One of Nollywood’s pioneers, Ene Oloja, who became a household name in Nigeria of the 1980’s and 90’s for her compelling acts on the screen and stage and was famous for her appearance in a soap opera, Cock Crow at Dawn, has opened up on a wide range of issues including her turbulent but steady journey into the acting industry. In this interview with newsmen, Ene also speaks on the shabby treatment meted on veterans of the film industry and her plans to return to the Nollywood, among others.

The mother of one, after moving to the USA in 1991, joined the non-profit sector and has starred in a few films there. She has however not left her root as she continues to follow the progress of Nollywood back home, of which she is undoubtedly a pioneer.

EXCERPTS:

You left Nigeria 24 years ago, yet you remain a household name because of the unforgettable roles you played in Cock Crow at Dawn and Behind the Cloud, two of Nigeria’s most popular soaps. Do you have plans of returning one day to the now world –famous Nollywood?

I left Nigeria in 1991. And yes, I do plan to return to Nigeria and hopefully become fully engaged with Nollywood. My brain is teeming with production ideas l would like to bring to life that I believe Nigerians will enjoy. Now that my son is grown, I’m freer to fully immerse myself in the rigors of production once more.

How would you compare Nollywood to the film industry of your time? Don’t you agree that we have moved some inches forward especially in terms of technology? Are there some areas that make you flinch watching our films now, and where you think we can do better?

Nollywood has grown tremendously from my era and I’m proud to see the strides we’ve made. Though I must confess that I’m not an avid watcher of movies, but what I have observed is that we still have some ways to go with the technical quality of our productions. What makes me flinch is the kind of content being put out there. As artistes, we have a unique opportunity to get into the minds of people, shape opinions, attitudes, and mindsets. Content is therefore paramount. My observation of the kind of content prevalent in Nollywood movies focuses heavily on juju, witchcraft, ogboni, and things like that. And people believe seriously in such things. We have to remember that children are watching these productions, and I hate to see us entrench such ideas in their young minds. To me, it is a disservice to our children, we need to mold them better. Are we going to focus on such things and perpetrate the usual African concentration on black magic or are we going to uplift people by dealing with issues of everyday life challenges, and giving them suggestive tools to resolve such challenges? Not that these things don’t exist, where there is good there is also evil but must we concentrate on the bad and perpetrate the negative in our society? Remember, what you give great thought to becomes your reality. The more we focus on a thing, the more power and life we give it: It is the law of nature… We empower what we focus on, so content is paramount. The focus on voodoo, witchcraft and such negative things aid in entrenching those kinds of schools of thought in our lives. Soon, we will become afraid of our own shadows because so many people believe in those things and live their lives immersed along those lines. That is part of why I do not watch much of Nollywood movies: I refuse to entertain negativity around me, in my aura, and in my life; as if life is not challenging enough on its own, let alone adding such energies to your life! I stay clear of such energies in any form, be it in things, movies, or people and don’t entertain them around me, because they attach themselves to you, to your clothes, your walls, and everything around you, and they affect your aura! That’s why I don’t watch horror movies.There is a gamut of challenges in the everyday life of Nigerians, we hide so much of our lives and sweep a lot of things under the rug, and I would like our productions to take on those kinds of challenges, moving forward.

Since leaving Nigeria, you have being involved in two highly critical productions, the theatre production Echoes from the Diaspora (1993) and the film The Brave One (2007). How easy was it breaking into Hollywood? What are they about, and how was it going back on the stage and screen again? Do we expect to see you in other productions soon from the USA?

Yes, Echoes from the Diaspora dealt with the immigration experiences of Africans and others of African origins to the United States. It was an authentic work pieced together by a group of five performers from various countries telling our stories. It was very well received in New York and New Jersey where we performed the final piece. Unfortunately, I had to relocate to Rochester in Upstate New York at the time and so kind of broke up the group before we had a chance to develop the concept further and produce it in other media formats. Hollywood is difficult to break into. Initially, I wanted to continue with my chosen profession but I found it a really uphill task and I had a little one to raise so I made the choice to concentrate on making a home for my son and providing stability for him: a very difficult task for me at the time as a single parent in a strange land without much help. The Brave One simply fell on my lap so I did it. Of course, if other projects come along that I like, I will work on them. Going back to the stage, the screen, will always remain my first love: I went through a lot of upheavals to become an actress, and even more upheavals because I was an actress, but I can only engage in projects that are meaningful to people, and to me.

