The end of the 2000s saw Nollywood go from being mostly direct-to-video to making stuff that was worth watching in cinemas. Movies like 2009’s The Figurine showed that audiences were willing to pay for quality movies and this made (some) movie makers step their game up.

It’s been a long-ass decade but we’ve put together a list of what we think were the best (and most influential) films of the 2010s, and we’ve brought you all here today to look at that list and hopefully disagree with it in some way.

Let’s get into it:

1) Ijé: The Journey (2010)

This film reunited the dream team of Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde and Genevieve Nnaji (for the first time since 2003’s Blood Sisters). The story of Chioma (Genevieve) travelling to the US to help her sister, Anya (Omotola) – who is being charged with the murder of her husband and two other men – addressed important themes such as love, racism, culture, stigma, and life as an immigrant in a foreign country.

2) Phone Swap (2012)

Using a simple premise, Kunle Afolayan made one of the best romantic comedies in Nollywood’s history without all the tired tropes. Mary, a warm-hearted fashion designer (played by Nse Ikpe Etim) and Akin, an arrogant and bossy business executive (played by Wale Ojo) accidentally switch phones at a busy airport, leading to a swap in their flight destinations. They realize this too late and spend the movie working together to complete each other’s important assignments, which leads to a lot of personal growth for both of them.

3) Mr & Mrs (2012)

Sorry, Scarlett Johannson and Adam Driver. But Nse Ikpe Etim and Joseph Benjamin were the first to hurl insults at each other in this romantic drama film that chronicled the crumble and eventual rehabilitation of the most troubled marriage this side of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe. The film started much-needed conversations about relationship dynamics and picked up five nominations at the AMAAs.

4) Isoken (2017)

This romantic comedy is about a beautiful and successful woman named Isoken (played by Dakore Egbuson) who unfortunately lives in Nigeria (i.e a marriage-obsessed society), meaning that she’s constantly reminded that she’s an unmarried 34-year-old. At her younger sister’s wedding, her mother tried to matchmake her with Osaze (Joseph Benjamin) but she meets and quickly falls for a white guy named Kevin (played by Marc Rhys). While exploring cultural expectations and racial stereotypes, hilarious hijinks ensure.

5) October 1st (2014)

A dark thriller period piece, this film about a police officer posted to a remote village to solve the mystery behind a string of female murders was met with critical acclaim for its costumes and production design. It was also praised for how it tackled themes like tribalism, western imperialism, and Nigeria’s unification.

6) King of Boys (2018)

“King of Boys tells the story of Alhaja Eniola Salami (played by Sola Sobowale), a businesswoman and philanthropist with and a promising political future. She is drawn into a struggle for power which in turn threatens everything around her as a result of her growing political ambitions. To come out of this on top, she is caught up in a game of trust, not knowing who to really look up to and this leads to her ruthlessness.”

Not many people would tackle a three-hour-long political thriller for their sophomore directorial effort but Kemi Adetiba did and crushed it. Along with an ensemble cast who brought its A-game and a captivating story, Adetiba made a movie that has no doubt secured its place in the halls of Nollywood classics.

7) Lion Heart (2018)

Overly familiar storyline aside, Genevieve’s directorial debut was a masterclass in filmmaking. Terrific performances and strong messages about family, perseverance, and female empowerment are also cherries on top of the delightful sundae that is this film.

8) Living in Bondage: Breaking Free (2019)

We already said all we could about this movie in our official review.

9) Wedding Party (2016)

The makers of the Wedding Party must’ve done something right because it quickly became the highest-grossing Nollywood movie of all time, a record which was then broken by its sequel a year later. It single-handedly kick-started the “ensemble rom-com” trend in Nollywood and we haven’t heard word since.

10) 76 (2016)

“Set six years after the civil war, a young officer from the Middle Belt gets into a romantic relationship with an O-level student from the South-eastern region. However, their relationship is strained by constant military postings. The soldier gets accused of being involved in the unsuccessful 1976 military coup and assassination of General Murtala Mohammed, and the heavily pregnant wife gets entangled in an emotional dilemma.”

Let’s face it, the 2010s have been a hella messy decade for the Nigerian entertainment industry. So messy that even Joanne the Scammer (a messy bitch that lives for drama) would clutch her pearls and whisper, “No ma’am!” As we’re hurtling towards the end of the decade, we decided to make a list of what we consider to be the biggest Nigerian celebrity scandals of the 2010s.

