Girlz Hostel hits the airwave

Cast

A new TV drama, Girlz Hostel will hit the airwave in September. Created by Yinka Smart Babalola but written and co-produced by Lara Tubosun, Girlz Hostel, which is a reflection of the need to protect the girl-child, is a new television drama which reveals the daily experiences of students who live off campuses.

According to is producer, it features the lives of six female students in their ‘off campus’ hostel in a typical Nigerian university, and has now been recorded into 13 hilarious episodes, but mmore episodes would soon be produced.

It mirrors how Baba RSK (Hafiz Oyetoro) and six female students; Mama T (Ifechukwu Achife), Wura (Abiola Kasali), Sidikat (Goodness Emmanual), Ibinabo (Cynthia Abagwe), Tokunbo (Mary Ann Amakor) and Mercy ( Mary Ann Eziekwe) operate in the hostel.

Mama T, who tends to lord it over the remaining girls but whose ego is deflated when the other girls hatch plans by her sugar daddy, Uncle B (Yinka Smart Babalola) to seduce Wura with money. First, the randy Uncle B offers Wura the sum of fifty thousand naira in exchange for sex but a pretentious Wura discloses this to other girls and they all lay ambush for the old man. The latter visits Wura on a Friday, believing the other girls had left for home, only for them to pounce on him and ridicule him for his unfaithfulness.

In another episode, the same Uncle B tries to seduce the only Moslem in the hostel, Sidikat, but this backfires as Sidikat slaps him thus humiliating him before Mama T and other girls.

In another scene, the ploy by Wura and other girls to prevent Mama T from renting a room in the hostel was frustrated; so Wura deceives Baba RSK that her friend would take the room on condition that Baba RSK befriends her as compensation for late payment. But the plan fails as the girl discovers the plan and ultimately loses the room to Mama T.

Commenting on why he created Girlz Hostel, Babalola said he was inspired by the rising societal challenges that are facing female students living and studying outside their campuses in Nigeria.

The comedy, according to him aims to entertain and educate all classes of viewers. As a thorough bred theatre artiste, parent and theatre teacher, Babalola said there are problems in the tertiary educations which subject students to harsh and precarious conditions, and that parents ought to know and monitor the lives of their children and wards especially from the stages of puberty until they attain adulthood. Babalola also revealed that he tapped into the talents of some of the students on the University of Ibadan campus to realise his vision through the drama.

Forum establishes Nollywood Cultural Centre

A Nollywood interest group known as The Igbo Film Forum has established a centre called for the promotion of culture.

Known as Nollywood Cultural Centre, the group head, Chief (Dr) Harris Chuma said the initiative is to promote the rich culture of Nigeria.
 
According to Chuma who is called Ogene Ndigbo, the Igbo Film Forum is a socio-cultural organisation charged with the mandate of promoting, preserving and propagating the Igbo culture using Nollywood as a veritable medium.

He also revealed that the organisation would hold the first Ndigbo in Nollywood New Yam Festival, which would also be used to launch a N50 million fund raising campaign for the establishment of the centre September 28, 2013 in Lagos.

He states that: “Nollywood has registered its presence on the world stage with an assertiveness that cannot be ignored. The central to its evolutionary process is the initiative taken by producer of Igbo extraction in pioneering the industry. In Nollywood, other ethnicities are using the medium to promote language, preserve and propagate their cultures while the Igbo, who are among the pioneers, are unrepentantly silent and playing deaf to their language and culture, which is being eroded. We need to arrest this very ugly situation urgently. The sure way of ensuring the survival of Igbo language is to produce more of films in our dialects, and also, active promotion of Igbo cultural heritage,” Chuma said

I want to be fit at 80 or 100 years -Ngozi Nwosu

Ngozi Nwosu (Photo: BY ADA DIKE)

Veteran actress Ngozi Nwosu, who recently returned from the United Kingdom after treatment for kidney problem, shares her experience with ADA DIKE during her 50^th birthday celebration last weekend.

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*How do you feel celebrating your 50^th birthday?

I feel young and I will always feel young.

