Flood Chases Popular Actor Pa' James Out of His Home

Pa James’ house is located on Baale Street, Oke-Isagun, in Command axis of Ipaja, Lagos State. His house, being the last on the sloppy street, is one of the worst hit by flood in the entire area. The actor’s house is also close to a muddy bush.

A resident of the area told Naij.com explains the ordeal people in the area face whenever there is a heavy down pour. “We do not find it funny whenever it rains here. Many people would have no option than to abandon their homes, only to come back when the flood subsides. One of them is Pa James.”

                                           

Pa James is an exceptionally talented actor who has paid his dues in the industry. In a recent interview, he opened up on how movie producers make artistes live in penury with their ‘use and dump’ mentality.

Hear him: “You see, our people in the Yoruba movie sector seem to belong to the set of people I would refer to as “Use and Dump; although they didn’t do that to me, they have done it to some people. They would patronise you and offer you peanut, and the moment you demand for a higher pay, they would abandon you and by so doing, their movies are lacking in some areas.

“You will notice that some of the things we introduced into movies to create suspense are no longer there. They are aware, but because they don’t want to spend much, they overlook such areas. What they normally do is to call their friends to come and partake in their movies and give them something, not the correct fee.

“But now, this career has gone beyond giving casts transport fare alone, while they (producers) would buy cars after the production. They want to cheat us. If a producer comes to me and we agree on fees, I will feature in his movie, but no more peanuts. I have paid my dues and I have responsibilities to meet.”

The actor, who started his career over 30 years ago, said “I joined the industry in the 70s with stage and TV programmes. Even the TV series then were shown live, not recorded until years later, when they started recording before they showed it on TV. Then, we would travel to villages to perform, at times; we would put on lantern for viewers to watch us.

“Then, we were searching for names. And for TV programmes, we would beg the producers at NTA 10, Lagos, to let us act and when they allowed us, knowing it would be shown in the evening, we would then go home to inform our neighbours to tune in to NTA 10. After showing our drama, we would then go out for people to see us. That was the fun in the job then.”

Essentially, the Lagos state government has advised residents to help keep flood away and avoid dumping refuse into the drainage and canals which is a major cause for drainage blockage and eventually flood.