.

"One of the biggest challenges we have is the lack of sponsorship, which is traceable to the economy. The truth is that we have many shows pursuing the few commercials," he told National Mirror.

On the part of Bolaji Dawodu of the now-rested 'Checkmate', he blames poor talents in Nollywood.  "If you produce a soap that is good, there is no way, advertisers will not come. I tell the young ones that they must come up with fantastic ideas that advertisers cannot afford to resist, before complaining that things are so bad," he also told the newspaper.


For filmmaker, Madu Chikwendu, the foreign soaps are produced by the best in the business.  "All over the world, South America is known for their tele-novella culture. Their movies are not as hot as their soaps, and they have realised that and right now they are everywhere. Nigeria can do the same thing with what they are best known for," he said.