Sex for roles is everywhere — Omotola Jalade

Celebrated Nigerian actress, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde has confirmed that sex for roles is in the Nigerian movie industry.

‘Sex for roles’ correlates to a situation where an up-and-coming actor or actress would be asked to engage in a sexual relationship with a higher colleague before being given a role in a movie.

The issue of exchanging sex for movie roles has been lurking in the African movie industry for some time. While some believe it is an open secret, not much evidence has been provided to back those claims.

Speaking as one of the three main speakers at this year’s ‘Women of valour’ conference, Omotola Jalade said even though she has never experienced it in her career before, she wouldn’t minimise the experience of other people who have also experienced it before.

“I have never experienced anything like that before…but I don’t want to minimise the experience of those who have experienced that before..and I can’t even blame them...When I was younger I used to think there was something they did because i didn’t understand that but now that I am older I have now realised that people will solicit sex from you even when you are a nun”. She quipped

The celebrated Nigerian Movie Icon explained extensively that,” predators are predators…it doesn’t matter whether you are people or not...I have seen them even do it to babies..they abound everywhere — so sex for roles is everywhere whether in the movie industry or any other place”.‘

The Women of Valour (WoV), conference with the theme: The Untold Story Of Courageous Women’, is to recognize and highlight the stories of courageous women, and to celebrate their achievements in various fields.

This year’s event, held at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra on March 7, was graced by the presence of the Award-Winning Nigerian Actress, Award-Winning South African SuperSport presenter Julia Stuart, Ghanaian Children’s Rights Activist Eugenia Baffour Bankoh among other notable personalities.