Why some Nollywood veterans are suffering from poverty – Segun Arinze

Concerned about the numerous cases of aged Nollywood veterans seeking financial assistance, actor Segun Arinze has proffered a solution while addressing the cause.

At a media briefing organised by the Actors Guild of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos, the actor exonerated the actor’s body of any blame

He said, “In Nollywood, there are people who just want to be acting without belonging anywhere, but when they fall sick, they go on social media to beg for money, and people come back to blast the guild for not supporting its members, yet when you check their records, you would see that in their almost 20 years of acting practice, they never belonged to any guild.”

“It is time we ask our favourite actors, ‘What guild do you belong to?’ It would create that awareness in them. As we speak, no actor in Hollywood is not a member of SAG-AFTRA.”

SAG-AFTRA is the collaboration of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). It is the umbrella body for all American actors and media practitioners.

Segun, who shot into the limelight as Black Arrow in Chico Ejiro’s 1996 classic, ‘Silent Night’, also said the National Film and Video Censors Board DG, Adedayo Thomas, has requested the statistics of every Nollywood practitioner in their various associations.

Recently, many famous Nollywood veterans have not had it so good, especially in their old age, and the once reserved and glamorous celebrities are now turning to social media begging for aid, leaving fans and critics intrigued and concerned.

In July 2023, veteran Yoruba actor and producer Dayo Adewunmi, popularly known as Baba Sule Suebebe, appealed to Nigerians for financial assistance on social media to foot his medical bills.

In February 2023, another veteran Yoruba actor Ojo Arowosafe, popularly known as Fadeyi Oloro, was in dire straits as his landlord served him an eviction notice for failing to pay his rent.

Mr Arowosafe, who played Fadeyi Oloro in a Yoruba TV series titled ‘Arelu’ in the 80s, has been ill for over three years. In December 2021, in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES,