There has been serious fraternising between President Jonathan and Nollywood in the past months and even though this hasn’t really translated into any tangible development for the industry, most people have considered it a rub-my-back-I-rub-your-back issue.
Many members of the unsettled Actors’ Guild of Nigeria (AGN) will be quick to tell you that all the promises of huge financial bailout for the industry is a charade and that most people fronting for the guild are only doing so for their own pockets rather than the good of all practitioners.
Some AGN members including Monalisa Chinda, Stephanie Linus, Fred Amata, Joseph Benjamin, Desmond Elliot, Victor Osuagwu, Chidi Mokeme, Mercy Aigbe and others, led by Ibinabo Fiberesima, went on a courtesy visit to President Jonathan at the State House during the week.
We gathered that their aim was to install GEJ as Grand Patron of the Guild and to ask him to sack heads of movie regulatory agencies – the Nigerian Film Corporation, NFC, and the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) – because they have shown lack of capacity to put the industry on the path of growth.
Will GEJ yield to their second aim? Nobody knows for now and it will be a surprise if he listens to them, because this is not the first time they are making this call. Despite their past fraternising with the president, Nollywood is still sick with piracy and other factors stunting its growth.
However after this week’s meeting at Aso Rock, there is one thing that won’t surprise us – if they all come out campaigning for GEJ (if he contests) in 2015.
