Author: user user

Veteran actor Oludotun Jacobs, known simply as Olu Jacobs, died on Wednesday. For over six decades, he blazed the trail in Nollywood. Born in the days when actors were not taken seriously, Olu stood his ground, followed his dream and became one of the greatest in the movie industry. In this February 2015 interview by JOAN OMIONAWELE, he spoke about his life and career, among others.

With over five decades as an actor, how has life been over the years?

We have been trying to keep the ball rolling. I only take a little break of one month or six weeks before we get back to work. Unlike INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), which waits for four years before embarking on its national assignment, our own industry is ongoing.

There are things we need to put in place; we don’t have to wait till we have a festival or want to welcome some people before we put some things in place. We have a beautiful National Theatre, which was the envy of the world, but we have run it down to a point where we can’t use it for the purpose for which it was built. They have set up a trust fund to raise money to revive it, but I don’t know why they have not revived it.

But do you think the N200 million intervention fund granted by the Federal Government has taken Nollywood anywhere?

Any form of training will help at the stage we are now. As long as it will increase knowledge, there is nothing wrong with it if it is handled properly. I don’t have the full details of the intervention fund you are talking about, but if the right people can contribute and if my people get it, then it is a good thing.

But if they provide for people to go and get trained, they must also provide for those who are at home to be able to put productions together, so that the people being trained can be useful to us.

You studied Dramatic Arts in England. What was your experience coming back to a country like Nigeria?

Nigeria wasn’t primitive when I came back. Unfortunately, we had been corrupted by the oil boom. The Civil War affected the oil boom. Everybody began to chase money, and that was what took over the country. We began to buy American and British cars because the oil money was there.

It’s not as if we were not capable of it, but we had technicians who were trained, though all they did was sit in their mighty offices doing nothing and signing papers, putting on their suits and sitting in mighty offices doing nothing.

So, why didn’t you choose the corporate life?

No. That is not my life. My life is set to teach, promote, educate, show and stimulate people, not to sit in an office. I didn’t even give it a moment’s thought. All I did was try to talk to the guys in offices, and they said I had been away for too long, that I had become an oyinbo and did not understand what was going on in their offices, so I left them.

But with the turn of events now, most of them are asking to come and seek help. I was not angry; all I did was remind them of what they had said about me, and they said I was right.

But we are just beginning to get to a stage where we are asking. The next thing, I hope, is that they chase after them and make sure the right people are where they are supposed to be. Of course, I was hurt and disappointed, but it turned out that what I thought was progress was not progress at all.

It didn’t dampen my spirit. All my life, both here and in Europe, it has been hard. I never got anything easy; I had to work and work hard for it. It was a struggle. That was the situation I found myself in when I came.

I’m aware that your father did not support your decision to study Dramatic Arts. How were you able to convince him?

When I told him I wanted to act, he said, ‘Act what?’ I said I wanted to be an actor. He then said, ‘Do you know who an actor is? An actor is someone who plays for a living. You can do that as recreation, not as a profession.’

I told him that there were people doing this same job of making people happy all over the world and were making it; in turn, they would pay me because I was not going to be doing them a favour. But he refused.

I then went to my mother, who agreed and promised to do whatever she could to help me. So, we both planned everything, and I travelled to Europe for the course.

So, your dad did not say anything?

I wrote a letter to him and gave it to the person who took me to the airport. By the time I landed in Frankfurt, the letter was delivered to him. I explained and pleaded with him to believe in my dreams. Then I began sending presents and his favourite kind of tobacco, and that was how we settled it.

What is the secret of your staying relevant in the industry over the years?

First, hard work. And then, I try not to deceive myself. There are temptations, and there are times when you want to be lazy and you don’t give your 100 per cent, and that may be the day a very important person will come. Even people who don’t know you will look for you when they see your work. There is no substitute for hard work.

What is your take on the state of the nation right now?

It’s unfortunate that anytime we have elections, we get things like this. We know what politicians do. We know what some people will actually do to either get or retain power. I only pray that calmness will be restored to Nigeria.

That is why other nations of the world are appealing to Nigerians that losers in these elections should accept their fate and get ready for another election rather than fight over this because they have lost.

I hope that INEC will continue to be fair. But when people see that you are fair, there will be no need for violence. But when they see things that are unfair, then they get angry. Our democracy is young, and democracy is tough, difficult and very expensive.

About Boko Haram, we all must remember that there is no substitute for peace; we must give the spirit of give-and-take. Above all, there has to be self-respect. If we do, we will listen to others when they speak, but when one is lying and insists on lying, it will make outsiders see us as unserious.

