Ignis Ekwe finally left UNICEF and went into full-time acting, and recently told of how it all started:
Acting career
To be honest with you, my acting career started when I knew how to talk. I grew up to discover myself playing drums, leading masquerades, organising my peer groups for dancing and singing.
Currently, I can write songs with ease in any language and translate them into any language, particularly the ones I understand. I was the president of the debating and cultural society at St. John’s College, Fuga and I had a cultural group inside the town as well as at St. John’s. In all the cultural activities that took place in Benin, Auchi and Fuga, St. John was always coming first and I was the leader of the group.
So I was a cultural ambassador even before I gained admission to the university. My first play was titled The Son of Tradition and my school group went on tour with that play and made money for the school. As I grew up, I took interest in writing soap operas, some of which are Cock Crow At Dawn, Behind The Clouds and After The Storm, for NTA Jos.
Inspiration
My inspiration comes from God and my fellow man. As I talk to people on different issues, I get inspired and get ideas that tell me I should have done more for myself. I believe people should value you for what you are and not really advertising you.
Role model
Jesus Christ is my role model, but the people I learn more from are children when I look and listen to them talking.
Nigerian theatre
As far as I am concerned, the stage still remains the best test for performance for anybody because if you can perform on the stage before a live audience where you don’t have to refer to scripts or somebody prompting you, then you can perform before any audience.
I think it’s one of the best mediums of training and that is why you see most people who studied Theatre Arts emerging better professionals than those who are just mere screen artistes.
In TV productions, they can always stop the camera for you, re-taking and editing episodes but on stage there are no such opportunities. It’s either you know it or your audience will know when you are not giving them the right thing. Having said this, I am not saying that the film and home video are not good. There are very good men and women who despite lacking theatre training are equally good and I respect them a lot.
Entertainment industry
This industry is big business in any part of the world and it is not supposed to be any different here in Nigeria. The problem is that it is still a growing industry and it’s only a few individuals who are promoting the industry. Recently, PMAN had got them together and had put their arts together. I remember when I was very young that if we didn’t go to watch Indian films in a day, we would not be happy. Indians place their economy on films and until Nigerian government starts active participation in the film and entertainment industry, it will still remain at the level where it is now. The industry is a goldmine, but be so far, I think we have tried because this industry started just barely 10 years ago and we have reached this stage, but it would have been better off than this if not that those who put the money down, particularly the Ibo marketers want to get quick money in return.
Happiest moments
I have had several happy moments in my life and one of such was when my wife wanted to take our son to the clinic for six naira and I told her that I didn’t have six naira but that she should take him to the clinic the following week and she was upset. That evening, all the children that were taken to the clinic died of fake drugs given to them. I didn’t know whether I should be happy or sad but when I heard families crying, I was very sad. Again when I looked at my little son who was saved because I didn’t have six naira, I was so happy.
Actors worth
Rate me ten over ten if you like because I cannot rate myself. I always try to improve on what I have done the previous day. Each time I finish a role, I always want to look back and see how I could have done it better and what I would have done if I were given the same role to play again. Of course, if I am given the same role to play again, I’ll love to do it in a different way.
Future plans
My plans for the future is to continue acting and creating scripts and serve God much better than I am doing at the moment. To be of much service to my immediate community in Fuga where I come from and to Nigeria as a whole, though I don’t have any political ambitions.
Directors/Producers
Right now, our producers are still trying to survive on their own. A few of them are good and there are a good number of those too who are not good. In my own candid opinion, if you ask me, the problem is that everybody seems to be in a hurry to be everything in this industry all because of money. You’ll find out that someone who has no professional training from anywhere, immediately becomes a producer, and becomes a director, a cameraman and you’ll find them like that in almost all productions and there’s nobody to correct them.
Why they do this is to cut cost in their own productions. There are a good number of those who go under all sorts of funny names all in the name of being producers. A good number of them have never been to any school and you cannot blame them because it’s their money that they invest in the trade and this is working for them. That is why the industry is growing at a slow pace, but I believe it will soon pick up.
Advice for practitioners
As for the film industry, I would say there’s hope. Our young ones who are starting now should learn to go to school first because anything one wants to do and don’t have educational qualifications, it will not be seriously regarded.
A good number of them, especially the young boys and girls, now rush into the industry because they want to act and the moment they get money in one or two movies, they don’t want to go back to school. It is not good for their future and their family because if you have billions of naira, you are still an illiterate with your money. For those who are already there, they should try to improve on what they have already acquired, as there is no age limit to acquiring training.,
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