For three days, July 13-15, 2023, Nigeria’s movie directors under the aegis of Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN) gathered at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub in Benin City, Edo State capital, for the DGN annual convention. On the sidelines of the convention, Chief Henry Iyobosa Legemah, DG NEC chairman 2023, who chaired the organising committee, spoke with Chuks Oluigbo, Deputy Editor, on the convention, other DGN activities, and how Governor Godwin Obaseki’s reforms have made Benin City the first port of call for filmmakers in the country.
Members of the Directors Guild of Nigeria were at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub in Benin City for three days. Could you tell us what this three-day gathering was all about?
It was the Directors Guild of Nigeria’s convention and in the convention, of course, we had our Annual General Meeting and, we had our elections, and we had interactive sessions for stakeholders, professionals and technocrats to discuss what the Directors Guild of Nigeria, and indeed the creative, is about and the way forward. We had in our plan of events film screening and tours. Then, for the first time in annals of DGN that is over 22 years, we had an academic summit and for the first time too, journals were published. For the first time still, DGN inaugurated its own training institute to serve as training point for up and coming directors, then refresher courses for practicing directors. If you don’t practice your trade regularly you will get stale, and that is what the convention was about, let’s train the trainer.
And all of this success story can be told because we had an enabling environment to thrive and that enabling environment was given to us by the government of Governor Godwin Obaseki through the Edojobs and the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub.
Why did you decide to hold this convention in Benin? There are other places you could have done this, so was there a particular reason you chose Benin?
Benin City, in fact, Edo State, if you must know, right now is the creative hub of this country. Edo State has become now the Mecca of entertainment and creative activities and that is to the grace of the governor of Edo State who has done so much. If you must know, what used to be our Mecca, or Idiogbe if you are a Benin man (Idiogbe is the ancestral home of a family), was the Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre. We don’t know what happened, but the governor didn’t let us suffer; he built and moulded the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub which, as far as I am concerned, is even more functional than the Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre. It is a soundproof hall that sits over 3,000 people, state-of-the-art movie studio, musical studio, photo studio – it is a one-stop creative hub.
I want to say that having been everywhere else as a practitioner of over 48 to 50 years, this event has been hosted by different states, but seeing what the governor has put on ground, it was only necessary that as an Edo person I must make sure that creative practitioners in this country see and know first-hand what the governor is actually doing for the entertainment industry in Edo State and for Nigeria. And I didn’t want it to be like the witch who helped you in the coven will come to reality and you cannot tell him thank you or you cannot tell him what he has done for you. So, I feel that the governor has done so much and he is still ready to do more. He has brought all kinds of organizations to start to support. GIZ was a guest, they saw what we were doing and there are talks that we will have a synergy or collaboration when we start the directors’ institute. So, it’s our gain to be here.
How would you describe the experience at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub?
Awesome. Not because I am the DGN NEC chairman but because of what I saw happen. Chief Igbinedion graciously hosted us on the 13th. It was a wow factor and he was made a grand patron of DGN. I tell you that the largesse he dropped for us, he made the promise on the 13th and by 8am on the 14th we got a cheque of millions of naira, and that will go a long way to help DGN. So, it’s been awesome. Our patron was here, he saw what was happening and donated millions.
You have talked about what Governor Obaseki is doing in Edo State, but there are those saying the governor is not working…
The people who say the governor is not working are the career politicians who want to be spoon-fed every day, saying that as a leader they must be serviced. Since you are a knocked engine, go and be looking for who will service you.
More filmmakers seem to be coming into Benin. Why is this so?
Of course, the governor has created an enabling environment. He has what is called shelter at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub. You as a director will come into this town, you don’t need to book hotel rooms for your crew and your PAs, and even some of your cast. You just put them there. There is more than a hundred bed space there at the hub, and there are rooms, guest rooms for free. I don’t think any state has done anything like that, and I still don’t think you can get it better anywhere, that’s why everybody wants to come here. Let me shock you, if you need props for your shoot, like the airport, the police station, the courtroom and others, the government has asked Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub and Edojobs to make it possible at no cost to us. We just shot scenes using the airport, the court, the stadium, police stations, even using gunboats the governor bought for the protection of the waterways – we used it free of charge for our movies. There is no producer or director anywhere who will see such facilities, such enabling environment and go somewhere else. I have been to states where directors and even actors were kidnapped, but in Edo State you are protected, so everybody will come. And even DGN has said before the end of the year about 16 productions will be done here by DGN members to appreciate what the governor has done.
