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Ejike Asiegbu needs no introduction. A veteran Nollywood actor and a consummate stage actor, he is also a former president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN. ORJI ONYEKWERE took him up on several issues concerning the industry in this exclusive interview.
What’s happening to Ejike Asiegbu, we barely see you in movies these days?
I am there, it’s just that you don’t watch, even the fans that are complaining too. A lot of things happen. The best way to check someone’s activities is probably on social media. I am not the type that announces everything thing I do, but I am sure when it comes to activities; you have seen me and you would have noticed that there are a lot of movies I have taken part in. I am still taking part in some of them which includes Netflix movies. If you go online, you will see that I am still very active. Beyond that I also do other things, I have my company -Forever Communications Limited, from time to time, I do documentaries. I am more into consultation and media consultancy.
I do quite a lot and that’s in my own space and I don’t need to start announcing some of these things. I don’t think I have anything to prove to the world and for my fans; it’s good to know they are asking after me and I appreciate that. I just want them to know that I am very much around in my own little world and space.
They now classify Nollywood movies. High budget movies are seen as Netflix movies, while low budget movies are known as Asaba movies. Is this not insulting to Nollywood. What’s your take on this?
You are a journalist and we are all living in the same society and so you are the one to tell. You don’t need to hear from me to know what’s happening. It’s just like when we started back in those days because my career is spanning over 43 years now. It’s just like talking about the old NTA, which is not the same thing as the new NTA in terms of growth and development. So, nothing is constant, things evolve. You have to give credit to those some people refer to as ‘Asaba film’, again you ought to know that film is film. Even the days we started, we were shooting with Betacam and or VHS cameras, until we started shooting with more modern ones, it was still film and a process of film making. Now things are better even the story lines. Today, a lot of people prefer the story lines we had then but in terms of quality; it has improved because world class cameras are being used to shoot now.
However, it’s different strokes for different men. One thing about this industry is that we live in a capitalist system where people because of their inability to afford the kind of cameras they need to shoot, use low budget cameras to shoot. But you don’t remove anything from them being that they’re also trying to tell stories in their own way.
Apart from Netflix, you cannot over emphasis what MultiChoice and Africa Magic are doing to expose Nollywood to many people. Netflix is just yesterday, but I thank God that we have young new film makers, young vivacious film makers, young boys and girls that have added value. We now have a potpourri of both old and new and it’s only for the good of the industry and so much has been done. Our movies are out there challenging and a lot of our colleagues are being invited to come and collaborate and shoot Hollywood movies. I am sure you know that some of them over there are now coming here to shoot Nollywood movies to make a statement. To that effect; we also say thank God for the founding fathers of the industry who are still very much around, who made so much sacrifice which led to the projection of Nigeria’s image outside the shores of this country.
You read theatre arts and you guys went through mentorship which is not happening again. Today, anybody who thinks he/she can act jumps in front of the camera and you see a lot of flaws. Is this the fault of movie producers, directors or AGN?
AGN has nothing to do with this. I was a former president of AGN and people have their talents and their determination. When you were young, sometimes you feel the impulse and after watching the Nigerian movies, you say that you can do this better or can act too. It’s only natural because of interest and the kind of thing that movie does. It gives you popularity, presence and a lot of people want to be known without thinking about going to school or how to horn their talents.
But notwithstanding, young people need to be mentored despite that they just want to appear. They are not ready to learn, it’s only a few people that are ready to learn. Some believe they have the talent and can do anything just to appear and only few are ready for mentorship. If you act for the first time, it might not be okay, but the second time will always be better than your first and third time will be better than your second, so they keep growing.
Training and retraining are a necessary instrument for these young ones, they need to learn and some have gone to school to study film. Some we advise them to go to school because beyond your talent, you need to know the theoretical aspect. You need to know what film making is all about and this will help you to better your skills, which is what a lot of young ones are not doing.
When you talk about AGN, yes, we have other guilds and associations: Script writers, they train people who are interested in script writing, producers, academy, costumiers, designers, camera men and directors guild among many others. All these guilds owe their members responsibilities like trainings, workshops, seminars and others. Then there are all kinds of comers who have defied training and they don’t believe in the industry.
We have people who are working against the industry and never believed in the industry, but today they are at the echelon of the industry. They have made money courtesy of the industry using every means, but before; they have been highly critical of the industry. They are now speaking because they are benefitting from the sweat of the legends in the industry.
