‘Anave’: Omawumi, Waje, others collaborate
Some of Nigeria’s most celebrated artistes and actors including Omawunmi Megbele, Waje, Shawn Faqua, Seun Ajayi, Rita Edwards among others, have featured in a movie titled ‘Anave.’ The movie is a project jointly produced by Sterling Bank Plc and the Malaria, Child, Maternal Mortality Eradication (MACMME) project to bring greater awareness to the plight of […]
Some of Nigeria’s most celebrated artistes and actors including Omawunmi Megbele, Waje, Shawn Faqua, Seun Ajayi, Rita Edwards among others, have featured in a movie titled ‘Anave.’
The movie is a project jointly produced by Sterling Bank Plc and the Malaria, Child, Maternal Mortality Eradication (MACMME) project to bring greater awareness to the plight of the less privileged Nigerian child and mother.
‘Anave’ was written, produced and directed by Nicolette Ndigwe with the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman and former Minister of Information and Communications, Frank Nweke Jnr., as co-executive producers.
Internationally acclaimed cinematographer, Adekunle “Nodash” Adejuyigbe, was part of the crew
The producer explained that, “Anave tells the story of an eight-year-old boy whose mother dies from malaria complications at childbirth, leaving him at the mercy of an orphanage. He ends up on the street in the quest for an education where he faces the struggles of the vulnerable poor and homeless.”
Ndigwe said the movie campaign would be a voice for the plight of the underprivileged Nigerian child and mother, 3,000 of whom die daily from preventable diseases. It is also about the need to cooperate in the fight against malaria mortality, the creation of basic health care, as well as housing and education opportunities for the underprivileged Nigerian.
“The project’s overall strategic focus takes cognizance of five United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and recognising the potential of film in impacting the minds of people, ‘Anave’ became the best tool to pass this message,” Ndigwe said.
The MACMME project, she said, is an advocacy project which seeks to reduce the gruesome rates of maternal and child mortality attributable to preventable causes such as malaria, homelessness, hunger and opportunistic diseases in Nigeria.
She said the dream which was born out of the need to ensure that no life was lost to anything that as a people, their resources could be brought together to fix or stop, was fueled by the statistics which showed that malaria is responsible for the death of an average of 300,000 children and 11 percent of all maternal deaths each year in Nigeria.
The film, according to the producer premiered before a select audience at a fund-raising event in Lagos on Thursday and it will be followed by a series of screenings to a larger audience across Nigeria, including educational institutions.