Ruth Kadiri: Why I upload my films on YouTube

Ruth Kadiri, the Nollywood actress, has revealed why she uploads her movies on YouTube.

In an interview with BBC Pidgin, Kadiri said there are “too many” regulations concerning film production in Nigeria.

The mother of two said she began uploading her films on YouTube because she wanted a platform where she could freely express herself and “tell my stories”.

She added that the platform has provided filmmakers with an opportunity to make money.

“I have been a producer for a long time but there are too many rules and regulations during production,” she said.

“So I called my team and told them that I want an opportunity to express myself. For instance, if I see something online I want to learn it and after learning, I want to upload it somewhere.

“When I travelled to give birth, I was bored and started watching a lot of musical videos and noticed that some people put their films on YouTube.

“I told myself that I’ll come back to try it. Some people discouraged me and told me that there is no money in it. But because I needed a platform to express myself and tell my stories, I decided to try it.

“I told my team that we should shoot and if the film is not good enough, we will learn and use it as a learning process.

“Personally I don’t worry about competition and I feel like as filmmakers, we are at the fore front and we hustle.

“If you remove YouTube from the industry, apart from filmmakers and content creators, people will go hungry.

“YouTube is an opportunity for a lot of filmmakers to make money and that’s what is happening now. Because YouTube is what is feeding people now.”

Kadiri currently has two million subscribers and 294,790,208 views on YouTube.

In 2020, the movie star revealed how the fear of combining her career and motherhood made her fall into depression during pregnancy.

She also said she was scared she would ruin her career and wouldn’t be a good mother.