I say with some level of embarrassment that I used to be one of those who had only negative comments to make about indigenous TV drama programmes. However over the last few years, I also say maybe with less levels of embarrassment that I have become quite partial to them. In fact sometimes I think it might border on the ridiculous as I flick back and forth from one station to another trying to find my ‘favourite’ actors. The standards in acting have greatly improved and I happen to find some of the Nollywood dramas quite entertaining. I can say with pride that there are dramas that I would tune in to watch if I see the names of particular actors in starring roles.

Having said all of that, I have found that there are some topics on these programmes that are not treated with much enlightenment or for that matter with much intelligence and responsibility. With TV, cinema being the powerful medium that it is, to educate, inform as well as entertain, I find that there are many lost opportunities on these drama shows, particularly in how they choose to cover and portray certain issues.

It is unfortunate and frankly speaking irresponsible that in almost every one of these shows where the issue of illnesses are depicted particularly in children, that the child invariably is portrayed as unable to survive. Worst of all the illness that is almost always depicted is Sickle Cell Anaemia. While there is no denying this can potentially be a serious condition as are diabetes and other chronic conditions, it is a very negative attitude and not helpful to the many millions of men women and young people living full successful life’s with the conditions, to depict it as a life sentence. These programmes should not in this day and age still be depicting this and similar conditions as a death sentence as it was thought of in the past. They should be seizing the opportunity to responsibly show of the ways people with the condition and their families can manage and cope successfully. It is high time these dramas stop referring to illnesses as some form of retribution from God or as some form of curse levied on to people through supernatural powers.

The same attitude or even worse because it is not mentioned at all, applies to people with physical disabilities. This complete invisibility of people with disabilities in dramas again clearly mirrors the attitudes of people in society. Disabled people are hardly ever seen in any positive way. The only times they are observed are the poor on the streets begging. Whereas there are many families with family members who have disabilities who are working and living fulfilled lives. The disability they face is not so much a physical one; it is more the disability of attitudes and rejection shown to them by society.

The way these topics are covered in Nollywood dramas is not only insulting  and does a great injustice to the people with these conditions and their families, but it encourages the negative attitudes, myths, fear and half truths that people have held for years about these conditions.

My biggest pet peeve and sadness at the lost opportunities in Nollywood dramas, is the attitudes that still prevail as far as how childless women in marriages are portrayed (pretty much still how women in general are portrayed).They are still condemned to eternal damnation and ostracised, referred to as proverbial ‘witches’.

Unbelievably in the 21^st century with all the information that is available to us on the internet, social media; it pales beyond imagination that in these ‘international’ Nollywood dramas, we are still seeing women portrayed as the sole reason why couples may be unable to produce children in their marriages. Even more baffling and certainly infuriating is the continuous misrepresentation of medical facts regarding who is solely responsible for whether a couple can produce a male child or not! This God given ‘gift’ has been given to the male species and genetics. He alone has the ‘Y’ chromosome that can join with the female’s ‘X’ chromosome to produce a male child. Men determine the sex of a baby, the woman has nothing to do with it! Tradition and culture is so entrenched and has blamed women for so long that it is almost impossible to change these attitudes, even with educated people who should and know better. One of the best ways to try to begin to correct these attitudes is through these wonderful dramas, but opportunities are being lost or just ignored.

Added to this is the attitude to violence against women, domestic abuse by husbands and even more concerning is violence by mother in laws which leave a lot to be desired. I was watching one of these dramas the other day and I was thoroughly enjoying it until it got to a part where a woman was almost raped by a man whose unwelcome advances were rebuked. In the course of the scuffle the woman hit the man on his head with a teacup to get him off her and drew blood. To my shock and horror, considering this particular drama was purporting to be modern and enlightened; the attempted rape was overlooked and the woman was condemned, castigated, abused and arrested by the police for hitting the man. The dialogue was as follows by his mates: ‘so just because he wanted to rape you, is that why you want to damage him? Just because you did that, now the rest of us must have sex with you!’ I was horrified and completely taken aback that someone wrote these words in a supposedly modern day enlightened script. It was just another opportunity lost to change negative mindsets and to educate people.

The other area that these shows fail to handle thoughtfully is when it comes to depicting people taking responsibility for their actions in life. Many times if some calamity has befallen an individual, you rarely see time taken to explore what the individual’s responsibility was in the situation. Once again there is too much emphasis on supernatural powers being responsible. In a society where there is little accountability or responsibility for behaviour and actions taken, it tends to encourage people not to take responsibility for their actions, to absolve themselves from their inability to behave appropriately.

Being able to be circumspect before making decisions and to be prepared to acknowledge individual mistakes when made are all ways of developing character and growing as a person; knowing that if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same result which may be ineffectual in the long term.

I will continue to watch these dramas because I find them intriguing, entertaining and mostly enjoyable, but I would implore the writers, directors to take more care and think of the responsibilities they have been charged with and the opportunities’ they have been given to educate, raise awareness and eradicate harmful traditional practices.

My favourite artists are Yinka Quadri, Taiwo Hassan, Mercy Johnson (she can weep on cue, the best in the business), Mona Lisa, Adekola, Femi Adebayo, Funke Akindele, Desmond Elliot, Ramsey Nouah, Majid Michel, Saidi, Chidi Mokeme and so many more!

What are your views on Nollywood story lines and who are your favourite actors/actresses and why?

Gloria Ogunbadejo writes a weekly column for Punch Newspaper. She is a Psychotherapist, a life coach, a holistic counsellor and an ordained Minister

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