Why AGN pulled out of FRENGAN – Emeka Rollas

Emeka Rollas, national president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), has explained why the guild left the Federation of Registered Nollywood Guilds and Associations (FRENGAN).

Mr Rollas revealed this in a recent discussion with journalists, citing neglect and demand for better compensation as causes.

He said: “Federation of Nollywood Guilda was supposed to be an association that is housing all the guilds, AGN pulled out because AGN has its sovereignty. AGN is registered with CAC with over one million members nationwide and present in 34 states. We cannot surrender our sovereignty to any other colouration.

“Secondly, we are for the welfare of actors, we advocate for better pay and who are we advocating this better pay from? From the producers. A landlord and a tenant cannot belong to the same association.

“We want to be at a position very vantage for us to make demands and I made it clear to them, I came back to the house and said ‘actors, stars, look into this matter’ and they brought the report back and said ‘Mr president, go there and pull out of that body’ and I did and I beat myself and say ‘we are not returning back’. What are we coming there to do?

Explaining further, Emeka said: “If we want to take a step further, we should be thinking of establishing more Peakon, Motion Picture Practitioner Council of Nigeria or we establish a film commission where all the guilds cannot come using their presidents as reps to discuss the future of the industry. How can I belong to an association where I have four producers association, so I don’t even know who to negotiate with in terms of collecting bargaining in this present-day Nigeria, you see producers who are producing films and actors are not paid.

“Producers take you to one bush in Ogwashi Ukwu or anywhere in Nigeria and they are filming, making the average actor belive that they’re just helping him or her by giving him roles. Those are the things we want to top and the only way we can stop them is to first of all pull out from a body that seems to be binding us against our wishes.

“The Federation of Nollywood Guilds, as far as we are concerned from the guild perspective does not have the interest of the actors at heart. These are the same people who will work with you and never feed you on a location.”