Nollywood fever grips Uganda

After years of watching Hollywood films, Ugandans would be expected to have picked up phrases such as “Wannabe” “Watz up, guys” and “I done nothing.” But this is not the case.

Instead, they are more comfortable with Nollywood phrases like “Oga,” “Igwe,” “My people” and “I don’t like it, oh.”

Welcome to Nigerian movie magic. The movies are all the rage in the Pearl of Africa.

To many Ugandans, no talk is complete without a sprinkling of Nigerian English accents.

What many cannot imitat — at least for now, is pidgin English — a mixture of English and Nigerian local languages.

As an unrelated bonus, the Nigerian community living in Uganda is growing in number.

“When we speak and Ugandans hear our accent, they spontaneously respond “Igwe’ or refer to us as “Oga.” We like it and we think that Ugandans now know us better and can identify with us,” says Pastor Tunde Yesufu, a Nigerian living in Uganda.

The interactions do not stop there. More and more Ugandans and Nigerians are inter marrying.

During the regular Nigerian community meetings, several Uganda women married to Nigerian men turn up.

Some Ugandan women even think the much dramatised simplicity of male characters — who are easily tamed or put in a charmed bottle — is a reality.

So they are searching for single Nigerian men to marry.

“Some women come to me and ask if I know of Nigerian men who are searching for women to marry. They think Nigerian men are simple, loving and caring. But it is not always so. Some men beat their wives brutally,” says Elabisi Yesufu, a Nigerian tailor living in Uganda.

This was not the case 10 years ago, when Tunde came to Uganda.

He had trouble mixing freely with Ugandans, what with the movies then portraying Nigerians as superstitious, wicked and supportive of human sacrifice.

“The movies had a negative impact on us. Some people still think Nigerians are superstitious. They think that Nigerians get money through the occult. But most Nigerians are hardworking,” he said.