Jonathan, Okonjo-Iweala made Nollywood what it is today – Chinwetalu Agu

Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

A well known actor, Chinwetalu Agu has said that nobody outside Nigeria knew Nollywood until the former President and former Nigeria Finance Minister, now Director General, World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala started celebrating Nollywood and the entire Nigeria.

Agu disclosed this in Umuahia while on a private visit, stating that President Jonathan approved over N3billion for the enhancement of the affairs of the Nigerian film industry which Okonjo-Iweala the then Minister of Finance honoured.

The 65-year old film actor with over 1035 movies in his kitty since 1981 said that apart from releasing the fund, Okonjo-Iweala also trained actors and producers with sophisticated equipment that placed Nollywood in the second position in the committee of world film industries, after Hollywood and before Bollywood.

He said that his satirical acts while on set which he called “Comic Relief” have been a source of cure for people with high blood pressure, stating that in the next 100 years, no other actor will equal his records, which he says will soon enter into the Guinness Book of Records.

He said that apart from Olu Jacobs, he is most senior in the Nollywood, having started in 1981 in Nigeria Television Authority, and later Anambra Broadcasting Service, followed by Pete Edochie who came into the movie industry in 1995.

“God has given me the gift of “Comic Relief” and I have the biggest “currency (appearances) in the world. I am going to celebrate the Guinness Book of World Record”, Agu said.

Agu posited that entertainment is positive in nature, while governance is negative in nature, adding “entertainment gives you joy, while governance gives you tears”.

He said Nollywood started in the south east through Lagos with the film, “Living in Bondage” and would not leave the zone and advised the south east governors that any of them that would not develop the film arena in his state and does not invest in the industry would lose.