While some Nigerian video movies are produced in languages such as Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Pidgin, it is the movies in English that have moved beyond localized market niches to become popular all over Africa.

Video vendors have become the predominant traders in Idumota Market in Lagos—the sprawling unplanned hub of Nigeria's informal sector that is the distribution center for the industry.
Nigeria’s popular movie industry is profitable and self-sufficient and is now one of the fastest growing sectors of the Nigerian economy.

While Nigerians can now dream of becoming movie stars, acting is only the most visible occupation associated with the industry. A typical ten-day shoot requires the services of more than a hundred people in a wide array of occupations. The shoot is only the beginning of the work of producing movies. Post-production including digital special effects labs and soundtrack music, packaging, advertising, distribution, and retail sales all generate additional jobs.

Nollywood emerged in the 1990s. The decade began with hope and a promise of civilian rule. But when military honchos tossed out the election results in 1993, hope was replaced by terror. General Sani Abacha was a brutal leader, even by Nigerian standards. He used execution to silence the protests of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other environmental activists from the petroleum producing "south-south" region where abject poverty is aggravated by environmental degradation from petroleum operations that produce billions for multinational corporations.

Abacha died shortly before elections ended military rule in 1999. Unfortunately, postcolonial Nigerian government has reproduced the worst characteristics of colonial rule: a formal economy of resource extraction that remains divorced from the domestic economy, kept in place by a kleptocratic elite prone to militarism. The recent transition to civilian government has done little to provide new leadership. Against this gloomy backdrop, it is hard not to be intrigued by this plucky movie industry's success transforming Africa's popular imagination into profitable commerce.

Nollywood's success in Africa means it does not have to grovel for attention and awards from the West to survive. Scholars concerned with Africa's future, however, cannot afford to ignore Nollywood's spirited, and indeed glamorous, refutation of the West's smug pessimism about the continent's potential.