Era of glorifying criminals in Nollywood is over, says AGN

The Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) has reiterated its commitment to support ongoing efforts to tackle drug abuse and criminal activities in the country.

Emeka Rollas, national president of the guild, spoke on Monday during a meeting with Mohamed Buba Marwa, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in Abuja.

Rollas said the AGN has introduced several initiatives to raise awareness about the menace of drug abuse and trafficking in the country.

The AGN president also said efforts are in place to discourage scenes glorifying drug abuse and other criminalities in the movie industry.

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Rollas, while disclosing that the era of glorifying criminals in Nollywood is gone, assured Marwa of the guild’s support for the NDLEA’s war against drugs.

“We are here today to affirm our complete support to your efforts in combating the menace of drugs in our society as we strongly believe this will help reduce drug crime to the barest minimum,” he said.

“As a Guild of major influencers and in line with our set objectives to educate, inform and entertain as well as our avowed commitment to national development, we seek a mutually beneficial partnership with the NDLEA to leverage on the star-power of our members in promoting some of your transformation programs especially on drug trafficking and abuses.”

On efforts taken by the guild so far, the AGN president said: “Majority of our members are youths and appeal to a generation of youths who are influenced heavily by internet content and social media.

“We have therefore outlined some advocacy programs to enlighten Nigerian youths on the dangers of drug abuse and trafficking; they include but are not limited to; production of skits majorly for social media campaigns; drama series on negative effects of drug abuses, rehabilitations, eradicating the fear of stigmatization and advantages of total abstinence.

“We aim to engage some of our A-list actors as NDLEA Ambassadors to help use their star power to discourage the youths from doing drugs among others.”