Where The Nollywood ‘Big Girls’ Make Their Monies From

Regina Daniels who has been claiming to be 16 in the past four years but later discovered to be 21 years old has been in the news of late.

In less than two months, she announced the acquisition of a mansion for her mother as well as the purchase of two multi-million naira Mercedes Benz whips. Aside from acting in low-budget epic films that look like kinds of stuff shot in less than 24hrs, Regina Daniels is not known to be involved in any other tangible economic activity. She is rumoured to be a student of the Igbinedion University Okada, Edo State. 

So where is the windfall coming from? This is the question on the lips of many Nigerians on social media. The question has also been posed to Regina Daniels’ senior colleagues who have always attributed their ‘blessings’ to God and hard work. It’s no news that actresses in Nigeria live lifestyles that people who are gainfully employed abroad will kill for. They parade properties a top management staff of a reputable oil company might be dreaming of having. But this isn’t the same story for their male counterparts who are always in the news seeking financial help to offset medical bills. Top actors like Tinsel star Victor Olaotan, Baba Suwe, Abija, Fadeyi Oloro and some others have been in the news in recent times over their public appeals for assistance from their fans. These are heavyweight figures whose faces and voices sell films.  One wonders why the males work like elephants and eat like ants while it’s the other way for the females. Are the males banned from visiting the United Kingdom, Hungary, United States of America, Dubai, Greece, Turkey and other top tourist destinations across the world for vacations? Have they been warned not to buy the designer clothes, shoes,  houses and exotic cars but languish in penury? The simple answer is no! Then what is wrong? Their female counterparts are certainly doing things differently.

Actress Mercy Aigbe suddenly bought a house last year, 2018. According to her testimony, she had been struggling to complete the construction of her own house for years in futility. But surprisingly, a miracle happened and she bought herself a mansion. Just like that? The mystic event that didn’t complete the initial building project you had on the ground brought a new one. As if that was not enough, she bought herself a Toyota Prado jeep a month later as Christmas gift. Mercy, a single mother of two also has an eye for expensive wears and overseas trips. 

Many have wondered how she has been able to keep up considering the fact that she hardly stars in the blockbuster movies that gain national relevance. She is only seen in movie jobs that end up on Instagram as comedy skits and later on African Magic which has fast become a dumping ground for substandard Nigerian films. She was later alleged to be warming the bed of the outgoing governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, an allegation she has expectedly denied multiple times.

Virtually every week, we hear of at least two actresses announcing the arrival of new exotic cars while the pages of their colleagues of the opposite sex mostly smell of unfulfilled struggles. There is a popular social media joke that life for a man is so uncertain that the male barbie and cross-dresser, Bobrisky decided to be a woman as an escape route from hardship. Maybe that is what is playing out – the power of sexuality!

Being an established and wealthy actress is not about what you do before the camera, it’s more of what you do behind it mostly in an adult game that is played by two people or more in some instances. How much do you think a producer will pay you for a movie? Most investors hardly recoup their investments when they put them into the industry which is largely unregulated and also riddled with wicked piracy.  For example, in less than one month after Genevieve Nnaji premiered her high-budget movie – Lionheart, her Igbo brothers had already dubbed it, reproduced en masse and were selling copies in traffic at the rate of N150 each. The 39-year old would have been counting her losses if not for her moneyed deal with an American media-services provider, Netflix.

Nowadays, most producers tend to invest the kind of money they can afford to lose like what the infamous Ponzi scheme, MMM advised. On this note, most actors maybe excluding a few very established figures go home with peanuts and are forced to rely on the benevolence and magnanimity of their fans. This accounts for the reason why most Nollywood figures align with politicians and are used to cajole the electorate during electioneering campaigns. They don’t even understand the visions of the politicians, its mostly about economic survival. We also have other actors trying to venture into politics while leveraging on their fame like Desmond Elliot, Kate Henshaw, Kanayo O. Kanayo, Kenneth Okonkwo, Yul Edochie and others.

When the curvy actress, Daniel Okeke was accused of sleeping with their firebrand preacher, Apostle Johnson Suleman of the Omega Fire Ministries International, it didn’t take much efforts from the accuser, Stephanie Otobo for the public to believe. She rarely appears in movies, nobody really sees her work but she deals in more money than a commercial bank. She has a fleet of exotic cars and houses and spends much of her time travelling around the world. Daniella’s biggest talent is her big backside and she never fails to parade it like a peacock when she shares her pictures. That single natural resource is as valuable as what crude oil is to Saudi Arabia.

