Tayo Faniran says Nollywood awards are rigged, industry driven by nepotism and favouritism

• Tayo Faniran says most Nollywood award shows are rigged and influenced by personal connections.

• The actor accuses the industry of relying on nepotism and favouritism when deciding who gets opportunities.

• Faniran says he has turned to creating and funding his own projects rather than waiting for industry gatekeepers.

Actor Tayo Faniran has accused the Nollywood industry of deliberately obstructing his career, saying favouritism and personal connections continue to shape who gets opportunities in the industry.

Speaking with TVC, Faniran, who rose to fame as a Big Brother Africa winner before transitioning into acting, said his comments stemmed from firsthand experience rather than general observation. He argued that awards and recognition are too often decided by personal bias rather than the quality of the work itself.

"Some people made their own impression of me when I was younger and in Big Brother Africa," he said, adding that such decisions can cost an actor opportunities they've earned.

Faniran went further, alleging that the industry's system is effectively rigged, and that many of the producers, directors and actors regarded as Nollywood's biggest names did not get there on talent alone

“The film producers that you guys see and you know as the biggest are not the most talented film producers. Same with directors. Same with actors,” he said.

He also named The Fire and the Moth as a project he felt deserved acknowledgement, if not necessarily for himself, but for the film's director, cinematographer and sound team.

Beyond awards, Faniran claimed that certain individuals in the industry actively work to limit others' progress. “There are also, you know, people who are in the industry that, not that they know much or they have a lot to contribute, but theirs is just to sabotage people,” he said, without naming anyone specifically. 

He went further, describing parts of the industry's upper tier as shaped by "magomago," a Nigerian term for shady or underhanded dealings, alongside nepotism and clique-based favouritism.

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Drawing a comparison with Afrobeats, his argument is that, unlike the way Nigeria's music industry tends to reward emerging talent based on potential, Nollywood instead channels opportunities through a smaller circle of established gatekeepers, a dynamic he said discourages new ideas from entering the industry.

Rather than continue waiting on the system to change, Faniran said he has shifted his focus to creating his own opportunities. He referenced his 2020 film Man Like Jimmy and a more recent four-part series, Bodija, which he said he personally funded with over 100 million naira. "All that we need is just a fair hearing or a fair submission," he said of the project.

Faniran maintained that his remarks were not aimed at any one person, but at what he described as a systemic issue within Nollywood, and called for a shift toward merit-based recognition across the industry.