Veteran Ghanaian actor Majid Michel says it is unfair to compare Ghana’s film industry directly with Nigeria’s Nollywood because of the major difference in population between the two countries.
Speaking in an interview, Michel said Nigeria’s larger population provides a much wider pool of actors, filmmakers and other industry professionals.
He described the comparison as “stupid”, arguing that population size must be considered when judging the scale and development of the two film industries.
“The comparison between us and Nigeria is such a stupid comparison to me. If you have 50 children and I have five children, the possibility that you will have more criminals, doctors, good children and filmmakers than me is very high,” he said.
Michel said Nigeria’s population is more than 200 million, while Ghana’s is fewer than 40 million. He argued that the difference naturally means Nigeria has access to more potential talent for its film industry.
The actor questioned why Ghana should be expected to produce the same number of filmmakers or match Nigeria’s output without taking the population gap into account.
He also said comparisons between Ghana and countries with more established systems should be treated with similar caution.
“There are countries that have been in leadership for over 300 years. They have built systems. We are way behind. So it is an unfair comparison,” he said.
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