City  People Team Visits TAMPAN President, Mr. LATIN

• Reveals His New & Fresh Plans For Veteran Actors

His real name is Bolaji Amusan. But everyone calls him Mr. Latin. That is his stage name. That is also his nickname. For the past 5 years he has led the Yoruba actors as the National President of TAMPAN. He is based in Abeokuta where he has his office and movie centre where he shoots his movies.

Don’t forget that he is a damn good actor and a brilliant movie producer. In both areas, he has  excelled and paid his dues. It is the trust that they have in him that made the elders of the industry persuade him to take up the leadership of the association when he did, 5 years ago.

Last week, City People took off to Abeokuta to spend some quality time with him and we met him shooting a new movie. We met 3 veteran actors Oga Bello, Peju Ogunmola and Madam Saje waiting to take part in this movie production. Ogun State TAMPAN Governor, Ajasa was also there directing the job.

During the course of the visit, City People got him to talk about the state of the industry today and how TAMPAN has been helping the veterans in the industry. We also asked him how he has fared as the leader of TAMPAN.

“It has not been easy. It has been a bit difficult. But it is something I have prepared for, for a very long time. And to God be the glory, this is my 5th year. Its like a normal routine for me. With the support of the Executive, the Board of Trustees the entire leadership of the association, we have been able to weather the storm. It has not been a bed of roses. I came in prepared and determined that whatever happens there is no going back”.

What has given him the confidence and the ability to continue in the last 5 years despite all the challenges?

“Passion, passion for the industry. Passion for humanity. There are a lot of things happening in the industry, but because of the passion I have as the President, I over look them. I keep on moving. With every challenge I keep on moving. I don’t look back.

Whatever happens, I learn from it and I move ahead”.

Each time there is controversy about the industry how does he cope with them?

It seems many people outside don’t understand the challenges TAMPAN is facing. “Cricitism comes with the job. If you find yourself in a position of authority, people will condemn you, they will throw stones at you and they will criticise you. If you look at every barking dog you won’t get to your destination”.

We got him to tell us his view on how he has been able to help his members who face challenges from time to time. “We do a lot. We try to support our members.

We have very little resources as an organisation. And the little resources that TAMPAN has, we use it judiciously. But if you are not in the system you cannot really understand what we are doing or what we have done.

The problem is that what we have been doing before, we decided not to give it publicity. Now, we are trying as much as possible to let the public know exactly what we are doing like the recent celebration of Baba Agbako at 100. We gave the celebration a lot of publicity, so that people can come and see what we are doing. That is just the beginning. We are moving ahead to other things, to the next level”.

How has TAMPAN been able to help the veterans in the industry who have been facing one challenge or the other? “The first thing we are doing right now is to profile all the leaders and elders of the industry.”

“We have started that since Friday. We want to know the exact number of our Leaders & Elders of the industry, not only of TAMPAN members alone, but the Leaders and Elders and veterans that have in one way or the other contributed to the development and growth of the creative industry by profiling them. I have instructed the National General Secretary to do that. I have given him a week. I have given him the marching order to do that.”

“After that, we would be ready to partner with people that really matter in the society, to support and help us because we really want to impact positively on the lives of the Leaders and the Elders of the industry.”

“And I am very happy that City People has heeded our cry and they are ready to partner with us. We thank City People for this.”