Nollywood actors, Kenneth Okonkwo and Tonto Dikeh, have been honoured with cultural titles at the 2019 Nollywood New Yam Festival, an annual thespians’ fiesta, which showcases Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage.
The duo received the awards at the annual cultural event held at the Heritage Africa Centre on Saturday in Abuja.
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Okonkwo was honoured with the title ‘Agujiugo of Nollywood’ while Tonto Dikeh was named the ‘International Ambassador of Culture for Nollywood’.
Chief executive of Agile 247.Com, Agility Onwurah, organiser of the event, commended the awardees, adding that the honour was to “tell them that their contribution to Nollywood is recognised.”
“Nollywood is our own, and anyone who has contributed to its growth and development, in whatever capacity should be celebrated.
“We hope that this honour will spur them to doing more for our dear industry,” he said.
Onwurah told NAN on the sidelines that the initiative was to present a platform where artistes as models and opinion leaders can promote Nigerian culture.
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He noted that since the movie industry was a veritable instrument in communicating ideas and lifestyle, including cultural heritage, every artiste ought to be a cultural ambassador.
He, however, explained that contrary to insinuations in some quarters, New Yam Festival was not a fetish practice, as it was just a medium of “celebrating what we have.”
