Veteran actor, Saidi Balogun has revealed his opinion that
members of the House of Representatives especially those who are in charge of
passing anti-piracy laws, indirectly have a hand in the death of many actors
across the country.
He said most of his colleagues, who sought for public funds
to take care of their health before death could have been spared of death and
taken care of themselves if pirates did not milk the industry dry. He said the
actors could have used the money they make to subscribe to a health insurance
policy.
"People die but because we are in the public eye, death of
actors resonates more. Two million people can die but nobody would write about
them unlike when actors die. People die every day. It is not that we are not
checking ourselves, it happens but I am begging all actors to work on their
health. I was supposed to celebrate my birthday from May 24 to 26 but I
postponed it in honour of our fallen colleagues.
"The reason why most actors solicit for funds when they are
ill is because of lack of health insurance and we should talk to insurance
companies about that. If we are making our money now, we should look at health
insurance policy for future sake. I keep begging that the House of
Representatives pass hard laws on piracy because if we are making good money,
we would be able to subscribe to insurance policies. If I am making N500,000
and the school fees of my daughter is N600,000, where would I see money for
insurance? It is the people that are not passing hard laws on piracy that are
killing us. I have an insurance policy as the President of The Golden Movies
Ambassadors of Nigeria. I have been on an insurance policy for over four
years," he said.
He further implored his colleagues especially the younger
ones to toe his path and get an insurance policy and save for the rainy day.
"I am begging the up and coming artistes to look towards
insuring themselves. I implore my colleagues to get good managers and lawyers
to help them manage their image. I travelled to Germany some months back to
shoot a movie and when they checked for my name on Google, the only thing that
came out were bad reports and the German asked me if that was the way the
journalists in my country celebrate the best actors in Africa. I stood up for
journalists. They felt that because we are black, that is why such happened but
I made them know that we are ‘BPI’, Black, Proud and Intelligent. It affected
me a lot but I still thank God I am still here today and I am friends with
journalists till date," Balogun said.
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