Bob-Manuel Udokwu, renowned Nigerian movie actor, director and producer, is the Senior Special Assistant on Creative Media (Movie/Entertainment Industry) to Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano. A Nollywood pioneer and a student of the late Ola Rotimi, the legendary theatre director, playwright and author of The Gods Are Not to Blame, Udokwu, who holds a Certificate and a Degree in Theatre Arts from University of Port Harcourt and a Masters degree in Political Science (specialising in International Relations) from University of Lagos, has received several honours and awards over the years, including the traditional chieftaincy title of ‘Onye Anagba Nkili’ (One Whom People Rush To Behold) conferred on him by HRH, Eze Chukwuemeka Eri of Enugwu Aguleri, Anambra State. In a recent chat with CHUKS OLUIGBO, assistant editor, who was in Awka, Udokwu speaks on a number of burning issues, ranging from the very personal to the general – the beginnings of Nollywood and the journey so far, his current job with Anambra State government, how President Buhari’s silence on the entertainment industry threatens the gains recorded in the industry over the years, and much more. Below are excerpts:
Tell us about your venture into Nollywood and what the story has been up to this point.
Usually when I am asked this question, what I say is: I didn’t venture into Nollywood, I was already moving ahead before Nollywood held me back and said, ‘Look, I want to join you, Bob’. In other words I was already there before Nollywood came along. I was playing the role of Richard Harthrope in that powerful soap opera “Checkmate” when Kenneth Nnebue, the owner of “Living in Bondage”, wrote me officially and invited me for their rehearsal. I got there and was given the role of Mike which I played for “Living in Bondage” and the rest became history. From then on I haven’t looked back. It has never been an easy road. It’s been rough, you know, because as pioneers we were experimenting, doing things that hadn’t been done before. It was not a beaten road, so to speak; no chart had been made on it, and so we were like explorers who were opening up a new road in the forest if you will, or in the desert if you prefer that. But I am glad today as it turned out that I am part of a chosen few who were destined to be part of a new industry – a big one at that – that has impacted on not just Nigeria but the rest of Africa and the world. Today, other African countries, and even the Caribbean, have taken a leaf from what we have started in Nigeria. People of Black origin are now much more at home and much bolder to come out and tell their stories. It’s like what the great Marcus Garvey of Jamaica did for the Black people, to raise their consciousness, the powerful feeling of race pride and respect which he helped to engender in Black people all over the world, carried on by the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and many others. I am happy, I am glad, I am privileged, and I am grateful to God that I am part of that revolution that started with “Living in Bondage”. And I am not letting up because I think I owe what I am in terms of what I stand for today to the fact that I am in the entertainment industry as a movie person doing the work the best way I know how to do.
So, if Nollywood didn’t come along at the time it did, what else were you planning to do; what other path would you have toed?
Truth is I had always been fascinated by the magic of movies, and so my plan was to study Theatre Arts and find my way out of this country where I’d be able to ply my trade and let my talent be exposed from there. You know, I had my plans but God had His, and so He kind of said, ‘Look son, I gave you this talent to develop it here, nurture it here and then impact others and be part of history of making it here.’
But apart from that, I am a total arts person. I am a talented fine artist, I draw, although when I got professionally involved in Theatre Arts, not just Nollywood but going to study Theatre Arts, I gave it more than 100 percent concentration and so the fine artist side of me reclined. But I still draw and it helps me in most of the things that I do. I was actually going to study Fine and Applied Arts when I got admission to study Theatre Arts and so I moved on. That’s one. I also have inclination for music, and I have a very good ear for music. Then again, as an Arts student, I probably would have studied Law because law practice as regards court appearances also has theatrics involved. Also, there is a certain level of dignity associated with the profession. That would have been an option. And then, of course, Mass Communication.
And then, if not because I was an Arts student, I also like the medical profession. I’m not scared of blood, you know, and it’s always amazing how somebody walks into a hospital very sick and the doctor does a few things and makes prescriptions and the person becomes okay. I also admire the navy, especially the senior ranks; that white uniform, it’s always dazzling. There is this debonair appearance that the top echelon of the navy portrays. I also admire the flying profession, pilots. As I speak to you I have not ceased to be amazed by the mystique of the technology of the aircraft, of aviation. Each time I fly I deliberately ask for window seat – and looking out, it’s awesome. And then again, from the point of view of a filmmaker, the shots you see during take-off and landing, it’s simply amazing.
