The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (Actors Guild of Nigeria) has intensified efforts to sanitise its membership structure through a compulsory verification and revalidation exercise held in Abuja.
The process, which required in-person attendance, was brought up to sanitise the guild’s membership database, eliminate “ghost members”, and transition all records into the AGN Super App, a digital database platform.
The exercise that lasted for 2 days brought together Nollywood actors across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The Chairman of the Screening Committee, Agility Onwurah, disclosed the exercise was in compliance with directives from the national leadership of the body.
According to him, the mandatory exercise is to standardise and sanitise membership records across all state chapters of the guild, adding that members who fail to revalidate their membership risk being delisted from the official register.
“As a guild, this periodic verification is a part of our operations, especially when we have new leadership like this.
“We use it to collate data about old and new members both within and outside the country; we use it to probably change ID cards if the incoming government wants to,” he said.
The chairman also encouraged actors to get enrolled in the guild’s health insurance scheme in order to access prompt and affordable medical attention whenever necessary.
“To avoid imminent breakdown of their health, we are urging members to get enrolled in our HMO schemes for regular tests.
“We have HMOs spread across the country, and we are appealing to members who have not come on board to get enrolled,” he said.
Speaking with Newsmen, Salma Aminu, FCT Mayor of AGN, said the exercise was to reinforce the accuracy, transparency, and credibility of the guild’s membership database, ensuring only legitimate practitioners are recognised.
Aminu, who hosted the event, lauded actors that took part in the exercise, adding that it was a show of commitment to initiatives that would move the guild forward.
“There are a lot of people who claim to be members of the Actors Guild of Nigeria that are actually not registered members, and we needed to actually ascertain who our members are.
“Those who did not show up for the verification exercise have automatically ceased to be members of the guild,” she said.
Some participants who spoke with Newsmen lauded the leadership of the guild for the initiative.
Ace actor and producer Jerry Amilo said the exercise was apt and timely.
“Sometimes you meet some people who could claim to be members of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, and you start wondering, but this exercise will really help us to know ourselves,” he said.
Also, sensational actor Benedict Johnson commended the initiative and urged members to participate to ensure a seamless database update by the guild’s leadership.
NAN