1) That time Oge Okoye claimed Kenya Moore’s dogs as her own on Instagram and Kenya Moore shaded the hell out of her.

The internet was on its own in March 2017 when Oge Okoye came from nowhere and posted a picture of two dogs she claimed she just bought named Rob and Rosy. The dogs were tiny and ugly and Nigerians didn’t care much until the real owner of the dogs, reality star Kenya Moore, opened Oge’s yansh and exposed her.

2) That time Skiibi faked his own death for clout and immediately got caught.

Back in 2015, upcoming artiste, Skiibi, along with his then label, Five Star Music, conspired to fake his death in what turned out to be the most-poorly planned hoax in the Nigerian entertainment history. It didn’t take long for Nigerians to clock that treachery was afoot. After he was exposed, he revealed that he only did it was so “people would see the beauty in my talent.” The only thing that annoyed me more than the hoax itself was that his label mates, KCEE and Harry Songs, didn’t advise him against doing something so stupid.

3) Tonto Dikeh’s attempt at a music career.

Much like the day Abacha died, everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing the day Tonto Dikeh dropped her abominable, heavily-autotuned debut single titled, “HI“. With the pure force of its awfulness alone, this song broke the Nigerian corner of the internet and spawned countless thigh-slappingly hilarious parodies. As damage control, she remixed the song into EDM and released this new version with a shiny music video of her and a ton of other people at a rave of some kind.

It was still terrible.

4) The Rise of Bobrisky.

Bobrisky seemingly appeared out of thin air and got everyone’s attention. Seriously, according to Google, Bobrisky was the most searched individual from October to November 2016 in Anglophone West Africa. Till this day, her popularity hasn’t dwindled. Everything she says or does is news-worthy, which of course meant that in Nigeria (a country with no LGBT rights), the press has a love/hate relationship with her.

5) 9ice, Rugged Man, and Toni Payne.

This scolding tea first hit everyone in the face when 9ice released the single “Once Bitten Twice Shy”. For some reason, people were convinced that the lines “I saw with my two naked eyes. Giving my friend nodding while the door was ajar” were about his then-wife, Toni Payne, eating Ruggedman’s penis. A rumour that 9ice did absolutely nothing to stop.

After years of anyhow diss tracks and back-handed comments, 9ice finally said out loud that Rugged Man wasn’t the person Toni Payne cheated on him with.

6) P-Square’s Split.

See ehn, anyone with the real tea on why these two split up so they could drop mediocre singles individually, hit us up. Because as you see us like this, we’re not sure. One accused the other of disrespecting his wife & kids, which led to threats being hurled all around. Then there was that alleged sub-plot of Jude Okoye threatening to shoot Peter’s wife, Lola, in front of the former first lady of Cross Rivers state, Obioma Liyel-Imoke.

A certified mess.

7) Don Jazzy VS Olamide at the 2015 Headies.

Don Jazzy’s protégé, Reekado Banks won the Headies Next Rated award over Olamide’s protégé, Lil Kesh, and it became a whole thing. Onstage later, Olamide shaded the organisers for not giving the award to Lil Kesh. After that, Don Jazzy responded by saying “Egbon Olamide, if you want the car (that’s given to the winners of the Next Rated award), come and collect it.” Olamide was pissed and told Don Jazzy never to come to the Mainland again (leemao). Dangote eventually settled their fight.

8) Kelly Handsome beefing everyone that would reply him.

Long before Azelia Banks spilled her vitriol all over the internet, there was Kelly Hansome taking shots at everyone so he could engage in a game of musical fisticuffs with anyone bored enough to reply. He did this with the Mohits crew and MI (who lyrically scalped with him with a couple of diss tracks). I think when the entire nation decided to ignore his antics was when he took shots at T-Pain for no fucking on the track, True Love.

9) Mohits split.

It was around that time “Oliver Twist” was released. There were rumours but nothing was confirmed until Don Jazzy said it himself. Mohits was no more and Dbanj had run off with Kanye West. However, from the ashes of Mohits, Mavin was born, complete with a compilation album featuring all the artistes. Which kinda makes you wonder how long they’d all known about this.

10) Linda Ikeji’s pregnancy.

“I FELL PREGNANT!” became a whole thing after Linda Ikeji said it in an attempt to explain her pregnancy gotten out of wedlock after she’d spent years telling girls to NEVER have kids for men they were not married to.

If we missed out any messy scandal you think should’ve made this list, add it in the comments! 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