Nollywood should be more than just an entertaining distraction for Nigerians, but through the right scripts have the potential to change people’s mentalities for good.

Veteran Nigerian rapper, Eldee The Don in a series of tweets explained how Nollywood has contributed to instilling negative stereotypes into its viewers, and how the movie industry has not done enough to imbibe the right culture for growth into Nigerians.

According to the rapper, Nollywood can play a huge role in connecting Nigerians.

“Much of modern Nigerian culture is passed on and reinforced through Nollywood storytelling and in my opinion, majority of Nollywood movies reinforce too many negative stereotypes.

”I understand that movies are a reflection of society but there is a unique opportunity to change narratives with movies that we don’t seem to realize or have totally ignored over the last 2 decades” he tweeted

“Nollywood is the one thing that connects all Nigerians besides music and football, and it has the potential to shift the mentality of the population. Our writers must become more careful with the content that we feed our people.

‘Our stories must deliberately begin to aggressively promote fairness, hard work, integrity, honesty, respect, discipline, compassion, accountability, selflessness, empathy, responsibility, Kindness, self-awareness, resilience, self-control, independence, I could go on” he added.

Do you agree with Eldee?

See his tweets below:

eLDee

@eLDeeTheDon

My intention on the episode is to highlight a huge but rarely acknowledged opportunity for nation re-building through media.

eLDee

@eLDeeTheDon

Much of modern Nigerian culture is passed on and reinforced through Nollywood storytelling and in my opinion, majority of Nollywood movies reinforce too many negative stereotypes.

eLDee

@eLDeeTheDon

I watched a lot of Nollywood this summer and the recurring themes of more than 90% of the movies unwittingly reinforce negative stereotypes. The values that perpetuate the societal decay.

eLDee

@eLDeeTheDon

I understand that movies are a reflection of society but there is a unique opportunity to change narratives with movies that we don’t seem to realize or have totally ignored over the last 2 decades.

eLDee

@eLDeeTheDon

Our stories must deliberately begin to aggressively promote fairness, hard work, integrity, honesty, respect, discipline, compassion, accountability, selflessness, empathy, responsibility, Kindness, self-awareness, resilience, self-control, independence, I could go on.

eLDee

@eLDeeTheDon

Nollywood is the one thing that connects all Nigerians besides music and football, and it has the potential to shift the mentality of the population. Our writers must become more careful with the content that we feed our people.

eLDee

@eLDeeTheDon

We must go back to telling deliberate stories that are intended not only for entertainment but for teaching the values that are desperately needed for the nation to change its current course.

eLDee

@eLDeeTheDon

Our stories must deliberately begin to aggressively promote fairness, hard work, integrity, honesty, respect, discipline, compassion, accountability, selflessness, empathy, responsibility, Kindness, self-awareness, resilience, self-control, independence, I could go on.