These are some of the options, but then being an actor today I can wear the uniform of a Field Marshal. The arts make you “jack of all trade and master of the arts”.
You work with the governor of Anambra State as Senior Special Assistant on Creative (Movie/Entertainment Industry). Could you tell us exactly what your job entails?
My job entails harnessing the creative potentials that abound around here, making sure also that Anambra State becomes the hub of entertainment. Don’t forget that before now the state used to be seen as being conservative as far as arts, culture and entertainment are concerned. But that belongs to the past now. The state is opening up very seriously. As I speak to you, a lot of movies are being shot in Awka and in Anambra State generally. Officially, the government has what is called the Anambra State Heritage Festival. It involves about three or four days of activities around entertainment. It comes up around December, so there is Christmas carol officially, and there are cultural displays by different towns in Anambra State bringing their dances and their entertaining masquerades, and then you have another component of it called Jam Blast, where you bring in one or two well-known artistes/musicians to play alongside budding artistes in order to expose the younger ones to bigger audience. Anambra State has a lot of talents in music, in movies, and the arts generally.
And, of course, there are many other things that my work entails that I don’t want in print. I have discovered long ago that a lot of people will sit by the sidelines and wait for an idea to drop from someone else, then they would take it and run even before you conclude what you are doing. It’s like if I am doing a movie now, of course I won’t begin to tell you what’s in the script. The movie belongs to the market place, it’s in the open, so when it comes out people will see it. So let’s just say that what we are doing will unravel and people will see it. But suffice it to say that we are working hard with the support of His Excellency, Governor Willie Obiano, to make Anambra State the destination point in entertainment in Nigeria. And mark my word, it’s going to happen that way. We have an abundance of talent, though most of us live outside Anambra State; even when you talk about businesses. If Anambra businessmen and women decide to invest – and I’m not saying return completely – just 10 percent of what they are investing outside Anambra State back here in the state, there will be serious reversal of movement. Some states are saying that Anambra people or Igbo people are crowding them out, I tell you that there will be a reversal such that those people will see a compelling reason for them come to Anambra State. If they don’t come to Anambra State, they ain’t getting nothing. I’ll leave it at that.
If you look at Nollywood, you see a predominance of Igbo people at all stages of the industry, yet you don’t find many movies being made in Igbo language. Why is that so and is anything being done to address that situation?
That was in the past. As I speak to you a lot of movies are being shot in Igbo language. When last year DStv Africa Magic decided to dedicate a channel to Igbo films, it was celebrated in a special way in Enugu and I was in attendance. I also know that prior to that time a lot of producers and directors were on different locations shooting Igbo films. These things take time to mature and it is only when they are done and they are in the public domain that people will begin to see the result. Suffice it to say that a lot of work is being done in that regard. Sometime last year I also shot a pilot episode of an Igbo soap opera which I’m still shopping for sponsors. As soon as I get sponsorship, that soap opera will hit the airwaves. Yes, people are concerned about that but rest assured that things are being done in that regard.
In the past couple of years we have seen state governors increasingly creating portfolios around entertainment and appointing creative industry people like you into positions of responsibility. Some people see this as a recognition of the role that entertainment industry can play in economic development, while some others think it’s just a publicity stunt. What’s your take?
I don’t think it’s publicity stunt. You see, when Nollywood started, people were not really enthusiastic about it; a lot of people were busy comparing what we were doing with movies shot in the United States and in Europe. But we kept on with tenacity of purpose and over time people began to say, ‘Wait a minute, these people are onto something.’ And at some point the world took notice of what we were doing. Politicians and government people would be too myopic if they do not realise that this is the next goldmine. At some point in time our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was rated over that of South Africa based on just two components – oil and gas, which is naturally given and nobody laboured for it, and Nollywood, which I am proud to say I’m part of that industry. Kudos to him, the immediate past president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, also saw that this was a veritable goldmine. If you know the amount of money that Hollywood makes for the United States of America! And Nigerian Nollywood has also been graded to be a billion-dollar industry. It is only a fool that will have such goldmine and go to dig in a mud pit.
