Nolly-WHAT?

If you're a Nigerian or know them well enough, then this will hardly come as a surprise.... Nigerians are accomplished copycats. This is not about 4-1-9, petty forgery or the endemic counterfeit culture in the country but about general trends.

From fashion to music and swagger - Nigerians will copy anything and everything from virtually anywhere but more often than not everything American has its mini Nigerian version. In certain contexts this may be understandable because like the US, Nigeria is a Federation of States so for instance the first thing you notice on arrival there will probably be the vehicle number plates that were redesigned over twenty years ago - American style! There must be hundreds of examples like that but lets not lose our focus here, lets talk NOLLYWOOD!

Jeff Ogboso

In a recent interview with Nollywood Gossip magazine, a radical Nigerian film director Jeff Ogboso has started a long-overdue debate by slamming this follow-follow culture specifically in the world famous multi-billion dollar film industry of Nigeria  pathetically known as NOLLYWOOD when he asked the million dollar question - "Do we always have to copy the West in everything? Why does the film industry have to use the word 'WOOD' ?", he wonders!

Interestingly, since Nigerians copied the Indians who copied Americans, a string of African countries have  also copied Nigerians so we've ended up with such absurd nomenclatures like SALLYWOOD (South Africa), CAMIWOOD (Cameroon), GHALLYWOOD (Ghana), KANNYWOOD (Kenya). And the beat, sorry the list goes on ....

What do you think folks? Get involved in the debate, air your views by making a comment now.