Today they don’t want the training, they’re only using these young ones to fulfill their own expectations, putting the kind of contracts they want and warning those on their sets not to be part of any guild or association. It’s deliberate so that they can cheat these people continuously, perpetuate the kind of contract they want because nobody speaks up for them as most of these young ones just want to appear on screen. These people feature in movies, they don’t belong to any guild and so if anything happens nobody comes to their aid. One of the good things about coming together is that when something happens to you, you are protected. The guild will ask questions and fight for you. The present guild and associations need to do more picketing of most of these production houses which are not hidden.
If all these guilds are working together they should be able to form a strong synergy that will not allow anyone operate outside the guilds. Is this not an indictment on the guild heads?
Please, go and check the records. It was during my tenure as AGN president that they had the most vibrant guilds. That was when the industry had discipline and I can say it proudly. When I was president of AGN, Fidelis Duker was DGN president, Madu Chikwendu was AMP president, we did well to get the industry together. The first time you had a president who recognised and appreciated this industry that was when Olusegun Obasanjo was the president. He invited us to a meeting and he made sacrifice at ensuring that there was tax relief for investors in the industry and we championed a lot of course within that period. You know leadership is tenure base.
Suggesting that we didn’t do anything, the evidence is there for everyone to read. If you go back to our time that was when discipline was the way forward and nobody dare go against our plan. It’s unfortunate, we were supposed to have the MOPICON bill, but it’s still at the national assembly and yet to be passed into law. This is a bill that will help motion picture practitioners and it will ensue that every guild comes under the umbrella of that bill. We are still where we are because people who are going to be affected by this are doing everything to stop it. I can assure that so much has been done, Mr Mammod Alli Balogun can attest to that.
Why is it that stage actors don’t get the kind of recognition screen actors get across the world?
The recognition comes from the media, because the media and the world have to look at those that have contributed immensely to the industry. You can praise yourself and stand and say I have done this or you contract people to praise sing for you. The role of the media is to escalate the things these practitioners have done that bring recognition. Most people initiate awards, some of them are just to populate or to draw attention though some people are also deserving of the award they get. There are also people who give out their names for these awards because they have worked with the awardees. There are so many things that if we begin to speak about it, we might not be able to finish it.
We have people who received some of these awards from government that deserved it and those who ought not but they received. They bought it or they have somebody that pushed their name. However that will not deter a lot of us who have put in a lot of efforts as long as our people are happy with what we do, we will continue to champion what we have been doing.
You criticised the Imo state government for the poor facilities at the state airport, only for you to turn around days later to apologise. People have come out to say that if you knew you were right, you should stand by what you said.
I will like you to investigate the issue properly because I never said anything. I travelled to Owerri with some colleagues of mine under the invitation of a foundation, which I am one of the ambassadors Ejike Chukwu Foundation. We attended the empowerment programme that Ejike Foundation was organising in Owerri, the state capital, for widows and youths in all the local governments. I felt that not only being an activist but someone who believes in the works of the young man who incidentally was celebrating his 50th birthday, it’s a worthy venture and I encouraged other people to attend.
On arrival at the airport, there was no light, we were supposed to pick up our luggage on arrival and one of my colleagues was not happy with that process and she felt it was embarrassing. I believe so too. So, she made a video where she called out the governor and I never knew about this. Three to four days later, my attention was called to the video which had already gone viral. I am aware and better experience that the issue that bothers on electricity is the responsibility of FAAN and not the governor. When they told me, I knew that it was an error of judgement on her part and there’s nothing wrong in apologising.
I am not ashamed to apologise to the governor for whatever embarrassment that must have caused him. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just people trying to be mischievous particularly the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor who wrote very slanderous statement that we were role models without character. As far as I am concerned that was going above the line. It was a harmless video that was done and if I were in that position, I would have ignored it because the person who made the video was ignorant of how things work and the responsibility of the state government. He just wanted to act as if he was really working for his master saying that we all planned it and sent her to do it. However, I needed to apologize to the governor for whatever embarrassment that video caused him. I stand by it and there’s nothing wrong in apologising. But for people to turn the other way round, ‘you shouldn’t have said that if you were right’, it’s ignoranc and that’s one of the greatest things people read without thinking. Like I said, it was an honest observation, but an error in judgement.
I apologised to the governor on behalf of my colleagues because I never wanted that to run and there’s nothing wrong with it. Nigerians should learn to say sorry when they make mistakes. It does not demean or reduce our character or reduce who I am as Ejike Asiegbu.
QUOTE:
Nigerians should learn to say sorry when they make mistakes. It does not demean or reduce our character.
English (US) ·