It won’t be a bad idea, too, if we see you back on the screen in Nigeria. Do you have such plans for the near future?

Certainly! But nobody has invited me to participate in any projects in Nigeria. Except I think Jeta Amata? He once contacted me through Facebook for a project he was working on, but I wasn’t much of a social media buff then and didn’t see his message until well over a year. Of course it was too late by then. But, I am open to any kind of meaningful project and barring that, whenever I come home, I will certainly like to put some productions together: they’re already in the can, and God willing, they’ll come to fruition once I can source out good financial backing or sponsorship. Production is cost-intensive.

Overtime in the USA, I noticed you have transitioned into the non-profit sector. Were there things in your background or trainings that prepared you for this later role? What are the basic differences between working in the non-profit and the make-belief world of the screen and or stage?

My family, from my grandparents to my parents always kept an open door policy and fed anyone that walked through our gates. We always made more food than the immediate family needed, just in case someone came by, and people inevitably did. I think it is an imbedded fact in our culture generally. I kept the same kind of open door policy in my home in Jos, and I get reminded by so many individuals about how I fed or took care of them in Jos any time they lacked food or needed something: actions I barely remember myself. All I know is that everyone and anyone was welcome in my home and always felt free around me.And yes, I have furrowed into the Non-Profit sector for the past 16 years starting from 1999. It happened by accident when I was looking for work after relocating back to New York City from Rochester, NY. I registered to pick up some computer skills with the New York Urban League on Staten Island. The Director saw my resume and asked me to help them teach the General Education Diploma (GED), I didn’t even know what that was initially but after she explained, I said sure. It was supposed to be part-time for 2 months (the remainder of their contract) but I did so well within those 2 months that she scrambled around to find extra funds to extend my position for another year, so I ended up teaching the GED for 14 months total and graduated quite a good number of my students, some of whom have now gone on to achieve their Masters degrees and others to further their careers and set up their own businesses. After teaching the GED, the Director offered me another job as a Job Coach for another new program and within a couple of years, I was offered a position as Director For Youth and Community Development handling six different programs that were failing then. Luckily, I was able to achieve a quick turn around and saved those programs. The rest is history: I’ve remained in Non-Profit
Social Services. The difference between those two worlds is that in the Non-Profit sector, you are dealing in real-time with real people, issues and crises that could be life-threatening, and need immediate solutions. With the screen or stage, you’re still dealing with life issues, only this time you can carefully craft the issues to be addressed in a particular fashion, played out by others: solutions are suggestive and might not work for every such situation since there’s a diversity of effective factors peculiar to each situation. However, the fascinating aspect of both career fields is that they both give you a unique opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives. Whether make-belief or actual, to me, what truly matters in life is being able to provide respite for people in one way or another: and that goes for anything at all you’re doing in life: if what you’re doing does not help others, I believe you have not fulfilled your calling. Implicitly, that is what success is all about: that you use your unique gift/s to benefit others just as their unique gift benefits you. That’s the whole essence of life: to me, anyhow.

Going back to the one of the productions which brought you to national prominence, you were the swift, stern and no-nonsense Zemaye in Cock Crow at Dawn. Are there similarities in the person of Ene Oloja and the persona Zemaye?

As an actress/actor, I do believe that there are aspects of your personality inculcated into performances and characters. I do have a reputation for being strict, stern, and perhaps a bit rigid sometimes, though I am equally reputed to be very giving and kind too. I know for a fact that I have a thin threshold for nonsense; I tend to be a perfectionist and can be quite driven when I believe in something: I don’t give up easily.

Are you still in touch with other cast members such as Sadiq Daba (Bitrus)? I know a few like George Menta have passed now.