I have a feeling that we are on the verge of bringing in leaders who mean well not only for the country, but also for the outside world. Without cordial relationships with other countries, we will be in serious trouble, no matter what we do.

A lot of celebrities are joining politics. Why haven’t you been linked with any party?

Our job is to observe and praise where necessary, but that is part of it. I did not feel like going for any rally because I haven’t been invited. I don’t know Asiwaju, but I wish him well. I don’t know too well about his party, too. But I see some people moving from one party to another these days.

So, if you get invited, will you take part in politics?

I will think about it.

So far, what has been your most challenging movie role?

Hmm, I don’t find any role difficult. The only problem I have is coming out of a particular character after playing the role. You see, one has to believe in a particular character before playing a role. For me, it is how the audience sees me that matters.

If you could turn back the hands of time, would you want to change anything about yourself?

I will still be an actor. There are some people I will still want to communicate with through acting.

Do you have any regrets so far in life?

Knowing what I know now about so many things, I would like to be given the opportunity to have a go at it again.

Why do you want to go through life again? Are you not satisfied?

When people watch my movies and call me, saying I did a perfect job, I see the faults, though I accept the congratulations. Yet, I see what I could do to make it even better. But if God says no to a second chance, I am very happy and grateful.

Have you ever had a near-death experience?

That must have been when I was living in Kano. It was a Saturday morning. I was at home when this noise came from Fagge, where Hausas lived. There were millions of bees and locusts. As they got closer, I noticed there were stones too coming with the locusts. They came in, breaking all the windows and destroying whatever was in their way.

The most painful part was that my brother was not around. It was hell. I had never been so frightened in all my life. But fortunately for us, my brother came back about an hour after the incident. That I can remember as a day I will never forget.

After the incident, that was the first day I ever saw anything like a riot. Because Kano was a very peaceful place, people could not understand it. It ruined things. It was incredible. From then on, Kano was never my Kano again.

When last did you go to Kano?

Maybe 10 years ago.

You have witnessed two ages of Nollywood-the old and the new. What do you think the industry still needs?

I don’t know what you mean by old or new Nollywood. The technology remains the same, but it only needs to be refined. We must continually update ourselves so that we will not be left behind. If we are left behind, we are in serious trouble.

We have shocked the world by letting them know that we keep abreast of what is happening. They all came here thinking that they could teach us how to handle some kinds of cameras.

Who are you referring to?

Some white men whom I worked with four months ago. They came and involved me in their production, and when they asked what type of cameras we were using, they were shocked to hear that we were using RED cameras. They thought we had never heard about RED cameras before.

We handled the cameras comfortably and effectively, to their disbelief. So, you know what they did? They involved all the equipment they knew could sink us, but when we got here, they saw that we still adapt fast. All that we need is to continuously spend money to update ourselves and make sure we are relevant all the time.

Apart from that, we are as good and even better than all of them. We do a lot of things and give them whatever they think they could never think of.

I believe that Nollywood will continue to grow. But technically, we must continue to grow. We cannot continue to go to people’s homes to shoot movies. Of course, we can spend a few hours in a beautiful home shooting a movie, but not remain there for a whole week or month. We need professional studios, which we can set up to look like a beautiful home; you can do all kinds of things without disturbing anyone.

There is this story about the rivalry between Pete Edochie and you; people say you both don’t see eye to eye. Can you clarify this?

Pete and I have always been very close. I am close to him and close to his children as well. I don’t know how this story started. People just engage in wishful thinking most times. We worked together long before I started this acting career.

We would be in a hotel together on set. Pete would bring some fruits and I would bring some water, and we would share the fruits together. Every time we met, we hugged each other normally and talked at length. I would say that anything he had against me, he would say it before me. So, please ignore them.

Who are the actors and actresses who impress you?

They are all there. I don’t have any favourites. They are very hardworking young men and women who handle their roles professionally. I don’t know if I can tell you that I love this one more than that one. Most of them interpret and manipulate their roles so well. And that is what acting is about.

Your marriage to Joke Silva has spanned many years despite the fact that celebrity marriages don’t last. What has been the secret?

We are good friends. We have God and our mum-Joke Silva’s mum-who is our great support and rock.

You promised to stop smoking five years ago. Have you been able to stop?

Yes.

When was that?

I actually stopped some time ago, but I started again, and then I stopped and started again.

Why don’t you just stop? A lot of people still need you around for many more years.

