By Joshua Olomu

Emeka Rollas, President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), has urged Nollywood actors and other industry players to prioritise healthy lifestyle to avoid imminent health breakdown.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Rollas made the call at the beginning of the 2025 “Annual Walk and Wellness Campaign” of the guild, in Abuja.

According to the AGN boss, the spate of health challenges faced by actors in Nollywood in recent times has made the call for healthy living more imperative.

He said the nature of the filmmaking job was so demanding and time-consuming that a lot of industry players, especially actors, have no or little time for their health concerns.

The AGN helmsman, therefore, advised actors to be intentional with their heath and  recognise the signs and symptoms of a potential breakdown and seek immediate help. 

“One of the dangers of not knowing your health status is that when sickness hits you, you might just go into an emergency case, and emergency case is what often leads to death.

“Actually, we started the health walk for three years now, and this year at the National Executive Council we decided that all state chapters should of course do theirs at their state capitals.

“The health walk specifically came at an initiative when we noticed that very many actors were sick and were always on the internet seeking for support for their health.

“We decided to look at it holistically first of all, that let’s be proactive, and the only way you can be proactive is to ensure that actors live healthy.

“One of the prerequisites for good health is to have healthy food, have regular exercise, and then we established this walk.

“You may also notice that in the past three years now, the issue of actors coming online to beg for support has diminished drastically.

“It’s no longer as frequent as it used to be, which means people are actually keying into this, signing up on the AGN HMO, signing up on other benefits to be members,” he said.

According to Rollas, the Walk and Wellness Campaign, which was holding simultaneously across the guild’s state chapters, is aimed at prioritising health and wellness within the industry.

He said the campaign would feature a range of activities aimed at promoting comprehensive well-being of actors, including medical screenings, mental health discussions by experts and therapy sessions.

He also encouraged actors to get enrolled in the guild’s health insurance programme in order to access prompt and affordable medical attention whenever the need arises.

“So this is a day we go through medical examination to know those whose cases are  getting worse, so they will begin on time to seek for medical attention.

“Today you can see test kits for malaria, typhoid, HIV, BP, arthritis, and others, all for actors to know their health status,” he said.

In an interview with NAN on the sideline, Mercy Aminu, FCT Mayor of AGN and host of the event, expressed delight for full participation of FCT actors in the event.

“I feel my members are now aware of the need to take their health seriously, which is the essence of this walk.

“It’s known that actors don’t really take their health seriously, not because they don’t want to, but because of their tight schedules of moving from one film set to the other.

“This walk is a reminder for them to take their health seriously, even if they don’t get to do tests every day, at least make sure that they do general tests once in a year.

“As a guild, all we could do, which we are still doing and we will continue to do is telling them to check their health regularly and also watch what they eat,” she said.

Some Nollywood stars who spoke with NAN also lent their voices to the healthy living campaign, while commending the guild’s leadership for the initiative.

Ace actor Benedict Johnson said: “What we are doing today is very necessary for every actor, and we actually need to do this more often.

“So many people walk about without knowing their health status, and they might be having some underlying illness without knowing.

“Through this kind of physical exercise, and of course you can see some doctors here to check on us, cases of sudden death can be averted.”

Sensational actress Empress Njamah, said although AGN was championing the healthy lifestyle campaign for industry players, there was need for actors to take responsibilities for their wellbeing.

“Once you’re 18 and above, you should obviously know that good health is important to your everyday life and how to protect it.

“There are certain things that you cannot impose on people if they are not open-hearted and willing to accept them, a lot of people are just nonchalant about their health.

“However, health is wealth, and it is embarrassing for most of our colleagues to come online to ask for funds for health issues” she said.

NAN reports that the Walk and Wellness Campaign kicked off at the Old Parade Ground, with a lot of Nollywood actors in attendance.(NAN)(nannews.ng)

JOSH/EAL

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Edited by Ekemini Ladejobi