This brings me to a very important point. President Muhammadu Buhari has not said anything about the entertainment industry. His body language doesn’t even reflect in any way at all that he has any iota of interest in this same industry which has made Nigeria stand above board. Almost a year after a new president is elected, he has not even indicated any interest to look in that direction. And I tell you something, immediately Buhari won the election, there was palpable fear in the entertainment industry, and it is still there, and I’m telling you this from the position of someone who should know as a pioneer. There is still the palpable fear in the entertainment industry that the policies of this present administration in the country may destroy the gains we have made in entertainment. But then hope is not lost. I am saying this because I want the president and his handlers to reassure the entertainment industry that they have not come to destroy what we have built over the years but to see how they can sustain it and improve on it. If the president doesn’t do that, he would be destroying a very large chunk of the economy, and that will be like burning down a section of your own house. President Buhari needs to urgently convene a meeting of sane people in the industry. It shouldn’t be something to advertise or make noise about on the pages of newspapers and it becomes a news item; it is something that the president and his handlers should do in a subtle way and reassure the industry. This industry emerged out of nothing but sheer determination of a collective will of a section of the people who know that they have talent and know that they want to develop this talent to serve Nigeria. No government money was put into it and up till today government is not funding Nollywood. If government were funding productions in Nollywood most of us would have died of hunger and starvation. It is still funded by independent entrepreneurs. Outside the civil service which is government, Nollywood is the second largest employer of labour. The records are there. So why hasn’t the president reached out to us?
And this should be more compelling now that oil prices have hit rock bottom and the government is once again mouthing the mantra of diversification…
Look, I said we have a goldmine in the entertainment industry, call it a diamond mine if you like. For years I have been hearing about diversifying our economy, that we have a mono-based economy which is oil. We knew this all along. We knew that oil probably won’t last forever. I mean, this is not the first time that oil price is fluctuating in the international market. These things keep showing signs, but you make hay while the sun shines. What better time than now to encourage people to really diversify? I see they pay lip service to this whole thing. I watch some of them on TV repeat the same old story. Today I’m married with children, and this is something you keep hearing over and over again. When are we going to learn in this country? That’s why one is concerned. You have such a goldmine in Nollywood, which came along as partner with government and has built a very strong base. Other African countries are coming to learn from us, even countries from outside Africa. And people are showing interest. Nigerians in Diaspora and other Africans out there are reaching out to us to see how they can integrate their children back here to be able to do what we are doing in Nollywood. A lot of these kids are born outside here but they see what we are doing from wherever they are living on the face of the earth. For them this is great from back home and they want to be part of what is going on. But then government, this present government, is not showing any interest whatsoever in what Nollywood has done. So we are concerned. You know, first thing I said was that we had a change in government and there was palpable fear because President Buhari has no antecedents of any inclination towards the arts; he hasn’t also made any comment or any pronouncement in that direction. When he was being touted as a dictator because he ruled by the force of arms before, he said openly and I saw him say that on TV: ‘Look, I’m a converted democrat’. And we make bold to say that the man hasn’t said anything about the arts. Why can’t he come out plain and say, ‘Look, it’s not the way you see it that it really is. I love music, I love entertainment, and I watch your movies’? Let him come out and say it. It’s not for the Minister of Information to come tomorrow and say, ‘I read somewhere that entertainment people are worried about the president. Oh, the president loves movies’. Let the president come out and say it, just as he said about politics that he is a born-again democrat. Let him mention two or three artistes that he loves their music, even if they come from the moon. Let him mention two or three actors that he loves their movies, even if they come from Uzbekistan. That will reassure us that the man is looking in the direction of us working together.
In the event that the president does not make any such statement and does not also show any interest, what do you think those of you in Nollywood who have sustained the industry all these years should keep doing to keep the industry alive?
The answer is very clear. It’s our lingo in the industry and I’ll answer you straight the way we say it: “The show must go on!”
A lot of creative industry people are going into politics. What do you think is driving them? Because the speculation out there is that the industry is no longer as lucrative as it used to be. So, is this a survival strategy?
