Veteran Nollywood actor and producer Jide Kosoko says he is in debt after his historical epic, Eleko: Oba Esugbayi, failed to recover its production cost of more than N300 million at the cinemas.
“If you hear someone with debt dancing around their neck, it is me,” Kosoko said in an interview on African A-List.
The film was financed by investors who expected returns, he explained. Instead, the money never came back. “Different things happened and we did not earn our money back,” he said, adding that “the little that was earned was split” among those involved.
Kosoko was quick to clarify that the debt is not owed to the cast and crew, who were paid. The shortfall is in what investors were promised.
Eleko was one of Nollywood’s most ambitious releases of 2026. The film tells the story of Oba Esugbayi Eleko, son of Oba Dosunmu, who signed the 1861 treaty that ceded Lagos to Britain. Crowned in 1901, Eleko defied a colonial governor in 1908 by opposing a water levy on Lagos residents, a stand that sparked mass protests, led to his removal from the throne and ended in a long legal battle he eventually won.
Kosoko produced the film and starred alongside a heavyweight Yoruba cast that included Femi Adebayo, Saidi Balogun, Dele Odule, Yinka Quadri, Yemi Solade, Adebayo Salami and Broda Shaggi. It was co-directed by Adebayo Tijani, Babatunde Kosoko and Tunde Olaoye, and opened in cinemas nationwide on March 20.
The numbers explain the pain. By mid-June, Nairametrics counted only ten films that had crossed N100 million at the Nigerian box office in 2026. Eleko was not among them. Even the year’s biggest earner at the time, Michael, had taken about N691 million across Nigeria and Ghana combined. For a N300 million production, breaking even at Nigerian cinemas would have required a performance only a handful of films ever achieve, especially once cinema operators and distributors take their share.
Kosoko’s admission follows a warning from actor and director Ramsey Nouah, who said recently that only a tiny fraction of films released in cinemas recover their costs.
Reaction online was swift and often political. Vanguard’s post on the story drew close to 600 comments within hours, with many users pointing to Kosoko’s open support for President Bola Tinubu. The actor was listed on the All Progressives Congress presidential campaign council in 2023. “He can take the film to Aso Rock now,” one commenter wrote. Others were more sympathetic, noting that rising living costs have kept many Nigerians away from cinemas altogether.
For an industry chasing big-budget prestige, Kosoko’s loss is a sobering data point. A heavyweight veteran, a celebrated cast and a story rooted in Lagos history still could not fill enough seats to pay back the investors.