Veteran Nollywood actor Jide Kosoko has opened up about a crippling financial loss after he put more than ₦300 million into a cinema film that failed to recoup its production costs.

Kosoko made the revelation on the African A List podcast, which aired on Saturday, October 17. He said the money was not entirely his own but had been contributed by people who believed in the project and chose to back it financially.

Despite that support, the film did not earn enough at the box office to cover what had been spent. Whatever income it did bring in was shared among those who worked on the project, leaving him unable to repay his backers.

"I spent over 300 million naira on a cinema movie, money that people contributed for me and I ended up in debt, we didn't earn back the money, the little we earned was split too," he said.

Kosoko is one of the most recognisable figures in Nollywood, with a career spanning several decades across Yoruba and English-language productions as an actor, filmmaker and director.

He has also been involved in historically significant projects, including Eleko, a film about Oba Esugbayi Eleko and his stand against British colonial rule in Lagos.

His admission has put a spotlight on the financial risks of producing cinema-scale films in Nigeria, and it quickly drew reactions on social media.

ID