Yes, most of us have stayed in touch, both cast and crew. I talk to Sadiq from time-to-time and a lot of my other colleagues especially from Sokoto. We also visit each other whenever we can or we’re in the same town. We’ve all kept in touch, even up to our children sometimes. And yes, George Menta has passed, but some of his children are still in touch with me. Tola Awobode, (my daughter Lare in Cock-Crow) has also passed. We talked weekly when she was alive, even though we never did get to see each other here in the United States. Zainab Bewell, (Uncle Gaga’s troublesome wife Ene): we’re still in communication, even with her two lovely girls, and grandson Eli who visited me from England a few years back. And I do speak to her as well from time to time. Lantana Ahmed (Zemaye’s friend Afi): we’re in touch; Peter Igho, Director of the program: we’re in touch: still treats me like a child: him and uncle Idi Farouk gave me a couple of hundred dollars each for taxi fare after we all had dinner here in NYC last year!!! Lol!!! Husseini Baba Ahmed, our Cameraman passed. Alhaji Yusuf, our Director of Photography also passed: our last meeting was lunch at Shagalinku in Abuja in 2008 or thereabout. Beke’s daughter stays in touch with me through Facebook. Ihria Enakimio, one of the original writers, we talk often online. Maureen Egbuna (Uncle Gaga’s 3rd wife) we talk on the internet from time to time; Dan Emeni and his wife: we lived in NYC together and saw each other from time to time; Godwin Onwubiko (Cock-Crow’s Sound Engineer), we reconnected of recent; Bongos Ikwue (Cock-Crow Theme’s Songwriter), he’s simply the best: any time I visit with him in Otukpo, he literally wants to give me the world! He and his wife spoil me royally with so much food and drinks of all kinds, fattening me up the more! Senior Bongos Ikwue, his wife, and entire family gave my dad his last sumptuous supper in life! And I’ll never forget that, ever! They’re just awesome! We’re all still a close knit group. We shared eight years of our lives, through sorrows and joys: that counts for something.

There have been allegations doing the rounds for several years now about sex-for-role in the film industry in Nigeria. How prevalent was that in your time?

I’m actually taken aback to hear that. Are you sure those are not just ugly rumors? Our profession is often froth with some cruel and very ugly rumors, you know! I am a huge skeptic nowadays when it comes to whispers and unsubstantiated allegations. People’s imaginations can run so wild! Of course, even in Hollywood, there’s the proverbial ‘Casting Couch’ but I’m surprised at the suggestion that we have gotten to such a stage in Nigeria, if at all there’s any truth to the allegations. No right thinking Director should compromise artistic integrity for an easy lay. Production is serious business if the work is to be meaningful and I would expect Directors to choose a talent pool that can properly interpret the script. During my time, we could rarely find talent for our productions, let alone to have such a thing exist: hence, we recycled ourselves most of the time for the various productions because that was all we had. Don’t forget that in my time, acting was not yet that popular. Most of us in the profession suffered a lot of headache and heartache from our families. In my time, we could hardly find good artistes willing to act, let alone tag such a filthy notion to it. This reminds me of my harrowing experience when I directed Dan Emeni’s THE PROOF in 1987 or 1988, and my main star absconded three-quarters through the production and I now had to source out a replacement for her to re-shoot, go edit in Kaduna, and send to Lagos to air on the Network, all within less than a week! The casting for that production was unusual and I went through all kinds of hell to get the production out including: a swarm of bees attack, NEPA blackout, Generator breakdown, heels falling out of shoes, and all sorts of mishaps! Hmmm! I did win the national award for ‘Best Director’ for that year for this same production, which made it all worthwhile! Hmmm, but we’ll leave the details of that story for another day.

So sorry to hear about the actress, a main character absconding in the course of your production. If I may ask, what later became of her, do you know? For her to be made a main star meant she had some promises, did she ever resurface as an actress?

The actress never returned. Don’t know what became of her, never heard from/about her ever again till this moment.

Obviously the film industry in your time was not as rewarding as it is now, or at least not as much as when Nollywood was at its economic best. Yet people like you laid the foundation for what is to become the world-acclaimed Nollywood. Would you say that actors and actresses in your league deserve more recognition?

