Veteran Nollywood actor Alex Usifo Omiagbo has disagreed with the notion that the competition in Nollywood is killing the budding industry. The bulky actor who is known for his baritone voice said that if for nothing, the competition in the industry is healthy.

In an interview with News Express in Lagos, Usifo said: “People should not be scared of competition. Competition helps people to improve, that in itself is a factor of growth of the industry. If you realise you are not doing very well, you go back and improve. If you think that the competition is strong you have to do something to beat the competition.”

The actor who had been away from the industry to the academia where he bagged a Masters and PhD. in Information Resources Management from Babcock University, said he was glad the industry had improved and is of the opinion that much more is still needed to be done.

“Am glad the industry has grown. When we started we looked forward to what is happening now – a bigger industry and it is not as if we are there yet but we have grown.

“The industry has absolved a lot of people in terms of labour and employment and also helped the nation in terms of talking about our culture, writing our stories ourselves and projecting us in a positive light.”

Asked if he was happy with the present state of the industry, he responded: “I will not say I am satisfied with where we are but we have come a long way and there are lots of rooms for improvement. Don’t forget that the industry started without any form of support from the government. As I speak to you I don’t care how much government has put into it, the industry is thriving on its own. We can do better.”

He however averred that the movie industry will do a lot better if it improves in the area of casting.

“In terms of casting we need to improve. We are still doing sentimental casting. When we watch foreign movies, we find out that every act up to the gateman and cleaner know what they are doing. But here what we do is that we just pick some known faces without putting into consideration if they are fit for such positions.

“There is a lot of mediocrity here, just a handful of people are doing very well. By my assessment, over 70% are mediocre in who just want to do something, people who do not actually belong here but are here because of the money. Fortunately, they have their own market,” he observed.

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