Nollywood acts always claim to have other businesses which they never promote on their pages which get more traffic than some television stations. Their sources of income have become an open secret in recent times and nobody cares as long as the end justifies the means.

Movie director and actor, Francis Atuma, once alleged that majority of the actress living colourful lives make money with their backs on the ground and their hands touching their toes. This has nothing to do with gymnastics, it’s simply prostitution. 

“If you are not a full time or semi-prostitute, you will not make it in Nollywood,” Atuma told TheCable Lifestyle.

“Our ladies are using what they have to get what they want. Even some of the guys who can use their a** are the ones making it in Nollywood.

“I am being very real here and they make it look as if they are doing well but they are not, they are suffering.

“Let’s stop deceiving the younger ones by keeping it real. We have to let the younger ones know how it is and what it is.” he concluded.

He went further to challenge actresses with clean hands to come out and counter his claim. Almost every actress, except Ruth Kadiri, avoided him like a plague. 

The controversial Nollywood actress Nkechi Blessing Sunday who features in the Yoruba section also corroborated the views of Francis Atuma indirectly. She once admitted that only Funke Akindele Bello and Toyin Abraham are the hardworking acts living off their handworks and that the rest of them “know what they do”. If you are waiting for more clarifications from her, you are on a ‘long thing’ like it’s being said on the streets.

Additionally, a Ghana-based actress of Gambian descent, Princess Shyngle who is famed for having a tiny waist has been in Lagos State, Nigeria for months virtually doing nothing. The ‘biggest job‘  she has done recently is appearing in the comedy skits of an Instagram comedian Broda Shaggi who probably produces those contents simply for the visibility of his brand and not necessarily for money. She recently got a Brabus which costs about N54 million from her boyfriend coupled with expensive wristwatches and others. That’s the way to go in the industry or else you will chop sand. 

Not many have the heart to admit that you need to roll with sugar daddies like Ghanaian actress Moesha Buduong told a CNN anchor, Christine Amanpour.

Acting doesn’t really pay the bills, it’s just a decoy just like most internet fraudsters pose as musicians to hoodwink anti-graft operatives. In the age of social media, all you need to do is appear in movies even if it’s for free. Don’t bother about the roles. Open social media accounts (majorly Twitter and Instagram) and share the set pictures as evidence. The bulk of other pictures will be your personal pictures. Showcase your physical attributes ranging from the face, flat tummy, hips, breasts and bum. Make the pictures as lewd as possible to attract attention. The people love such contents but they will pretend to criticize you. You can twerk once in a while and share the videos online. They will surely go viral, that’s a means of free promotion. Be ready for the dirty social media dramas, fights and other calculated publicity stunts like Nkechi Blessing Sunday stands up to her adversaries on Instagram. 

Come online and make bogus statements once in a while like saying ‘you can’t date a man who can’t undertake 6 rounds of sex per day’,  the entire country will give you attention. Entertainment journalists will rush you like Shoprite products for more juicy details to whet the appetite of their audience. You can also dabble into any trending issues like the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar does especially before he lost the recent presidential election. The blogs will feed on this but be ready for the backlash when they distort the information.

 Post more indecent photos with daring captions like the fashion mogul, Toyin Lawani. Take pictures at topnotch places eating intercontinental dishes, wearing stylish clothes and posing with cars to boost your market value. Do giveaways, drop contentious comments on popular pages, viciously attack the trolls and cyber bullies to grab headlines, bleach the skin like OAP Toke Makinwa to become more attractive; I have read the showbiz industry favours light-skinned people. You can also take advantage of your birthdays to shut down the social media space with ungodly contents and see what happens in your DMs. The moneybags among your followers will start making bids like you are a proposed capital project they need to execute. Some of them are he-goats, they will do anything to satisfy their dirty fantasies. All they need from you is to send out the signal that you are open for business.

Princess Shyngle was once offered $100,000 for a one night stand by a white follower. She exposed the man’s secret message as well as others dishing out lump sums. We are sure she did possibly because the offer was meagre to her. Many applicants with bigger offers could have been given provisional admissions into her honey pot.

Osayimwen Osahon George is a journalist, he writes from Lagos State