• Edochie, Kanayo, Ozokwor, others unveil film project in Ebonyi to resuscitate customs, traditions of Ndigbo
From Magnus Eze, Abakaliki
• Ebonyi crew on parade
Ebonyi State came alive on February 10, 2024, when Nollywood giants from the South East took a bold step to revive Igbo culture and tradition using the cinema.
UNESCO some years ago predicted that Igbo language would go into extinction in 2025. Since then, various groups have worked assiduously to promote and preserve Igbo language.
• Edochie (right), Ozokwor and others
Veteran thespian, Pete Edochie, led the renaissance and was joined by Kanayo O. Kanayo, Chiwetalu Agu, Patience Ozokwor, Nkem Owoh, Chacha Ekeh, David Ekeh, Friday Ogbuewu and others.
The project was unveiled during a programme: “The Birth of Igbo Cinema in Ebonyi State,” organised by the Igbo Nollywood buffs. The Christian Ecumenical Centre in Abakaliki, venue of the event was filled to the brim.
Edochie commended the people of Ebonyi for putting up the project, stressing that the cinema would continue to attract support.
Kanayo and Ozokwor also hailed the initiators of the cinema project and urged them to keep the flag flying. They described the film industry in Nigeria as the “biggest employer of labour” and urged all hands to be on deck to move the industry forward.
Kanayo said Enugu, Asaba and other cities in the country are very popular because of Nollywood actors. He said the project was part of the effort of Nollywood practitioners from the region to bring back the Igbo lost glory.
He described Igbo Language as unique and called on parents to go back to drawing board and begin to speak the language to their children instead of English, which he said has replaced the Igbo language. He said Ebonyi has entered the global map through the Igbo cinema.
For Ozowkor, former Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief David Umahi, had given Igbo Nollywood actors a land for the establishment of cinema in the state. She urged Ebonyi people not to allow the opportunity slip off their hands.
Another Nollywood star, Chacha Ekeh, who hails from the state likened filmmaking to doing the work of God: “Film work is like ministry work. The same way children go to school and got taught by teachers, the same way clerics teach people in the church, it’s the same way in the movie industry. We teach people in any film we act. There is no how you will watch a film without learning a single thing.
“This is why my excitement for this line up is very high because we are about to educate the generation that is present and the generation that is yet to come. It will outlive us; it will last forever and we will be applauded for it. The universe will be proud of us and our children will be proud of us.”
Director of the project, David Ekeh, said: “We decided to use Igbo films to revive our cultures because people believe what they see. We no longer speak our language. Our children no longer speak our language. We are now speaking foreign language, which we were not known for, we are Igbo, we are not foreign people.
“So, this is the time to go back to our culture. This is the time to go back to our traditions.”
Governor Francis Nwifuru described the occasion as a “welcome development” as it aimed at promoting the identity of the people, especially the Igbo. Represented by his deputy, Patricia Obila, the governor pledged N15 million as support to the filmmaking project in Ebonyi.
Obila said: “The state is determined to develop the entertainment industry for the people and promote their heritage. Our culture is our heritage, which includes our language and clothing among others. My government is tagged ‘People’s Chatter of Needs’ and we are ready to support projects aimed at promoting our image as a state and Igbo land.
“This project is a programme everybody will benefit from. Several Igbo sons and daughters have forgotten our civic rights, some of them have forgotten our language. If they see their fellow Igbo person, they will say hi. Is hi our language? We have our language; we have our identity.
“Let us go to drawing board and start to teach our children our language because our language is our identity, our language remains where we come from.” She expressed optimism that the project would bring back the lost glory of Igbo people.
Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Stanley Ogbuewu, who is a member of Nollywood said the project was aimed at reawakening the consciousness of Ndigbo toward the beauty of their culture and tradition. He noted that it is also a way to promote Igbo culture and bring the people together: “This unique project would re-establish and revive our dwindling Igbo culture, especially our language, by creating awareness in our minds.
“The cinema would showcase movies, music and dances produced using the language and lifestyle of our people. With this project, we are bringing the five states of the South East and other Igbo speaking communities outside the region together and making them understand that despite the diversity in our various cultures, languages and traditions, we are one.
“There is that tradition that binds Igbo people together, which is what the project is trying to bring alive through the unveiling. We are going to have movies and music produced in Igbo dialect, which will go a long way to promote Igbo identity and heritage.
“I am happy that this epoch-making and landmark event taking place in Ebonyi State, the Salt of the Nation, today, is a child brain of an Ebonyian. Joyfully too is that it is in line with the People’s Charter of Needs being championed by the present administration under the leadership of Governor Nwifuru, as enshrined in our divine mandate manifesto to the people of our dear state.
“This project has the support of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, prominent Igbo personalities, great sons and daughters, captains of industry and iconic Igbo celebrities both home and abroad who have distinguished themselves in their different fields of endeavours.”