By Chuks Oluigbo

April 19, 2024

Osagie Elegbe, ace actor and filmmaker, former chairman, Actors Guild of Nigeria, Edo State chapter, exponent of Edo In Focus, and a member of the Benin National Development, stopped by The Nigerian Observer offices in Benin City recently, where he had a brief chat with Acting Editor, Chuks Oluigbo. Here are excerpts from that interaction.

How long have you been in the acting profession?

I would say as a passion, since 1990, because before now, when you told your parents or guardians that you wanted to be an actor or a dancer or a singer, they thought that you didnt want to amount to anything in life. So when we were coming up, we saw it as a passion because we couldnt present it as a profession. So as a passion, since 1990, that is 34 years ago, when we used to do stage drama in churches, Assemblies of God to be precise. But as a profession, since 2002, that is 22 years ago.

Could you tell us some of the movie projects you have been involved in?

They are so many. The movies I have been involved in are so many I cannot even remember. I have done well over 80 Edo indigenous movies and I cannot begin to mention their names. Then on the English side, I have also done a lot but prominent among them is The Blood of Enogie, a Rock Studios series that went far and wide and, by the grace of God, was able to expose the Edo movie industry to the world; I had the opportunity to play the lead role there, Enogie. That movie was directed by Charles Uwagbai, I think.

There is this slogan that has been trending recently, Edo to the World. What does it mean to you?

You cannot separate the Edo man from his culture, from his tradition. It is part and parcel of us, even when some other people still see us as archaic. They say, The world is modern now, lets talk about something else. What are you still doing with these things? The Edo man is born like that, naturally. Our tradition is our pride. So whatever we do, we attach our tradition and culture to it, and wherever we go, we want it to follow us. So saying Edo to the World is telling the world about who we are, and you cannot separate who we are from our culture.

You were recently on a tour of the UK. From your experience there, what do you think Nigeria is not doing right?

Recently, there was a boat accident involving some movie cast and crew which, unfortunately, resulted in loss of lives. A lot of opinions have been expressed about it. What are your thoughts?

You know, you asked me earlier about how things compare between the UK and Nigeria. There are no comparisons. There is Hollywood, there is Bollywood, there is Nollywood. Nollywood has never really gained anything from government. I am not talking in terms of finance now because all of us talk about finance, but in terms of laws. I am talking about the legislative side of government, not the executive side of government. Nothing has really been done in terms of enacting laws. As I said before, you must create a system for people to obey. If there is no system everybody will just do and get away with anything. So the legislative side of government in Nigeria has not done anything. In Edo State, for instance, the government has put a lot of things in place to enhance movie productions. Very commendable. I was a part of all that from the onset, but that has its limits. Whatever the Edo State government has done will not prevent anybody from not wearing life jacket or having an accident and all of that, but if there are laws put in place, the producers will obey, the actors will obey and things will go on smoothly. Abroad, movies are done carefully, but here we are very careless, not just on the producers side but also on the actors side. We see it as nothing. If I come here and blame the producers alone because I am majorly an actor, I would be lying. We are all at fault. Call all the big names in the industry, they are all at fault. We have been taking these things for granted. You see, we are not proactive; when you are proactive, you will try to cure an ailment before it even starts, but this one we are singing now because some persons have died, after a month or two or three now, they will forget about it. Tomorrow people will go to location again and cross rivers and say, Oh, that was Jnr Pope, thats not me. You know this African thing, we believe in my time to die never come. We go back again to all of that stuff. So until government and the associations governing the industry – Actors Guild, Association of Movie Producers, Directors Guild of Nigeria, etc – come together and collaborate to create laws, to say, ‘Before you do this or that, these are things you must go into’, things will continue the way they are. Once life is gone, there is no replacement. It is sad that my colleagues just went that way. I remember the experience I had with Jnr Pope, how he told me that I was too good an actor, I should leave Benin and go to Asaba, that I would make so much money, but leaving Benin then was not an option for me. I felt someone built Asaba, why can’t we build Benin? So I stayed.

Are you working on any project right now?

As a producer, no, but as an actor, yes. Since we did The Blood of Enogie, our name is on the lips of so many producers in Nigeria. So in a matter of days I will be going to Lagos. I have about four movies I will be shooting there. When I come back, hopefully I will do one or two here.

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The Nigerian Observer is a daily newspaper published in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, since 1968 by the Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL) and is owned by the Edo State Government

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