Emeka Rollas, the leader and current president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), have admonished movie stars in the industry to take utmost care of their health to avoid debilitating health issues that may lead to an unforeseen health crisis.
During an Interview with TheNewsGuru.com (TNG), the AGN president appealed to members to create time out of their hectic schedules to exercise and go for medical checks, emphasizing that balancing one’s health is a paramount decision in their career.
“Every actor/ actress should take care of their health. Make it a paramount decision in their career. For everything an actor does, they must create time for exercises and regular medical check-ups. Sometimes, some of these actors work back to back and drain themselves mentally and physically. It would help if they take time to check themselves, rest and come back to avoid strange illness,’‘ he said.
Rollas also noted the numerous deaths in Nollywood are a result of sheer providence, listing various measures the association had to take, in order to, curtain the death rate in the industry.
“The movie industry is in the public domain, meaning people tend to hear about it when something happens. This does not mean that it is only in the movie industry that people are dying,” he said.
“You must have heard how we have lost people in the National Assembly repeatedly; nobody will go and say okay because people are dying in the National Assembly, it is probably because of how bad the place is; this is sheer providence; basically, we try to do our best to curtain some of these things just in case they come directly from health issues.
“This is why the guild put forward platforms to help the association’s members. Suppose you are a member of the actor guild and have signed up for the health management organizations’ platforms. In that case, you are entitled to about six hundred hospitals across Nigeria where you can know the state of your health before it begins to get to the stage where it may lead to death.
“And in the guild, each member already qualifies to have an insurance policy to help you incase of an accident, while you are in a shoot or, in extrame cases, sudden deaths. We also organize rallies or awareness campaigns to inform members of these programs.“
The union president stressed that the four-day prayer and fasting session held earlier in this year over the recent deaths in Nollywood was to avert similar occurrences in the future, adding that prayers were imperative, as some of the circumstances that led to the death of deceased movie stars may have spiritual undertone.
He said, ”The actor guild organized a three days program against death in the industry, in case these things vie any spiritual circumstances. We also had to guard against that. We had this program for three days and ended it on the 7th of May with pastor Jerry Eze in Abuja.”
“Every human being is forced to face spiritual attack in one way or the other; what I did was just in case any actor or actress falls in the catergory of being chased. It was also a way of encouraging these entertainers to seek their God, which is normal, ” the president replied, when asked if the need to seek spiritual help in tackling the deaths in Nollywood came from a place of fear that the industry is under attack.
Rollas disclosed the role of movie producers in ensuring movie stars take care of their health, saying, “Anything you want to do, the way the movie industry is fashioned, you can not force the producers to be the ones that will pay for the health benefits for the actors. Instead, we are in a negotiating process between an employer and an employee, and in due course some of those things will be sorted out.”
To create awareness about the health programs movie entertainers can participate in, the AGN president stressed that “The Actor Guild of Nigeria is currently in thirty-four states in Nigeria. Each state has its chairman and WhatsApp platforms where actors and actresses interact, and broadcasts about these health programs are shared.”
TNG understands that the entertainment industry in the past few months has witnessed several deaths in the movie-making sector. While the majority passed away due to illness, two died in their sleep, and one was involved in an accident, throwing the movie industry into deep shock.
