As the creative industry mourns Nollywood actors and crew members that drowned in the recent boat accident along River Niger, many concerned colleagues are voicing their opinions on the need to sanitize the industry and put safety measures in place to avoid a reoccurrence.
Another angle to the incidence is a plea to immortalize the departed cast and crew by ensuring the completion of the movie on whose location the victims died:
“The Actors Guild and other well-meaning Nollywood members should take a rethink and find away to rally round the producer to complete the movie “Another Side Of Life” immediately this tension dies down as a mark of honour to Junior Pope and other crew members that lost their lives in this process. An agreement should be entered into with the producer to use this movie to raise money for the family of Pope for the up-keep of the children, and the other crew members’ families as well .
The proceeds from the movie should be shared in three parts. One part for the producer, one part for the families of the souls departed, and the last part for the Actors Guild for their administrative acumen, time and fair play. Instead of morning all the way, let this sad event be turned into a momentous event of prestige and honour for the souls departed.
The stiff penalty of the producer should be reconsidered. This should be done to give joy to the spirits of the dead. Measure should be put in place for the hyping of the movie for a wide media spread for a unique premiere that will rake in millions of Naira to achieve this purpose. Let this movie not remain in the cooler, or the producer slammed down. Let the spirit of one family lead. She can be reprimanded, but not grounded. This is my humble suggestion and Opinion. I need to talk to Emeka Rollas on this. Greetings to everyone!”
–Ugbomah Raphael Chukwumah, Benin City.