AGN President, Emeka Rollas Unveils Foundation For Ailing Actors
President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Mr. Ejezie Emeka Rollas has unveiled the AGN Foundation for ailing actors as the Guild celebrates one year of office of its government of national unity.
The Foundation was unveiled during a media briefing Wednesday at Virgin Rose Resorts, Victoria Island, Lagos with practitioners, colleagues, well wishers and friends joined Rollas to celebrate the milestone in the history of the industry.
Rollas revealed that the foundation has a mandate of generating N500 million endowment fund for actors and also serve as a medium to give back to their fans by engaging in community development projects.
“It is indeed my pleasure to welcome you all to this special occasion of unveiling the AGN Foundation and using same medium to mark one year anniversary of this government of National Unity of Actors Guild of Nigeria with my humble self at the helm of affairs,” Rollas said.
He continued, “Actors’ Guild of Nigeria is one among seven other professional Guilds that form Nollywood which has accounted for more than 1.4% the country’s GDP (About $7.2bn of Nigeria’s economy). This impact in the country’s development does represent the state of the association as it has experienced ups and downs and has grown stronger over the years.
“Veterans who have contributed to the development of the industry most times do not have anything to fall back on after number of years of service. Some move on to other businesses or sectors while some faces varnish with time. In the recent past, the guild have lost prominent veteran actors to serious illnesses due to certain medical conditions which could have been averted if there was a medium or platform set aside to harness the strength of the association to fund medical treatment of our own or a source for funding from philanthropist or Nigerians to help rescue their legends.
The AGN boss mentioned among other actors like Enebeli Elebuwa, Justus Esiri, Arshely Nwosu, Dave lhesie, Sam Loco Efe, Muna Obiekwe, Peter Bunor, and Prince James Uche, who had passed on due to certain medical conditions.
“Presently we have a roll call of ailing members who urgently need medical assistance including Obiageli Molobe, Romanus Amuta (Natty of the New Masquerade fame), Fabian Adibe, Chike Osuji, Nwani Okolo, Patience Oseni, Fidelis Ezenwa, Abraham Madubuko, Dan Nkolagu, Sani Idris Kauru, Mohammed Tata etc. These are men and women who were very active before now making us happy everyday from our TV sets at home but not anymore because of illness.
“With the talent and number of registered members, the era of begging for dying members because of huge medical bills is of the past. The guild set up the foundation with the sole aim of raising N500 million Endowment Fund for the actors and also serve as a medium to give back to the community through development projects,” he stated.
The foundation will serve as a platform to unite the actors in Nigeria bringing them together for a common good especially during community development projects.
The foundations will be used to assist veteran members in times of health challenges and demise.
Veteran actors who set the pace for the present and upcoming actors have been neglected and abandoned in the past and they retire wretched and in bad shape.
There is need to assist these veterans in times of need to show them their effort did not go unnoticed.
“Funding community development projects is important for the guild to impact lives. Locations of movie setting can be identified for certain community development projects as their needs could be identified during the course of a movie production,” Rollas said.
The Foundation’s committee members include former AGN President Segun Arinze who will serve as its Chairman and Ronnie Dikko as Secretary.
Other members are Arinze Okonkwo, Zilly Tete, Biodun Okeowo, Susan Peters, Mimi Orjiekwe, Zeena Bako, Ali Nuhu, Wash Waziri Hong, Lilian Bach, Gloria Mba, Steve Eboh, Ruth kadiri, Don Pedro Aganbi and Dakore Akande.
In the same vein, Rollas commended his team as they celebrate a year in office of AGN Government of National Unity.
He said; “Before we were saddled with the responsibility of governance, the Guild was in total disarray. As we assumed office we didn’t waste time and we hit the ground running. In eight months of our administration, we produced the first ever AGN mobile application with payment gateway for dues and new members registration. We introduced the group accident insurance scheme of which over two thousand members have enrolled. As proud affiliates of Federation of International Actors (FIA), we are pursuing world best standards.”
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