Creative designers guild decries members’ nonchalant attitude to health insurance
The Creative Designers Guild of Nigeria (CDGN) on Saturday decried the nonchalant attitude of its members toward the health insurance scheme package provided for them.
Its National President, Mrs Joy Osawaru-Akinyemi, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
NAN reports that CDGN comprises of production designers, makeup artists, costume designers and property managers.
According to Osawaru-Akinyemi, the guild members are not indicating interest in the scheme in spite being an affordable package.
She, however, advised them to prioritise taking absolute care of their health and not subject to begging for financial assistance from the public when their health deteriorate.
“Right from the administration of my predecessors, majority of our members have never taken the health insurance seriously. We want the narrative to change this time.
“We have partnered with the Association of Movie Practitioners (AMP) and some other guilds to enrol our members in health insurance scheme under Reliance Insurance but we can only have few members enrol.
“The package has made provision for families of four, five and six. I want them to realise that health is wealth, we should all pay keen attention to our health.
“I will also advise members to always engage in annual overall medical check-up, this is what I do with my family, this will make us realise if there are issues with our health before it degenerates,” she said.
Osawaru-Akinyemi, who had just marked her one year anniversary in office, said the leadership of the guild had laid the foundation for a smooth and effective administrative structure within the year.
She said a couple of training had been done, which were geared toward building capacity for members.
She noted that her team had clear focus on corporate visibility.
”I remain excited that the guild members have been able to earn their respect as the creative power of Nollywood.
“I must say the past year has not been easy, but I have been doing my best, knowing that followership is partnering with a visionary leader to achieve common goals.
“Many thanks to the commitment of my team, the excos and members of CDGN as a whole,” she said.
Osawaru-Akinyemi, who is also the Vice Chairperson of Federation of Nollywood Head of Guilds and Associations, said that the head of guilds were working hard to ensure professionalism and create an enabling environment for collaboration among creatives.
“Given the kind of leaders we have now, we are all working in synergy in the interest of the industry and that for me is the icing on the cake.
“I am glad that members have begun to realise who they are and have a better understanding of their profession.
“They are very conscious of quality service delivery, the reason is that when I came on board, we engaged in several self-awareness campaigns,” she said.
Reacting to the sad incident where a makeup artist drowned and lost her life in River Niger at Onitsha, Osawaru-Akinyemi said the guild had scaled up the safety consciousness of professionals.
She said the rules of engagement for scenes on water had also been spelt out, and would be strictly adhered to.
“Stakeholders are together on the sustainability of safety culture for our industry. Reorientation of members and basic rescue training are all on the way.
“Now, we must know where filming is ongoing so our task force can be on ground to ensure conformity to rules of engagement and on hand for rescue in case things go wrong,” she said.
