Steph-Nora Okere

Steph-Nora Okere (born 26 April 1974) is a Nigerian actress and scriptwriter. In 2015, she became the Vice President of the Script Writers Guild of Nigeria (SWGN). Okere was awarded the Special Recognition Award at the City People Entertainment Awards in 2016. Quotes Like I said on the day of the premiere, I have been inspired by living in Africa, especially Nigeria. Growing up here, seeing the challenges our young girls go through – the gender-based violence, peer group pressure, not enough guidance in the society. If you grew up here in Nigeria, a lot of things will inspire you to do a lot of things. But as a filmmaker, making ‘Roberta’ was inspired by me growing up in Nigeria as a girl child. I have stories, I have seen things happen. So, basically, it’s from experience from the Nigerian environment. Getting funds. I started writing the script since 2011. I wrote it, and in 2014, I tried to access support to produce it, but it didn’t with the then Minister for Women Affairs, I used to call her Aunty Zainab. So, getting funds was not easy. Although, I have produced films before ‘Roberta’ and after, but ‘Roberta’ is a film I wanted to shoot in a higher mode of production, and the kind of money I needed did not come. Finally, I came into the country and I heard about Bank of Industry and money support for film producers. I quickly pitched with the script and they liked it. And they threw their weight behind the project by facilitating it with their loan scheme. So, the journey was a long one, from 2011 to 2017 before I could produce the script, and then into film. The message I hope the audience take home is that there is an urgent need to pay attention to the lifestyle and the environment when it concerns the African, especially, Nigerian girl child. The thing is, prostitution, peer group pressure, and crime are a total menace to the future of the Nigerian girl child. I often say that the African girl child is an endangered specie, and I still stand by that because they are the ones at the receiving end. The message I want them to take home is that there is an emergency, as ‘Roberta’ is a call to action. A lot of memorable things happened. I remembered that day that I had to go home by 3am. because my camp was full – both camps. I had two hotel camps for cast and crew. And there was no space for me to sleep, and because during the rainy season, my car broke down. I had to take a boat ride, and when the boat man got to Ado Road roundabout, he said he was not going any further. I had to walk all the way home. This was about 2am, and I had my personal assistant (PA) with me. We had to walk all the way to my house, because it was too late to get a ride. I remember that day clearly because it was in the heart of the production when I needed to just keep pushing because things were looking like if you don’t push harder you won’t be able to finish this film. That to me is a very memorable experience I can’t forget, because on a normal day, that can never happen to me, to walk home in the middle of the night. I had to wake up early again the following day because the show must go on, like we were taught in school. I do my best. I look at the strength of the production, and I look at the requirements of the character I am to play in the film. Sometimes I give up the role just to produce, depending on the weight of the work. And sometimes, I get associate producer when I have to act in my own film. But if it is generally as an artiste, it come comes naturally. I am a rounded artiste; I write, I produce, I act, I sing, and I even direct. So, I navigate easily; it’s just something that I am used to. It comes naturally. I was mega excited. At a point, few days to the premiere, I had these butterflies in my stomach; I was scared, and was wondering: are you sure that people are going to like this film? Are you sure people are not going to start getting up one after the other. But people stood tight. Even after the credits rolled and the compere had even started saying other things, I was mega excited. Not one person walked out of the hall, instead, more people came in. The reactions I got was topnotch. They received the film well. The message hit home, I had feedback both on the day of the event, and feedback on phone calls… I am very happy. I feel fulfilled at that stage. Now is time top take it to the next stage, and that is for everyone else to see, but first, the girl child. That’s my major concern for now. Yes. Funny enough, I tell people that right from my mother’s womb I have been an actress; everybody comes out in nine months, I came out in 12 months. And I didn’t learn to walk or crawl; I got up and started running all around the whole place, like mummy told me. So, I have been acting right from when I was a kid; it didn’t just happen, it’s something I was born into. And growing up I always had my eyes on becoming an actress, right from the days of ‘For Better, For Worse’, ‘Winds Against My Soul’, ‘Village Headmaster’, ‘The New Masquerade’, and back in days in primary school, we used to go for Animal Games, do drama sketches… It’s been a part of me growing up; it didn’t just happen. The first challenge I had was coming out from the university. Doing drama, acting in plays in primary and secondary was just something I was doing, but majorly studying it and coming back to tell my dad that I studied drama was the first challenge. He looked disappointed. He felt that I could have done Law, Accounting or other courses. To him, I had too much potential to just waste on drama, that drama is something you do as hobby. So, that was my major challenge; proving to him that I didn’t make a mistake. And by the time I was becoming popular, and already people knew me and I was earning a living from my work, my dad left us. Apart from that, in the industry, well we had challenge as a budding actress. You go for auditions, sometimes you’re cast, sometimes you’re not cast, not because you didn’t qualify for the role, maybe because for some reasons somebody else was favoured for the role… and so on. Also, working sometimes and not getting paid. Up till now, some producers still owe me for jobs done back in days. But I see it as sacrifices that one had to make, although, I don’t celebrate that. Every workman deserves his wages. I don’t have anybody who’s acted in my own films, now or in the past, that I am still owing. So, I don’t subscribe to it. Those are challenges. And sometimes, the same producer that owes you does an audition and you still go back, and keep pushing. Here we are today. We thank God.