Exactly. That is the question I am trying to answer. I am actually looking for an answer to the question.

Do you have any last words?

I want to thank Tribune for still carrying the flag and working hard. That is why I feel at ease with being very relevant, because people know they can read Tribune and get facts that are not diluted. We have been reading Tribune for so many years, and we are very proud of you.

This interview was originally published in the Saturday Tribune of February 7, 2015.

I did my BSc in Industrial Mathematics at the University of Benin between 1998 and 2004. Nursing was not the plan at that point. What I did have was a way of thinking – you look at a problem, you break it into parts, you find the pattern, you check whether your answer actually holds. When I later came into healthcare, I found that I was using exactly that same habit at the bedside, only the variables were a patient’s blood pressure, respiratory rate, and how they looked five minutes ago compared to now.

So I would not say I abandoned mathematics. I would say the discipline followed me into a different room.

But the route was not direct. Your record shows housekeeping, sterile services, healthcare assistant work, and only then nursing. How would you explain that?

It was by circumstance first, and by decision afterwards. I started at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust as a team leader in housekeeping services, booking shifts, arranging staff cover, keeping the environment safe. Then I moved into the sterile services department in the surgical theatres, operating washers and sterilisers, assembling instrument trays, testing and reassembling devices, including work supporting the Great Ormond Street Hospital contract. Then I worked as a healthcare assistant at Northwick Park, doing personal care, observations, wound care, catheter care, helping people move.

Along the way I did my NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care, and at the end of 2016 I went back into study. The postgraduate diploma in adult nursing at Buckinghamshire New University came between 2018 and 2020, and I qualified into a staff nurse post at Guy’s and St Thomas’, in acute medicine and community, where I stayed until 2023 before moving into emergency care at Northwick Park.

I would not trade that route. A nurse who has decontaminated the instruments understands infection control differently. A nurse who has washed and dressed patients as a healthcare assistant understands what the healthcare assistant on her shift is carrying. You cannot get that from a lecture.

You now work in Accident and Emergency (AandE). For people who only know AandE from television, what is the job actually like?

Much less dramatic and much more disciplined than television suggests. The core of it is rapid assessment: someone arrives, and within a very short window you have to form a picture, then you act on that picture, and you keep re-checking it. A great deal of my work is recognising early signs that a patient is deteriorating, interpreting vital signs and clinical observations, escalating to the right person at the right time, and communicating clearly with the multidisciplinary team.

You have once said that digital healthcare technology should be treated as a clinical instrument. What do you mean by that?

When a nurse documents observations on a digital system that is not paperwork, that entry is what triggers an escalation score, what the next shift reads, what the doctor uses to decide whether to come now or in an hour. It is part of the treatment pathway. If we treat digital documentation as a bureaucratic obligation to be completed at the end of a shift, we lose its clinical value entirely – because a deterioration recorded three hours late is a deterioration nobody acted on.

So my position is simple. Charting is care. Design the systems around that, train people around that, and audit them around that.

Do you think technology can solve the pressures the NHS is under?

No, and I want to be careful here, because it is a fashionable thing to promise. You cannot digitise your way out of a workforce problem. If there are not enough nurses on the floor, no system will produce them. What technology can do is give the nurses who are there back the minutes that save lives – minutes lost to hunting for a result, repeating an assessment that was already done, chasing a bed, re-keying the same information into three places.

That is a real gain, and it is worth fighting for. But it is a different claim from saying technology fixes the system, and I think we should stop conflating the two.

Where did the interest in digital healthcare technology come from in the first place?

From the floor, not from a conference. Every nurse in the NHS now works through digital systems – electronic records, digital observations, escalation scores – and you very quickly notice which parts of them help you and which parts are simply in your way. Once you notice that, you either complain about it for twenty years or you take an interest in how the systems are designed and who decides.

My degree was in Industrial Mathematics, so I am comfortable with systems and with data, and I think that made me less willing to treat the technology as somebody else’s department. Nurses are the heaviest users of these systems in the whole hospital. We should be in the room when they are chosen and configured, not handed them afterwards and trained for an hour.

You completed an MSc in Nursing in September 2025, and an emergency medicine course at King’s College London in the same year. Why keep studying?

The MSc in Nursing at Buckinghamshire New University, which ran from September 2024 to September 2025, was about depth: evidence, research methods, being able to read a paper properly rather than accept a summary of it. The emergency medicine work-based course at King’s College London, between April and July 2025, was narrower and more immediate – it was about sharpening practice in my own speciality while I was still working in it.