I guess the motivation is to serve the people in a different capacity. Everything is not about money, although unfortunately today people will sell their souls to the devil for a mess of porridge. Everybody whom you see as a politician today wasn’t born a politician; it was as some point in their lives that they ventured into politics. And I daresay that nobody knew any of them; they came out of the blues. The better people to be in leadership positions in this country are the entertainment people who have the pedigree. It shouldn’t be an all-comers’ affair. I can assure you I don’t believe in fly-by-night, moonshiners. There are those who have doctorate degrees in different disciplines in the entertainment industry, there are those who have multiple degrees, there are those who have awesome experiences. To produce and direct and act in a movie, you are a leader of men and manager of material. Now a lot of these people you talk about as politicians don’t interact with the people as much as we do. I enter hotels, I enter beer parlour, I go to nightclubs, I go to places where these people will not go, and I get to hear even privileged things. All sorts of people watch our movies. So, I believe those of us who are gravitating towards political leadership just want to contribute. You can’t sit on the sidelines and keep complaining that things are not working right. I went to vie for a position in the Anambra State House of Assembly and people asked me this question a couple of times and my answer is this: I have children who are in secondary school now and they know their father is influential. The things I saw as bad happening to our country when I was their age are still there till today. Now when they grow older and ask me: ‘Dad, at some point in your life as a young person you had influence, you were well-known and people loved you, you had the opportunity of going into a political office where you could help to change things. Why didn’t you explore that opportunity to make the country better by becoming involved in what was going on?’ What do you think I would tell them? I would bow my head in shame. But I had to try, and they know I’ve tried and will keep trying. I know it’s going to work but if it doesn’t, my children will give me a pat on the back and say, ‘Dad, you tried. It’s an evil system out there.’ If I succeed they will say, ‘Dad, you see, you have encouraged us and we are proud of you that when you went in there, things changed for the better.’
I think why people are usually concerned when entertainment people go into politics is that we have built a huge fan base and they think that if we go into politics we won’t do movies anymore. It’s not true. Arnold Schwarzenegger of the United States was a two-term governor of the State of California. He’s back in the movie set now. Even our own good old Richard Mofe-Damijo was a Special Adviser and then a Commissioner, and he’s back to the movies again. There are so many examples. So for our fans who are concerned that some of us will go into politics and we won’t be thrilling them on the screens again, let them not fear because one enhances the other.
But let us even come to the critical analysis of this whole thing. What is the qualification for somebody to vie for a seat in the House of Assembly? Primary Six. What’s that for House of Reps, Senate, governor? Cheap. And for president? Most of us have better qualifications than what the country has prescribed for its rulers. These are my leaders today, but I’m sorry to say, I watch some of them on television, some of them are two terms, three terms in the National and different State Houses of Assembly, they go there to warm the benches because they find their way somehow into those chambers and they have nothing to offer, and so it becomes business as usual. How many people are in the Senate? How many are in the House of Reps? And how many of them do you see today when they show Senate sessions saying anything? Do we have to continue like that when we have very vibrant, well-educated young men and young women who have shown themselves, the world already knows them? Some of these politicians we don’t know their strength of character, some of them don’t even have stable homes, all we see are posters and there’s a lot of largesse. But Google up any of these artistes that are vying for positions and the whole world knows them. You can be in Afghanistan and at the click of a button you can know who Bob-Manuel Udokwu is. So let people stop questioning the rationale for people in entertainment going into politics.
Some of your colleagues in the entertainment industry have also started a process of giving back to society. Some of them are doing this through foundations. What are your own plans in this direction?
I am a government appointee at this point in time and I shouldn’t be seen running a foundation. If you talk about giving back, I don’t make announcements on radio and television when I do that, I don’t advertise things I do in terms of giving back, but let me say this. It pains me when you get the impression that in Nigeria we look at material things all the time when we talk about giving back. Somebody has a birthday, instead of people coming to bring gifts they are coming to deplete the person’s resources; you build a house it is the same thing; you win an award it’s the same thing. They don’t add anything to your life, they only remove. I don’t subscribe to that school of behaviour. What I do is not to give fish, but to teach how to fish so that these young people would become better individuals tomorrow. I mentor young people. For me, I don’t think there is any amount that I will give any youth that will be better than teaching that youth how to live a good life, how to be the best they can. If you ask those who were in the jungle with me for the five years plus that I anchored Gulder Ultimate Search, they will tell you they learnt a lot from me. Long after Gulder Ultimate Search, most of them still keep in touch with me, we still talk, some of them come to me for advice, I mentor some of them and I think that’s greater than gold because it makes them better individuals.
