Rev. Mrs Joy Osawaru-Akinyemi is the National President, Creative Designers Guild of Nigeria (CDGN – Nollywood) and Vice Chairman, Federation of Guild and Associations in Nollywood. In this interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU, she speaks about her first year in office as CDGN boss, among other issues in the industry. Excerpt:

This June 29 made it one year since you were elected into office the Na­tional President, Creative Designers Guild of Nigeria (CDGN – Nolly­wood). How do you feel clocking one year in office?

I must say the past year has not been easy, but I have been doing my best, knowing that fol­lowership is partnering with a visionary leader to achieve com­mon goals. Many thanks to the commitment of my team, the ex­ecutive and members of CDGN as a whole. Our focus was very well defined when we assumed office; corporate visibility was our goal. Behind the scenes, the nature of our duties over the years have kept us out of the glare of the public. We are not saying we want to jump in front of the camera, but our respect as the creative power of Nollywood, we have earned over the years, and it is time both the industry and the public accord us. We have deliberately and intention­ally pushed this at the national and across all our state chapters. We have this first year laid the foundation for a smooth and effective administrative struc­ture. We have done a couple of training geared towards build­ing capacity for our members. The first leg of our tour to some states to familiarise ourselves with members and know their challenges and how best we can resolve some if not all, has also been undertaken.

How has it been in the industry this year?

I can tell you for free as Pres­ident of CDGN and Vice Chair­man of All Registered Guilds of the Industry, under the operating name Federation of Nollywood Heads of Guilds and Associa­tion, that it is no longer business as usual. As Guilds Head, we are working hard to ensure profes­sionalism and create an enabling environment for collaboration among Creatives, no matter the guild or association they belong to. Given the kind of leaders we have now, we are all working in synergy in the interest of the industry and that for me is the icing on the cake.

What would you say has changed for the better in your profession during your tenure?

Members have begun to real­ise who they are and have a bet­ter understanding of their pro­fession. They are very conscious of quality service delivery, the reason is that when I came on board, we engaged in several self-awareness campaigns.

Several tragic incidents have hap­pened in Nollywood, including the death of prominent actors like the one in River Niger at Onitsha that took the lives of many, including Junior Pope Odowodo. What are the stakeholders doing to avoid such incidents?

The River Niger disaster was one unfortunate incident that nobody wished for. Safety is the rule of professional engagement in every sector of the economy. What happened was total negli­gence, from the producer, actors and crew members. I lost one of our members, a very good make-up artist and trusted hand who was the Vice Chairman of Akwa Ibom State. May their souls rest in peace. I must at this point personally appreciate the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency, Umo Eno, who proved his fatherhood of all youth from the state. He was there with us through our mourning moment of Abigail Edith Frederick. Going forward to avoid such occurrences, we have scaled up the safety con­sciousness of professionals and drawn up rules of engagement for scenes related to water. Stake­holders are together on the sus­tainability of safety culture for our industry. Reorientation of members and basic rescue training are all on the way. Now, we must know where filming is ongoing so our task force can be on ground to ensure conformity to rules of engagement and on hand for rescue in case things go wrong. You know, Nollywood is very big and a house is not built in a day. Stakeholders are doing everything to ensure safety but it is a gradual process, I assure you we will get there!

What is being done to ensure that Nollywood could be like Hollywood and Bollywood?

Both industries you men­tioned have the strong backing and support of their home gov­ernment. On our part as practi­tioners, we must raise the stakes. Nollywood should no longer be an all-comers home where anything goes. We must profes­sionalise the process and that is where we need Moppicom as an umbrella regulatory body for the guild and associations. Presi­dent Olusegun Obasanjo laid the structure of government sup­port for our industry and Pres­ident Goodluck Jonathan built on it effectively well. But, what President Bola Tinubu has done is unprecedented! We now have a ministry and a minister. It is for us to spread our wings and take the flight to number one on the global industry level.

In what ways does the Guild honour its outstanding members?