I do not study for the certificates. I study because the moment you decide you know enough in this profession is the moment you become unsafe.

What would you say to Nigerian nurses and other health workers who are considering the move to the United Kingdom?

Come with your eyes open. The clinical standards are demanding, and the systems are heavily regulated, which is a good thing, but it means there is a period of adjustment where you are relearning how to do things you already know how to do. Expect that. Do not read it as a judgement on your competence.

Second, the route may not be straight. Mine was not. I did housekeeping, sterile services and healthcare assistant work before I qualified as a nurse here, and none of it was wasted. If you can only enter through a side door, enter through the side door and keep studying.

Third, protect your registration and protect your reputation. In this system, both take years to build and a single careless shift to damage.

And what would you say about Nigeria’s health system, looking from outside?

That the difference is rarely the individual practitioner. Nigerian nurses and doctors are working at a very high standard, often in conditions I do not think many of my colleagues here could sustain. The difference is the system around them – the escalation pathway that works, the equipment that is there, the documentation that the next shift can actually read.

If I were to pick one thing that travels well and does not need enormous capital, it is structured early-warning and escalation. Deciding, as an institution, exactly what observations get recorded, exactly what triggers a review, and exactly who must respond. That is process discipline before it is technology, and it saves lives.

Is there anything about the nursing profession you wish the public understood better?

That nursing is a clinical decision-making profession, not an assisting one. There is still a public picture of the nurse as the person who carries out instructions. In an emergency department, the nurse is very often the person who decides that the instruction needs to change – who says this patient cannot wait, something is wrong here.

And I wish people understood how much of the work is communication. Explaining, reassuring, working past a language barrier, getting a frightened person to tell you the one detail that changes everything. London is one of the most diverse cities in the world, and my patients arrive with different beliefs, values, and expectations about what should happen to them. Person-centred care means respecting that while still delivering the same clinical standard to everybody. That is not softness added to the clinical work. It is part of the clinical work.

How do you sustain yourself, doing this for as long as you have?

Family, and being deliberate about rest, which I am still not perfect at. Also, the studying genuinely helps – having something that is mine, that I am building, makes the hard shifts feel like part of a direction rather than just repetition.

And colleagues. The people you work with in emergency care see what you see. That matters more than any wellbeing initiative.

What is next for you?

I want to keep working at the point where emergency nursing and digital health meet – in practice, and in how we train nurses to use these systems clinically rather than clerically. I would like to see that work reach Nigeria as well, because a great deal of what we are learning about escalation and documentation does not depend on having the newest equipment. Beyond that, I want to be useful to the nurses coming behind me, particularly the ones arriving from home and finding the first year harder than they expected. Somebody did that for me.

What are your closing thoughts?

The patient in front of you does not care about your qualifications, your job title or how long you have been doing this. They care whether you noticed something and acted. Everything else – the studying, the technology, the systems work – is only worth doing because it makes that moment more likely to go well.

Pro-Democracy and Human Rights Advocate, Austin Aigbe on Saturday called for an independent, transparent investigation into the death of 37 Citizens who died while in custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State.

Aigbe gave the charge in a statement titled: ’37 deaths in NSCDC custody in Niger State is a national human rights disaster – must not be swept under the carpet’, made available to Tribune Online..

Worried by the ugly development, Aigbe called for an audit of all NSCDC and Police detention facilities across the country.

He said: ‘I have received with profound shock, anger and disbelief the news of the death of 37 citizens, suspected to be artisanal miners, while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State on September 17, 2026.

‘These young men, arrested in the Wushishi-Lukoto axis for alleged illegal mining, were in the lawful custody of the Nigerian state.

‘The state therefore owed them the absolute duty of care, protection of their dignity, and preservation of their lives under Section 33 and 34 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Anti-Torture Act 2017, and Nigeria’s obligations under international human rights law.

‘Their deaths are not just statistics. They are 37 lives extinguished under the watch of those mandated to protect lives and property. What we are hearing is deeply troubling and points to a grave institutional failure:

‘The initial attempt to attribute mass death to ‘disease outbreak’ is insensitive and lacks credibility. Intelligence reports and testimonies from families pointing to suffocation, overcrowding and poor ventilation in detention cells raise serious questions of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.

‘No Nigerian, however poor, however alleged to have committed an offence, deserves to die in a detention cell.’

He therefore called for an independent, transparent investigation, adding that the investigation announced by Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago and Minister of Interior must not be an internal NSCDC whitewash, rather ‘must include the National Human Rights Commission, the Nigerian Bar Association, medical experts, and credible civil society groups. Autopsy reports must be made public.’

