Basketmouth, a Nigerian comedian and filmmaker, believes that the quality of Nigerian films has suffered as a result of Nollywood producers’ alleged mismanagement of money given by international streaming services.

The performer claimed in a recent interview on Arise TV that several producers diverted money intended for film production for personal benefit, wasting large amounts of the allocated budgets.

He claims that very little of the money is actually used to make movies.

“These producers received funding from the streaming platforms when they arrived, and I’ll tell you straight up that they would use the money—$1.5 million or whatever they gave them—to make the film,” he claimed.

Basketmouth went on to say that streaming services choose to compensate actors directly in order to maintain openness after learning about these purported malpractices.

However, by forcing actors to refund a portion of their compensation, producers allegedly came up with a strategy to carry on the deception.

Even to the extent where streaming services intervened and declared, “You know what? Even though we would be paying the actors directly, these men would still go behind the scenes and demand that the actors return half of the money. Anywhere, you can confirm the information,” he continued.

The director contended that poor financial management has had a major impact on Nollywood film quality, with some epic projects coming out as mediocre.

Therefore, if you do that and expect your film to be perfect, it won’t be. It isn’t feasible. However, these men? They will cut, purchase vehicles, and buy houses. And for that reason, several of our epic films appear to be stage plays when you watch them,” Basketmouth bemoaned.