NAN

Artists must obtain their permanent voter cards (PVCs) so that they will be able to vote for politicians that will bring them and the sector good fortunes on assumption of office. Permanent Voters Card PVCs.

Ifeanyi Dike, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, (AGN) gave the advice while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.

He said that his members should stop going after politicians who would only use them to achieve their personal ulterior motives during electioneering but dump them later.

“Actors should join political parties of their choices and be ready to vote and be voted for so that we can contribute our quotas to governance.

“We should participate in partisan politics and not always wait to be used by politicians to only dance during their campaigns.

“We should stop giving room to politicians whose policies will not impact positively on the lives and the future of artists,” he said.

Dike also said that actors should regard acting as a noble profession as it constitutes a major employer of labour.

He said that artists had expanded their creativity so much so that the entertainment industry had begun to contribute toward boosting the country’s economy.

“This is an industry that has one of the highest employment opportunities; which produces employable youths with some form of training-on-the job.

“It is an organisation that helps to reduce crime in the society by taking the youths off the streets and getting them busy through film making, dances and other creative activities,” he said.

He said that despite artists contributions to the nation’s economic development, they not been placed under any commission that could work out salaries or pension at retirement for them.

He appealed to both the organized private sector and agencies of government to support the sector with funds and grants to boost the image of the nation before the international community.

“It is high time that people believed in this industry, our products are making waves across the globe, we sell our image to the outside world and we need encouragement from home,” he said.

The veteran artist also advised his members to improve on the qualities of their productions adding that Nollywood had become a household name in the world of entertainment.