*Which of your birthdays is the best?

This should be the best birthday I have celebrated, considering the circumstances and things that made it to be the best birthday.

*When was your birthday?

It was on August 1.

*What was the first thing you did on your birthday?

I was in bed when my friends surprised me by bringing my breakfast in bed which I have never had before. I was glad about it and it was nice turning 50.

*What special gift have you received for your birthday?

I have received the grace of God. That is the first special gift which is the summary of my life. God has given me back my life. It is a special gift. Then the second gift I have received is a wonderful gift of breakfast from my girlfriends in London.

*People were shocked when your health challenge was in the news. Why did it take you long to speak out?

It ‘s nice for me to voice out but I felt it was something I could handle on my own, so it was not as if I turned a deaf ear. I was handling it thinking that it would soon be over until God said: “Oh my daughter, I will handle it the best way for you,” and here I am today.

*What was crazy thing you have ever heard about yourself when you were ill?

There were so many crazy things I heard but I knew it was not true. Now I am 50 years old to the glory of God, so all those rumours are past. In either way, they have contributed in making me alive and strong to prove them wrong.

*What lessons have you drawn from the experience?

The lessons I have drawn from the experience are enormous. Be yourself, believe in God and always help the less privileged because no one knows tomorrow. Today it is my turn; it could be your turn tomorrow. People thought that it was my end, but I want to tell them that this is the beginning of good things for my life.

*How many more years would you like to live on earth?

I want God to be adding more years to my life till He says: “You have finished your work on earth, come home.”

*Have you resumed acting?

No, I only acted in Fuji House of Commotion because I play a key role in it. They run out of episodes due to my absence, so I have to be there to play my part and also tell people that I am still alive and back on track. That was why I went to shoot Fuji House before going back to the United Kingdom for medical checkup.

I still need to rest. If at all I am working now, I will not go into acting fully.

*What has life taught you?

Life is a teacher.

Ngozi Nwosu (Photo: BY ADA DIKE)

*What challenges are you facing presently?

I am fit now but I am walking with a stick till I am fully strong. That is the only challenge I have. If I am working, it will be at my own pace till I fully recover.

*With your wealth of experience about life, what is your greatest achievement?

My greatest achievement is my life.

*What have you learnt about health after your experience?

I have learnt that there some things I don’t need to take, especially when one is aging. It is important that you get a doctor or a nutritionist to always educate you what to do and how to take care of yourself.

*What habit would you say causes kidney problem which rampant among the youth these days?

I don’t think that it has to do with age or habit, even some under age children have kidney problem. Let’s pray not to be sick. That is just it.

*What special gift do you want from God?

I want long life from God. I don’t want to live long like Methuselah or live and be blind or be rolling up and down in a wheel or become a nuisance to people. I want to be fit at 80 or 100 years. I also want to live a comfortable life.

What special birthday gift do you expect from family and friends?

(Laughs) I will be glad if somebody will pack a newer model of a brand new sports utility vehicle (SUV) in front of my home as a birthday gift. I don’t want to be like the man that designed Nigerian flag who almost died before they recognized him. I am glad to be part of the people who started movie industry in Nigeria.

*You were lucky to have goodwill or favourable responses from your family and friends who raised money for your treatment. What do you think can be done to save the situation for others having health challenge challenges?

I am happy that the National President of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) came for my birthday. I am glad that we now have a medical scheme for actors. I hereby urge my colleagues to please key into it because life is important. Sometimes the things we regard as nothing sometimes turn to be something. I know that from the time my health problem started till now, many people have dropped dead but I am here.  I went through death and came back and I am glad that God has given me a second chance, so I am grateful to Him.

*Do you still communicate with your childhood friends?

Yes I do, though many have died while some are still there.

*Who are your friends in movie industry?

I don’t have friends there. You are their friend when you are rich, but you are not their friends when you are not. Most of them are flashers.

*Can you tell us about your family?

I can’t talk about my family because I am here to celebrate my birthday not to talk about my family.

Ngozi Nwosu (Photo: BY ADA DIKE)