INTERVIEW WITH IBINABO

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NO STRESS WHEN STRUCTURES ARE ON GROUND

- AGN President, Ibinabo Fiberesima

She became the first woman to lead the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria (AGN) when she was sworn in as President in November 2012. Ibinabo Fiberesima, an actress and a former beauty queen now presides over one of the most influential organisations in Nigeria’s entertainment industry and is doing excellently well. In this interaction with CHRISTIAN OZURUIGBO, she shares all you need to know about the new AGN. Enjoy it

How has it been for you as the first female AGN president?

It has been fun with lots of hard work, accelerating and of course exciting. It is something I have always wanted to do, so for me, it is a dream come through.

How long now have you been AGN president?

I have been AGN president for one year now.

What has been your greatest achievement so far?

Quite a lot, after one year, the guild now has a comprehensive data-base of all members, a functional official website, re-training for members and we now have an insurance health scheme for our members and a lot of our members are embracing and benefiting from it.

How stressful has it been for you presiding over the actors’ body?

I must confess, it has not been easy, but if one has structures on ground in whatever you do, there will be no stress. What my executives and I have done is to put in place everything needed to function effectively, so the structures work it out and minimize the stress.

What are those structures in place?

Like I said earlier, we now have a data-base, so if you want to be a member of the guild, you pay directly to the national account which automatically puts your name on the data-base, but for an old member, all you need do is to validate your membership. Validation is every year, to enable us to know you are still a member of the guild, and that will put your name on our data-base. Now if you apply to any embassy to travel out, say maybe you want to go and represent the guild, the embassy will ask you first, if the guild knows you are travelling. If you say yes, they will check their data-base we have given to them to ascertain if you are a valid member of the guild, then you will be asked to get a letter from the guild to assure them that you are going to represent the actors.

What are the things you have put in place to affect the life of members positively?

Giving members a life span through the health scheme, in fact, a member told me recently that he could not have imagined himself going to Eko Hospital for medical care because he could never afford it, but now, all registered members of the guild receive treatment at the hospital for free. The health plan has really gone a long way for our members.

How have you been able to resolve the problem(s) in the guild?

I don’t know of any problem, what problems are we talking about? I am not aware of any problem.

Before now, a lot of people are claiming to be the president of the guild…

I am happy you said they are claiming, that is all they shall remain. But when you become a president, you go through an election and are elected. When I ran for the presidency, my co-contestants were Emeka Rollas and Steve Eboh, and I won my election. I remain the president of the guild; anybody that goes around now claiming to be AGN president is a thief. But right now since I became the president, those issues have been resolved and the problems are behind us. Like I said, those things happened because there were no structures, but now there is a structure. So, you can’t fight a system, right now, we are working according to the system.

How far is the guild receiving support from the government?

It is a continuous process; the government is still supporting the guild. At least, we now have a government grant, the project art, even the government is trying to understand who we are and what this industry truly is. And if we are not united, the government will not take us seriously, as government is beginning to understand who we are, it will only get better.

How do members of the guild access loan?

We don’t have access to loans in AGN now, but we are talking with some financial institutions on it. Besides, these institutions need collateral that we can’t afford for now, but we have to find a way around it. But then, there are some international grants young movie makers can access, though a lot of them don’t know about it. If you are a member of the guild, then you will be able to gain things that are available for the members.

What are the things you hope to achieve before your tenure runs out?

To make every actor a member of the guild, make them have a health plan and make every actor feel good for being an actor.

What is your normal daily routine as AGN president like?

I come to the office in the morning, my secretary and I will go through our mails. Respond to the ones we need to respond to and plan for what we are going to do for the day. At times I close for the day by 7pm or 8pm, if we have a lot of work to do. Although, it is not usually like that, it is very rare for us to stay that late.

What is your advice for upcoming actors?

I will tell them don’t go and get yourself duped, because a lot of people are out there duping people now. Every young person wants to be an actor; every young girl or boy wants to see him or herself on television, but there is a process you go through. Some people, I hear, now pay money to unscrupulous people that don’t know anything about film making; they pay to audition, when you are selected, you pay again, then you pay for ID card for the production house and they also pay for camp if they want to shoot. Such films will never hit the screen, I can assure them. The only ID card they need is from the guild, anybody without that ID card will not act in Nigeria. It is better people start understanding these things, the better for everybody. And they should stop being desperate, if you are good you will be noticed. You don’t have to abuse your body for people to notice you.

What joy do you derive from what you are doing?

Imparting on people’s life is a blessing. I think that is what I am called for; to help people celebrate themselves, know they can actually do things, help themselves realize their talent. I am blessed with that.

Do you ever regret being into the movie profession?

Never, all I think all the time is making this industry a better place. 

What is the relationship between AGN and their foreign counterparts?

We are good; in fact, I am going to Abidjan on December 16 to speak in a summit on actors concerning intellectual properties. We are doing well, even in as much as few people want to bring us down, we are moving forward. But that is the life we live.