While advocating for accountability, not suspension, Aigbe argued that the suspension of the Niger State Commandant of the NSCDC is not enough and rather underscored the need for ‘all officers who were on duty at the detention facility on that day must be held accountable and prosecuted if found culpable.

‘Justice and Reparation for Families: The families of the 37 deceased must be identified, adequately compensated, and given psychosocial support. The remaining detainees from that operation must be released or charged to a competent court immediately and their health assessed.

‘Urgent Reform of Detention Facilities: This tragedy exposes the colonial legacy of our detention system where poor Nigerians are warehoused in inhumane conditions. We must audit all NSCDC and police detention facilities across the country.

‘Nigeria’s democracy is already facing turbulence and citizens’ trust in institutions is at an all-time low. When citizens die in custody and the state cannot explain why, democracy itself is at risk.

‘I stand in solidarity with the families in Minna and call on all citizens to demand that the wish of the people for justice prevails. We will not be silent,’ Aigbe pledged.

Osun State University (UNIOSUN) is set to graduate its first set of medical doctors as 4,357 students receive various degrees and diplomas during its 16th convocation ceremonies scheduled for September 18 to 24, 2026.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Odunayo Clement Adebooye, disclosed this on Saturday at a press conference held at the Multipurpose Hall of the Main Campus, Osogbo, ahead of the week-long programme.

Adebooye said the 4,357 graduands comprise 3,845 first-degree holders, nine postgraduate diploma recipients, 400 master’s degree graduates and 103 doctoral degree recipients.

He described the graduation of the university’s first set of medical doctors as one of the major highlights of the convocation.

According to him, all 90 pioneer MBBS graduates had completed their studies and passed the required statutory and professional accreditation processes.

He added that the pioneer doctors were inducted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria on August 12, 2026, and would formally receive their degrees on Wednesday, September 23.

On the academic performance of the graduating students, the Vice-Chancellor said 88 first-degree graduands made First Class, while 1,509 obtained Second Class Upper Division.

He added that 1,946 graduated with Second Class Lower Division, 220 obtained Third Class honours, while three graduated with Pass degrees.

Adebooye also disclosed that the university would graduate its pioneer students in 17 academic programmes, including Cyber Security, Information Systems, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Criminology and Security Studies, Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, International Relations and Diplomacy, Psychology, Public Administration, Social Work and Biotechnology.

Speaking on infrastructure, the Vice-Chancellor said the university had recorded significant expansion across its campuses.

He listed the completed projects to include a FIFA-standard sports complex, a three-in-one science laboratory complex, the Governor Ademola Adeleke Lecture Theatre and a 900-capacity lecture theatre, among other academic and auditorium projects.

He further announced the commencement of construction on an ICT Resource Centre, Computer and Information Technology Laboratories, an Academic Office Complex, as well as new academic and auditorium projects at the Osogbo, Ipetu-Ijesa, Ejigbo and Ifetedo campuses.

Adebooye said the university had also strengthened its leadership structure following the appointment of Mrs Victoria Adunola Samson, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of BOVAS Group, as its Chancellor.

She replaced Apostle Folorunso Alakija, whose two-term tenure ended in March.

The Vice-Chancellor also disclosed that the university’s Governing Council was reconstituted on August 31, 2026.

He said the convocation week would feature professional induction ceremonies, academic presentations, a special thanksgiving service, cultural activities and a convocation lecture.

Adebooye added that all First-Class graduates would attend a special ‘Meet the Vice-Chancellor’ dinner on Tuesday, September 22, where industrialists and employers of labour would interact with them on employment opportunities and the realities of the labour market.

The 16th Convocation Lecture, titled ‘Coping with Double Oversight: Harmonizing the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Professional Bodies for Sustainable University System,’ will be delivered on Thursday, September 24, by Prof. Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe, Chairman of the Governing Board of the NUC.

The postgraduate convocation and award of PGD, M.Sc., M.A., MBA and Ph.D. degrees will follow the lecture before the ceremonies formally close at 3:00 p.m.

Adebooye said UNIOSUN remained committed to academic excellence, research, innovation, entrepreneurship, community development and responsible citizenship.

He added that the university was positioning itself to respond to the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the emerging knowledge economy.

The Vice-Chancellor urged the media and other stakeholders to continue to hold the university accountable while supporting its efforts to produce graduates capable of contributing meaningfully to Nigeria’s development.