Why I Disappeared From Nollywood - Charles Okafor

Nigerian actor Charles Okafor ruled the screens in the 90s and into the early 2000s. He was one of the most prolific and most popular actors starring in blockbuster productions like Igodo, Domitila, End of the Wicked, Executive Connection, Blood Billionaires, Abuja Boys, and more.

Lately, Charles hasn't been as active as he once. He hasn't been in any blockuster movie for years now, and of course that leads to the question of why? Why did he disappear from the scene? What has he been up to all this time? Well, during a new interview with Funke Olaode, Charles Okafor opened up. Here's what the actor said.

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Speaking about his absence from the Nigerian movie industry, Charles Okafor said:

Well, two things contributed to our absence, not only me but active thespians. Number one, current economic realities have slowed the industry down a bit, I mean the creative industry. So, naturally it has not been as boisterous, active, vibrant and busy as one would have expected. But it is not something that is localised, it is a global phenomenon. Even in advanced countries; the Hollywood, Bollywood and several other industries within that sector, motion picture and other forms of art within the larger creative family have slowed down. That explains why some of us might not have been as busy as our teaming fans would have expected us.

Number two, is that as one grows old, especially in my experience, one becomes more circumspect, one becomes more thorough and introspective and is able to identify those aspects of your creative offerings that add value more to certain other nuggets of life beyond mere entertainment. So you want to begin to do more of those forms of advocacy, add client activities. So I am still active in the profession.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 visited the world, we had course to be in four countries within the sub region of West Africa under the sponsorship of the European Union and ECOWAS. We produced good pictures targeted at sub-regional integration and also showcasing the very robust opportunities that exist in the sub region of West Africa. The whole idea is to encourage the youth demographic within West Africa to look inward against the very sobering mortal alternative of embarking on road trips to Europe and trying to cross the Mediterranean. And you know the fatalities that occur and all of those. We have so much within West Africa that with increased capacity, promote prosperity, promote subregional integration. And so those are the types of activities that I have engaged us for quite a while. But before 2019, we were in Switzerland doing advocacy against irregular migration. So in one word, we have not been very quiet but equally we have not been very, very visible with the local creative environment but we are still active. We are still actors, we are still filmmakers, we are still film producers and we are still in the industry.

What do you think about what Charles Okafor said, and have you missed seeing him on screen? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment either below or on my Jide Okonjo Facebook post.

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