I always feel that Nollywood sprang from Episode 23 of ‘Behind The Clouds’, which I wrote: somebody, somewhere listened, thus the birth of Nollywood. As for recognition, it is always uplifting, and it would be nice to acknowledge the sacrifice of pioneers who produced a lot from practically nothing, and earned NOTHING doing it! I watched ‘Gringory’s Last Interview’ of recent on Facebook and I couldn’t stop myself from weeping. I was so touched. How does a nation like ours allow such a thing to happen, yet there is so much corruption, so much syphoning of our monies to enrich the children of other nations; and people like ‘Gringory’ and so many of us end up the way we do? But that is a general Nigerian problem: we have no continuity, no appreciation or value for ourselves, and we have the tendency to discard each other in preference to other nationalities. Most of us are still in the slave-master modus operandi and mentality, with a preference for anything foreign. This is the kind of thing that happens at Abuja International Airport all the time, when people like me get harassed each time I come home, and I see my people, the airport officials, bowing down and kowtowing to the foreigners like little lap dogs! I get so livid! Only in Nigeria! I have had so many fights at Abuja airport! The last time I visited: last year, I had to sue Emirates Airlines for the way they treated me at the airport on my way back to the USA, and I won. That was my maiden flight with them. They were lucky I did not take the lawsuit further! Such things do not happen anywhere else in the world but Nigeria! We rarely appreciate and encourage one another! We prefer to support foreigners! #BringBackNigeriaAirways#! How many of us have won the MON or any other such national honors in Nigeria for our contributions to the nation? You tell me! Who gives a hoot about people like me?

How do you feel now about the fact that Jos and Plateau State, the previous epicentre of tourism of the country, and also the centre of film making and where you also had a part of your schooling, is no longer the same, with repeated cases of terrorist attacks and consistent ethno-religious conflict?

That’s a very cloudy aspect of my thoughts when I muse over what is happening to Jos. I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around it! Jos was more home to me than anywhere else in the country. My undergraduate days were started there, doing our weekly ‘Playhouse’ with late Soni Oti; my Master’s degree in International Relations & Strategic Studies was achieved in Jos, under Professor Isawa Elaigwu, and VC Professor Ochapa Onazi; I lived and worked in Jos for years! My best friend ‘Molade still lives there, and my aunt Pastor Maria Adzua, other family members and a lot of my friends. My best years were spent in Jos, and they were very happy years. My family also lived in Shendam for years. It is simply excruciating to read about the happenings in Jos, and the entire state, but we’ll continue to pray for the peace and unity that existed of old between all ethnicities and religions. Jos, in particular, is home to all Nigerians, we all related well like one big happy family. I loved my life in Jos! I love Jos and I miss Jos so much! Even now, I have a lot of nostalgia about Jos, where I had really unique experiences. I just don’t understand what happened. It is just too unbearable! Let me use this forum to call on all Nigerians to please focus on restoring Jos! To PMB to focus on restoring our beloved Jos! To all who live in Jos to vehemently reject the derailment of the great city of Jos, and work hard to reclaim the peace and status of Jos! If I could single handedly restore Jos to her former glory, and more, I would. Let everyone please remember Jos, Plateau State, and the entire country especially the North East in your personal private prayers: that is the least we can all do, if nothing else! Oh my beloved city of Jos, I truly weep for thee!

Back in your home state of Benue, there is a huge reservoir of raw and untapped talent in the creative field (acting, music, writing etc.), suggesting that many will ultimately follow in the foot prints of creative spirits like you, Bongo Ikwue, Dan Agbese, Zakky Azzay, fellow actress Ene Ameh, local Idoma musician Peter Otulu, the Late Tom Aba, and the wave-making 2-Face Idibia among several others. Don’t you think a common front is needed to harness and promote these abundant talents with which Benue is blessed, I mean then younger generation? Do you have plans for such a platform to groom the upcoming generation?