There are younger people who are looking forward to getting into the entertainment industry. Any word for them?
For me as a person I always believe in hard work. Hard work doesn’t kill anybody. If I begin to tell my own story of what I went through to become even visible at all, not to talk about being a celebrity! But then everybody mustn’t go through the same process. Pioneers always clear the way to make it easier for others. My word for them is discipline, discipline, discipline. Then perseverance. You see, a lot of them want to come into the entertainment industry for the wrong reason. I can tell you that a lot of my contemporaries in the industry didn’t go there to look for fame or money. We were simply carrying on with idealism, that idealistic feeling of a young person that there is something you have that the next person doesn’t have. I think that’s what drove some others into sports also, and today people like my good friend Kanu Nwankwo and Jay-Jay Okocha became world-class players because they continued where others stopped. Who didn’t play football as a kid? But they continued where others stopped and their talents were discovered. I’m not sure they went there initially for the money or fame. I think it was Okocha who once said that he gets paid for doing what he loves to do. But those who struggle to go and play today for the money because they hear of millions miss the mark. Today a lot of young people come to me and the first thing they say is, ‘Uncle Bob, I want to be a star like you.’ That’s wrong. That means they are chasing stardom and have absolutely nothing to offer. But stars are made every day. If you check from 1992 when we did “Living in Bondage” until now, forget that I am still very much visible and waxing strong, there are many young people who have come up who weren’t even born by then, today they are stars. So, it takes discipline, it takes hard work, it takes education. They just have to go to school. You get to auditions and you see very handsome young men and very beautiful young women and you say, ‘Oh, this is it’. Give them a script and you will bow your head in shame on their behalf. The type of words that will come out of their mouths even with an already written script, you’ll then wonder, didn’t this person go to secondary school? And they want to become stars. You see, an entertainment industry like Nollywood is not where you do man-know-man. It’s like sports. If the coach of our senior national team likes let him fill the national team with his cousins and in-laws, they will flop because they don’t have the talent, but he can go to Nasarawa State and select our best eleven and they will go out there and win trophies and the cup will come to Nigeria. So, entertainment and sports are not where you do man-know-man. The talent has to prove itself.
I also have to advice young people that being a celebrity has its down and uncomfortable side. For instance, a shot was fired into my office once in Surulere Lagos some years ago. The bullet zipped past me and hit the wall near me. I picked up the bullet and went to make a report to the police. Whether it was accidental or deliberate, I can’t tell but the experience was quite scary. It’s not everybody that watches your movies that likes you. I also get anonymous phone calls threatening my life and that of my family. It was more during my campaign for State House of Assembly ticket. My family is also not left out. My wife often gets strange calls that are scary. The callers make her know that they are aware that she is my wife and that they are watching her! As a matter of fact she has also been chased by rough-looking people while driving her car. She eluded them but there was no doubt that she was their target. A close friend also told us to be careful allowing our children go out because she happened to overhear some strange fellows discussing in hushed tones how they see our children moving on their own without supervision around our neighbourhood in Festac Town, Lagos. All these make it difficult for one to live a normal life because you and your family are constantly under scrutiny by both good and bad elements in the society. A kidnap attempt was once made on my son! A woman came to my son’s primary school at closing time and told the security guard that my wife asked her to come and pick up our son because she was caught up in traffic far from the school. The security guard went inside to inform my wife who was a supervisor in the school. Since my wife never asked anybody to pick up our son for her and she was physically present in the school at the time, she was really rattled. By the time she came out with other staff in company of the security guard, the would-be kidnapper had vanished! That event made the school to install close circuit television in and around their premises. I don’t attend some live events whether indoors or outdoors due to personal safety concerns. It’s not an easy life but as a Christian, I know that God is in control of the affairs of men and more so mine and that of my family. The show must go on.
CHUKS OLUIGBO
