Omotola Says Thirty Years In Nollywood Produced No Royalties
Lagos · Monday 7 September 2026
Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has said she receives royalties from Hollywood work and has never received a single royalty from thirty years in Nollywood. She was talking about the industry's pay structure.
The distinction she is drawing is the important part, and it is not about how much Nigerian actors are paid.
Fee versus royalty
| Fee | Royalty | |
|---|---|---|
| When paid | Once, on production | Every time the work earns again |
| Risk carried by | Producer | Shared |
| Requires | A contract | Tracking, collection and enforcement |
The third row is the one Nollywood has never built.
A royalty system needs somebody counting: how many times a film streamed, where it aired, what that generated, and who is owed a share. Nigeria has collecting societies on paper and very little functioning measurement in practice.
Why it matters more now than it did in 1996
Because the work no longer stops earning. A Nollywood film from a decade ago is on streaming platforms, on satellite channels and on YouTube, generating revenue continuously. Under a fee-only model the person on screen sees none of it, however long the tail runs.
An actress paid once in 2004 for a film still streaming in 2026 has effectively subsidised every subsequent viewing.
The comparison she is making
Hollywood's residual system exists because unions fought for it over decades and because studios accepted an auditable reporting obligation. Neither condition currently holds in Nigeria. The guilds are not strong enough to compel it and there is no reporting standard to audit against.
What would actually change it
- A standard participation clause in Nigerian production contracts, even a small one.
- Platform-level reporting to a recognised collecting body.
- Guild capacity to enforce, which means funding, which means membership fees.
None of that arrives because a famous actress said something true in an interview. It arrives when enough people with leverage refuse to sign the old contract, and Omotola is one of the few with enough leverage to start that.
Reporting: Leadership Newspapers and QED.NG.
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