Rev Mother Esther Abimbola Ajayi popularly known as Iya Adura on Sunday, 29 September, 2024 attended the Premiere of the movie, ‘Okikiola The Fisherman’ written by famous Nigerian journalist, Adeola Agoro, pledging her continued support for hardworking Nigerians like the writer of the film to achieve their dreams in life.
Speaking with newsmen at her Love of Christ Generation Church Hall, Oniru in Victoria Island, Lagos, venue of the premiere, Ajayi said that Nigeria still has enormous potentials to rewrite her story positively and take strategic role among the comity of nations.
She however said that building a great nation like Nigeria must be a collective responsibility from the leadership and the led.
The Reverend Mother noted that she has no reason not to assist those in need adding that some spirited Nigerians also supported her to reach the limelight today.
On the nation’s celebration of the 64th Independence Anniversary, Ajayi charged Nigerians to see each other as one and always extend hands of love to the less privileged.
The highly delighted writer of the movie, Adeola Agoro while speaking with newsmen described it as a worthwhile experience despite the challenges encountered while on locations with more than 100 cast for over two months.
“It was not easy to shoot the movie. We encountered a lot of challenges when we were on set doing the movie at Isheri-Olofin, community boys were there to disturb us, natural elements, things we never planned for surfaced and we had to face it and solved it. Despite all these challenges, it was a beautiful experience for me and other people who were all involved in the production of the movie,” an elated Adeola Agoro said.
She added that producing the movie is financially tasking as sophisticated and state of the art equipment were used.
She also added that, “feeding over 100 people and housing them in hotels were financially tasking but at the end of the day, we achieved our goal by producing this beautiful movie for people to watch”.
Adeola explained that the movie demonstrated the love story centreed around Baaj Adebule in the riverine area of Isheri Olofin, saying it highlighted the danger inherent in greed in human beings adding the next move is to get the Movie to the Cinemas and Live Streaming platform.
The Director of the movie, Segun Ogungbe said he was privileged to have been assigned the role and to work on locations with Sisi Adeola Agoro.
According to him, he had for the first time experience of shooting locations in the riverine areas, adding that the movie, ‘Okikiola The Fisherman’ will compete favourably among its peers in the Nollywood industry.
One of the special guests at the Premiere, Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon said it was a delight that Nollywood has come of age and now competes favorably with other similar industries in the world.
“It is statement of fact that Nollywood industry can compete with its peers anywhere in the world. Everybody likes to watch Nollywood. What the industry has done can be shown anywhere in the world. The Nollywood industry has come of age when we talk of quality, good scripts, usage of sophisticated cameras among others elements,” Senator Solomon, former Senate Minority Whip, said.
He also commended the resilience of the writer, Adeola Agoro while urging other states of the federation to emulate the growing collaboration Nollywood had enjoyed with the Federal and Lagos State Government in showcasing the potentials of the industry.
Solomon said there are lots of talents in the movie industry who are looking for support, just as he called on financial institutions in the country to support the industry’s talents to make them realised their dreams of entertaining their viewers both in Nigeria and the rest of the world.
“We have a lot of talents in the industry who are looking for financial support. federal and Lagos state government have been contributing their own quota to the industry. I am now appealing to financial institutions in the country to lend helping hands to the industry,” he said.
Some of the popular actors in the movie include Kunle Afolayan, Don Richard, Bolanle Ninalowo and Fatiha Balogun.