With the reservoir of teeming talent, it would be a great blessing to really tap their creativity and encourage them to bloom. They have to have a good outlet for their creative wells and make meaningful contributions to their communities. But who gives anyone meaningful opportunities in Benue? My challenges with us in Benue is that the powers that be are all busy politicking. As for us, the Idoma, there is the blatant lack of cohesiveness among our elite, so that those who have the resources to assist others grow fail to make any
impact. There is so much in-fighting that our young ones have nowhere to turn, and most of us are just on our own trying our best to survive, without support. That is why Otukpo, for instance, has remained as backward as it was in the 60s, yet so many of our sons have held prominent national positions. We don’t work together, we don’t pool our resources, we don’t support one another. We suffer from what I call ‘minorititis’, which is a deadly disease that affects minorities everywhere, including here in the USA, whereby minorities turn on each other rather than bond together for strength. The only meaningful outlet right now, in Idoma for instance, is what Bongos has struggled to create over the years, but he alone cannot absorb all the raw talents available in our society. As for me, God willing, I hope to create a platform someday where our creative talent can find expression, in addition to putting in place the right matrix for sustainability. It is definitely on my horizon of thought, someday soon: God willing. I just pray I will achieve that dream when I come back home finally, and hopefully, God will send me the helpers I need to pull it off.

Are you encouraging your son to walk in your foot-steps to feather his nests in acting career?

Nooooo!!! My son likes Politics, Banking, Finance, Law, and careers like that, although during his Middle School years, he was one of the high performers in the dramatic arts, and very good too, but he refused to pursue that path. He played football instead in High School, got a college scholarship for it, but dropped out of football when one of his coaches told him he was rather short for the position he was interested in playing for, and went into politics to become the Student Body President of almost 40,000 students. At 21, he started a campaign to run for the Senate seat from the Democratic platform for Staten Island & Brooklyn, turning my poor little home into his campaign headquarters, but he eventually dropped out of the race. So … see how different we both are? He’s political, I’m creative.

Looking back now over your illustrious career, would you say that acting found you by chance, or you were naturally wired to be a screen goddess? How did it all begin for the enigma Ene Oloja?

I don’t know about ‘goddess’. Neither am I an ‘enigma’, I think. I’m very simple and easy to know, though I shy away from publicity and prefer a very quiet life; which is obviously a conundrum, given my chosen profession. All I know is that I always wanted to perform, way back from when I was 5 years old, after being cast in a Nativity play at our Church: St. Paul’s, Utonkon. And I got so much grief from my family for choosing my career path! My dad, who was an Inspector of Education, was absolutely petrified. And you know how it is in our culture, all his friends in government were all up in arms against me. They could not understand, particularly as I was always academically brilliant: usually top of my class, had a Division 1 in WAEC, etc. They refused to give me a scholarship to study Theatre Arts, they insulted me left, right, and center! Bullied me to drop my career choice! Were totally unmoved by the tears streaming down my cheeks for hours from their barrage of scolding during the scholarship interview! Phew! I had it very rough. My dad cut off any financial support to me. I ate unripe mangoes at UI for weeks for lack of money to get food at the cafeteria. But I persevered and followed my dream. It eventually turned out not so bad.

What would you be your advice to upcoming actors and actresses. And, like the corporate world, do women have to work thrice hard to succeed at their crafts?

My advice is simple: if that is your dream career, stick with it. Learn everything there is to learn about your craft: behind and in front of the camera. I did, and became a Writer, Director, and Producer as well. Be curious, be diligent, and be observant of life around you from which you can convincingly draw your characterizations. It really helps to know as much as possible, it aids everyone involved in all aspects of a production and makes the project easier to complete. As for women and their careers or craft, yes, we do have to work harder to prove ourselves: that is worldwide. There is a definite glass ceiling for women in all professions that is very difficult to break; coupled with cultural nuances, and a myriad of other societal pulls, we usually have to work much harder to gain respect in our chosen fields, whatever the field may be. However, once you establish a reputation for professionalism, and excellence, your colleagues begin to afford you your due respect, and then it becomes a little easier. However you choose to contribute in life, let it be that you absolutely love it, then the challenges become easier to overcome because your focus is right. My love of my chosen field provided the impetus to go with the flow and to stick with it.