By Babajide Awoyinfa
Newly appointed head of Nollywood Section, Creative Industry Group (CIG), Chief Lancelot Imasuen, has promised a better life for Nollywood members through new initiatives and wealth creation programmes.
Imasuen disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
He pledged to rigorously pursue the interest of Nollywood members.
According to Imasuen, the call to head the Nollywood section of the CIG is a call to a dedicated service without any commensurate financial gains.
The legendary film producer and director described his service as “Pro bono,” which means a free service to mankind.
“I have been part of the CIG movement for some time and I am also an award recipient of the group.
“I was told about the passion of CIG which is key in human endeavors.
“I discovered that CIG mandate is rested and interested in the welfare of the industry and not a government agency.
“The idea of the group is to galvanize and encourage the Nigerian film industry, especially the welfare of our members.
“This is the modest way to make things right; so my concentration will be first to get my fellow colleagues to recognise the problem.
“We cannot administer medication on someone who does not recognise that he needs care.
“We want to diagnose our ailments; why is it that our people do come to the social media and beg for alms over things they needed, especially when they are sick, we have other profession that do not engage in such,” he said.
Imasuen also urged all Nollywood industry stakeholders to begin to think outside the box to see what they could do to save for the rainy day in order to secure their future.
He said, “It hurts me personally to see members of the Nollywood industry begging for alms on the social media.
“Our calling as actors is a noble profession in which we are affecting lives, even thousands of miles away.
“When old age or sickness comes, some of our members don’t have anything to fall back on.
“We need to refocus on our future and be proactive.
“We need to encourage our members to invest in other businesses as well.
“At CIG, we want to organize seminars, empowerment programmes and others to enlighten our members on wealth creation.
“We want to teach them how to save for the rainy day. They must learn not to eat the seed with the harvest.
“We want to invite those that have gotten it right, business wise, among us to give tutorials on the life experiences and path to greater wealth.”
Imasuen also noted that Nollywood industry professionals cannot continue to depend on government for assistance or wait for the crumbs from the politicians’ table.
He said, “We have sought for attention from the government to no avail, so, it’s time for us to look inwards to make the system work for us, especially that we have been greatly underappreciated and undervalued.
“Looking back at the years that I joined Nollywood about 27 years ago, if I had joined the army by then, I would have become a general and be in control, can I then ask for alms for any reason?
“Right now, it is a fact that many of our members are not landlords; we should not be deceived by the make believe social media paparazzi, the reality is that we need to emerge from the shadows.
“I also frown at the ways some of our members go to endorse the politicians, we are of a noble profession and need not to be appendages, we should rather maintain our integrity,” he said.
Imasuen had emerged as the head of the Nollywood section with a mandate to improve welfare for its members through various initiatives and wealth creation programmes.
Imasuen has featured in many films and also co-directed a Canadian documentary named “Nollywood Babylon” produced by AM Pictures and the National Film Board of Canada in 2008.
In 2012, Imasuen emerged as the only African film producer in the blockbuster film American anthology horror comedy film produced by international producers and directed by filmmakers from around the world titled“The ABCs.” (NAN)
