President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Emeka Rollas, has urged Nollywood actors and other industry players to prioritise their lifestyles to avoid breakdown

Mr Rollas made the call at the beginning of the 2025 “Annual Walk and Wellness Campaign” of the guild on Saturday in Abuja.

According to the AGN boss, the spate of health challenges faced by actors in Nollywood in recent has made the call for healthy living more imperative.

He said the nature of the filmmaking job was demanding and time-consuming that a lot of industry players, especially actors, have no or little time for their health concerns.

The AGN helmsman, therefore, advised actors to be intentional about their heath and recognise the signs and symptoms of a potential breakdown and seek immediate help.

He said, “One of the dangers of not knowing your health status is that when sickness hits you, you might just go into an emergency case, and emergency case is what often leads to death.

“Actually we started the health walk three years ago, and this year at the National Executive Council we decided that all state chapters should of course do theirs at their state capitals.

“The health walk specifically came as an initiative when we noticed that many actors were sick, and always on the internet seeking for support for their health. We decided to look at it holistically first of all, that let’s be proactive, and the only way you can be proactive is to ensure that actors live healthy. One of the prerequisites for good health is to have healthy food, engage in regular exercise, and then we established this walk.

“You may also notice that in the past three years now, the issue of actors coming online to beg for support has diminished drastically. It’s no longer as frequent as it used to be, which means people are actually keying into this signing up on the AGN HMO, signing up on other benefits to be members.”

According to Mr Rollas, the Walk and Wellness Campaign, which held simultaneously across the guild’s state chapters, is aimed at prioritising health and wellness within the industry.

He said the campaign would feature a range of activities aimed at promoting comprehensive well-being of actors, including medical screenings, mental health discussions by experts and therapy sessions.

He also encouraged actors to get enrolled in the guild’s health insurance programme to access prompt and affordable medical attention whenever the need arose.

He stated, “So this is a day we go through medical examination to know those whose cases are getting worse, so they will begin on time to seek medical attention.

“Today you can see test kits for malaria, typhoid, HIV, BP, arthritis, and others, all for actors to know their health status.”

In an interview with on the sidelines of the event, the FCT Mayor of AGN and host of the event, Mercy Aminu, expressed delight at the encouraging participation of FCT actors in the event.

Ms Aminu noted, “I feel my members are now aware of the need to take their health seriously, which is the essence of this walk.

“It’s known that actors don’t really take their health seriously, not because they don’t want to, but because of their tight schedules of moving from one film set to the other. This walk is a reminder for them to take their health seriously, even if they don’t get to do tests every day, at least make sure that they do general test once in a year.

“As a guild, all we could do, which we are still doing and we will continue to do, is to tell them to check their health regularly and also watch what they eat.”

Some Nollywood actors during an interview commended the guild’s leadership for the initiative.

Ace actor, Benedict Johnson said: “What we are doing today is necessary for every actor, and we actually need to do this more often.

“So many people walk about without knowing their health status, and they might be having some underlying illness without knowing. Through this kind of physical exercise, and of course a some doctors check on us, cases of sudden death can be averted.”

Also, actress Empress Njamah, said although AGN was championing the healthy lifestyle campaign for industry players, there was need for actors to take responsibilities for their wellbeing.

“Once you’re 18 and above, you should obviously know that good health is important to your everyday life and know how to protect it. There are certain things that you cannot impose on people if they are not open-hearted and willing to accept them. A lot of people are just nonchalant about their health.

“However, health is wealth, and it is embarrassing for most of our colleagues to come online to ask for funds for health issues” she stated.

The Walk and Wellness Campaign kicked off at the Old Parade Ground, with a lot of Nollywood actors in attendance.

(NAN)