Veteran actor, Chief Chika Okpala, popularly known as Zebrudaya, has said lack of sponsorship has hindered production of most television series in the country.
The 57-year-old spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos during an interview on Thursday.
Okpala lamented that popular NTA soap series Masquerade, Cockcrow at Dawn, The Village headmaster and others were left to dwindle because sponsors withdrew.
“The dwindling economy is the major problem of production in the country and lack of sponsorship has contributed to the dearth of programmes on Television stations in the country.
“Foreign soaps like Mexican soaps, Telemundo, the Zee World and the rest of them have flooded our TV screens now and ours are suffering,” he said.
The veteran actor expressed optimism that if those Nigerian programmes were still being aired; actors, actresses, producers, directors and the rest of the Nollywood would be employed and people would be entertained also.
“The private sector complained about the economy and without the economy being vibrant you cannot push the programmes forward.
“People cannot do productions without it yielding something substantial to take care of their families.
“If you engage an artiste and he performs for free today, tomorrow he may not because he has to pay his bills.
“He has to pay his rent and take care of other things,” he said.
