Nigerian Leading Actor
OpenLife News reports that for over 50 years, Prince Jide Kosoko has been the face of Nollywood royalty. From stage to screen, he has survived military regimes, home video booms, and streaming wars.
Today, at 71, the veteran says he is dancing with debt around his neck.
His crime? Trying to be creative in Nigeria’s sour economy.
Kosoko revealed that his ambitious historical epic, Eleko: Oba Esugbayi, which cost over N300 million to produce, has failed to recoup its investment at the cinemas, plunging him into heavy debt.
“If you hear someone with debt dancing around their neck, it is me,” he lamented.
Speaking in a recent interview on African A-List, the legendary actor was brutally honest:“My film ‘Eleko: Oba Esugbayi’ that recently came out and we took to the cinemas, cost us over N300 million. Do I have 300 million?
“You should know that some people gave it to me and it was not that they dashed me, they invested in it and we took the film to the cinemas.”
“Different things happened and we did not earn our money back. The little that was earned was split. As I am, if you hear someone with debt dancing around their neck, it is me.”
The veteran explained that the N300 million was not personal wealth but investors’ funds, people who expected profit, not pity.
The Journey of a Prince Who Gave Everything to Nollywood
This is not a tale of a failed newcomer. This is Jide Kosoko, a prince from Lagos, who started acting at age 10 in 1964 with Ifa Olokun Theatre Group.
A man who:
-Lost his wife, actress Henrietta Kosoko, and still stayed to build the industry
-Served as President of Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners of Nigeria
-Transitioned from Yoruba stage plays to English Nollywood blockbusters, appearing in over 500 films
-Used his royalty and stature to mentor generations – from Funke Akindele to Odunlade Adekola
At an age when many retire, Kosoko chose to risk everything to tell a Yoruba historical story of Oba Esugbayi, an Eleko of Lagos who stood against colonial oppression.
It was meant to be his legacy film.Instead, it became his debt trap.
How Nigeria’s Sour Economy Is Killing Creativity
Kosoko’s story is not isolated. It is the Nollywood reality in 2026:
Cinema is no longer profitable: As actor Ramsey Nouah warned weeks ago, only a tiny fraction of films ever recoup costs in cinemas. Ticket prices at N7,000-N10,000 have pushed families away as disposable income collapses.
Cost of production has tripled: Diesel for generators on set now costs N1,200 per litre. Equipment rental is priced in dollars. A film that cost N80 million in 2022 now costs N300 million.
Investors are running away: When a respected name like Kosoko cannot guarantee returns, why would investors back creativity? The result: producers resort to rushed, low-budget YouTube skits instead of cultural epics like Eleko.
Kosoko’s N300 million debt is not just a personal lamentation. It is a national indictment – that in a country battling inflation at over 30%, fuel subsidy removal, and naira devaluation, telling our own history has become a luxury only the indebted can afford.
For a man who has given 50 years to make Nigerians proud of their culture, Nigeria’s economy has given him debt in return.
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