As many Nollywood actors continue to own choice houses in highbrow parts of Lagos, popular Nollywood actor, Aremu Afolayan, is not convinced that they made their money through the craft.
In a recent chat with Punchng, he said Nigerians are quick to believe anything especially once it is on the internet but the truth is that most actors driving big cars most likely got their money from influential people.
He said, “By the way, I live my life, people tend to think that I am the richest Yoruba actor, but that is a lie. Nigerians assume a lot. I live in a rented apartment because I cannot afford to build one. When they see me buy a new car, they don’t know if I paid for the car in instalments; instead they call me a big boy. What type of big boy lives on N50,000 or N100,000 income per film as an actor?
“I challenge any Nigerian actor that is living larger than life to state how they made their money because I am sure it is not from the movies they make. I am talking about both the English and Yoruba actors. If they like, they can say they make N5m per film, they cannot afford to build or buy a house at Lekki or Victoria Island or Ikoyi. It is impossible. They should call out mathematicians to figure it out. It is a lie.
It is because they meet some influential people that give them businesses or they have side businesses. Since we do not all meet such people or make the kind of money they make through these people, we just have to be content with what we have. In my life, I have never seen an ‘educated illiterate’ country like Nigeria. Nigerians are very gullible when it comes to judging other people’s lifestyle since they do not know anything, they assume. Then social media came and it made things worse.”