Well, we do honour our mem­bers. Nationally, we honour mem­bers. For instance, in 2022 CDGN @20, a lot of members were hon­oured for their contributions over the years and outstanding performance alongside other stakeholders in the Industry. It was organised by my predeces­sor, the Emeritus President, Sele O. Sele. In this, state chapters are not left out in the apprecia­tion drive to honour members. I presided over such while I was the Chairman of Lagos State. It was a grand event at which our very first elected President, Iyen Agbonifo Obaseki Omoruyi, was honoured alongside several oth­ers. The CDGN is a guild where everyone is respected and appre­ciated in whatever capacity they function.

What is your take on the frequent false death reports on Veteran Actor Olu Jacobs?

You know many in the public space are clout chasers, made worse by the advent of social media and bloggers’ drive to be the first to break the news. This, more than any reason, is respon­sible. Uncle Olu Jacobs is one of our Pathfinders in the industry, both locally and international­ly. At this time, all we owe him and Aunty Joke is our prayers that God will perfect what He has started. No one should sit somewhere and wish another, dead, just in cravings of content to post. It is not nice at all. It is pure wickedness. Those doing it should not forget that what goes around comes around.

Could you explain the dominance of certain features like cultism, royalty crises, killings, sexual immoral­ity, and even the use of drugs in Nollywood which many believe are not teaching the citizens the right behaviour?

Such vices listed can nev­er teach the citizens the right moral behaviour. Recently, our industry regulator National Film and Video Censors Board, led by the new Executive Direc­tor, Dr Shaibu Hussein, a man I will describe as a round peg in a round hole, held a smoke-free Nollywood conference in Enugu. Letting us know messages can be passed without puffing ciga­rettes. There is cultural cultism in many of our traditional Afri­can homelands. But, cultism in the context of violent clashes is not part of our ways. Unfortu­nately, youthful adventurism has brought it to our space. It started in our colleges and universities and it has spilled to the streets, a menace in most cities and even villages. It is not uncommon to run into cult clashes these days in our cities in broad daylight. As bad as having it in even pri­mary schools. I think the indus­try, rather than being sucked in, should partner with the govern­ment to promote film content that can discourage the growth of cultism. Not peculiar to our industry. The era of the royalty crisis has been overtaken by the advent of tech marketing plat­forms such as YouTube, NET­FLIX and others. Sex for marks today is a crime focusing on lec­turers. But, we may never get to hear about lazy female students whose hope of passing any exam is on the laps of the lecturers, who will do anything to seduce their lecturers. ‘Sex for roles’ should also be visited with grave punishment in the industry. We may never hear about those who have nothing to offer the indus­try other than their bodies. We have our stories. Let us tell our rich stories to the world, while correcting vices we want to be eliminated. I want to say laziness is the reason we are not doing enough research. We need to do more because it is just there. But we are not tapping into them, but foreigners are everywhere reach­ing for our stories to tell. We all need to contribute to telling our stories from the Producers to the scriptwriters, to the Directors and Costume, Make-up, Props, Production designer, Location, etc.

In what ways have the federal and state governments been support­ing Nollywood? What areas do you think more of such support should be?

Well, I can only speak based on the states I know. Lagos State governor, H.E Babajide San­wo- Olu has done so much for the film industry, giving grants to support filmmakers and do­ing a lot of empowerment pro­grammes of which I am a ben­eficiary. The governor of my home state, Edo, H.E Godwin Obaseki, created empowerment programmes and opened access to facilities to Edo filmmakers and other filmmakers over Ni­geria who wish to film in Edo State, creating an enabling en­vironment for all stakeholders. Kudos to them. The CDGN will host our regional Congress in Umuahia, Abia State, South East Nigeria. One of the high points of the Congress will be a visit to H.E Alex Chioma Otti, PhD, who has already assured us of an open hand of fellowship. We will be selling the potential of the industry by contributing to the state earnings with him. We hope to reach out to other gover­nors in due course. Ours is a very huge industry and it is presently grossly untapped. The Federal Government with the creation of the Creative Economy Ministry has brought a huge relief to us as an industry which I believe is still to be unfolded.

How have you been combining your office as a major Nollywood stakeholder with your role as a top gospel minister, as well as a wife and mother?

This is one question posed to me almost every day. I will say grace is at work for me and the understanding and cooperation I get from my husband and chil­dren are top-notch.