Emeka Rollas, the President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, has stated that any actor found guilty of sexually harassing their coworkers will face consequences.
“We have not received any official accusation of sexual harassment from any member,” he told Saturday Beats, “but we have heard rumors about it.” But we can’t do anything unless we have official complaints.” We have put in place necessary safeguards to deal with such situations. We keep all reports strictly secret. In the fields of victim counseling and prosecution, we are also collaborating with various non-governmental organizations (of perpetrators). We would conduct internal investigations once we received any report.
After that, we’d turn the case over to NGOs, who would counsel the victim and maybe prosecute (the perpetrator).”
“We are here to safeguard our members and also establish it in their consciousness that the guild is always here to protect them against all types of harassment and abuse,” Rollas added, encouraging performers who have been sexually harassed to report such situations to the guild.
“Those that practice such are presumably non guild members who I may regard to as opportunists, who came into the industry to do their ‘runs,'” he added of performers exchanging sex for roles to filmmakers. I don’t believe any AGN member would volunteer for a job. Our members have been well-trained to understand their worth.”
“My achievements are quite numerous, and they include restructuring the guild, an improved welfare package, the introduction of an affordable retail health maintenance organization, financial support for sick and elderly actors, as well as empowerment and job opportunities for our members,” the actor said. In Abuja, we’re also planning to open a multimillion-naira national secretariat.”
