The Federal Government is currently mourning the death of veteran Nollywood movie director and producer, Chico Ejiro.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed recently had his say via a statement, while sympathizing with the friends and families of the filmmaker.

According to him, Chiko Ejiro’s death is a huge shock to the Nigerian movie industry, but his legacy will live on through the excellent works of the actors and actresses he helped to nurture over the years.

He added that the deceased definitely contributed to the progressive success of Nollywood.

His words, “Ejiro was a prolific movie director and a shining star of Nollywood, which has — through its movies — stamped Nigeria’s creative presence all over the world

“Family and friends can take solace in the fact that his legacy will live on through the excellent works of the actors and actresses he helped to nurture over the years, and indeed in the progressive success of Nollywood.”

“Nollywood is today one of the biggest movie industries in the world, which is providing employment for many Nigerians and creating wealth for the nation”.

What do you think?

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.