'FRANCIS AGWU DIED OF BROKEN HEART'

The national president of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Madu Chikwendu, has disclosed that the late versatile actor, Francis Agu, died of a broken heart. Madu said that the late Agu would have been alive if proper medical attention had been given to him early enough.

“A lot of us have really suffered for what is now known as Nollywood today but it is unfortunate that people who were not around then are now claiming to be part of the struggle. Despite the fact that there was no money in the industry then, we were not deterred. And Agu was one of us. His death is quite painful,” he said.

“Can you imagine that somebody like Agu could die of a broken heart? He did not deserve that," he added.

Speaking about the new distribution rule introduced by the Film Censors Board, Madu noted that his association and the Directors' Guild of Nigeria (DGN) are in support of the policy, but added that the Censors Board must ensure that the Filmmakers' Cooperative of Nigeria (FCON) gets a national distribution license, “because the problem we have is in distribution. We have excess products but no distribution channels. That is why FCON is being set up.”

FCON, according to him, is made up of 35 production companies that started Nollywood.
“We set it up when we discovered that our industry was dying of ineffective distribution without anybody doing something about it.”