As the Nigerian government through the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA grapples with the task of ridding the Nation of the menace of the use of hard and illicit drugs, a brand new drug war movie with the same goal and mandate is about to hit Nigerian screens.

The movie -Greenwave -, which featured top Nollywood stars like Segun Arinze, Ivie Okujaye, Kevin Ikeduba, Ochimana Tender, Kenechukwu Eze, and John Eddie Tamuno among other seasoned actors premiered in Abuja on Saturday with the occasion having in attendance leading personalities in the Nigerian film industry, government functionaries, cast, and crew.

Speaking with our correspondent at the event, the Executive Producer of the movie, US-based Tayo Boroffice who is new in the Nigerian movie industry explained what it took him to shoot a drug war movie.

“Producing the movie was a blessing for me. Because actually two months before the production started I had no idea how to put the stuff together. I am based in the US and I did not have any contact in the industry. But then I met Tender Ochimana, a Nollywood producer and he asked for the script, and once he read it he was very excited and jumped into it and decided to produce it. I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like, but we went through the challenges and it was a very challenging experience and it has really encouraged me," the New York Film academy-trained Boroffice said.  

Mr. Boroffice expressed optimism that the movie is going to be a huge success considering the time, resources, and energy put into producing it. He also expressed delight with the progress of the Nigerian film industry stressing that so far the Nigerian film industry is competing with the very best in the world.

“The Nigeria movie industry is a very vibrant industry. There is no industry like the Nigerian film industry. One of the reasons I came into the country was because I really want to bring the best of our culture and to see how to improve on what has been done."

Giving a detailed impression of what Nigerians should expect to see in the movie, Tender Ochimana - producer and one of the actors in the movie - said, “The purpose of the production is to actually sell to the world what the effect of the use of illicit drugs (can be). That it is bad and detrimental to the society. We are preaching about corruption in society. So, Greenwave is actually birthed to tell the world that using illicit drugs is evil, using illicit drugs is bad for your health, and using illicit drugs can condemn and kill you. We also want to make them understand that some of the evil happenings in our society are a result of the use of illicit drugs. People go about stealing, killing, and doing all manners of evil. It is when they are under the influence of these drugs that they are able to carry out these evils.

“And we are also passing the message that most of these ills are not only happening in the lower cadre, that it is also happening at the top and this is where the corruption is and that is why Greenwave is passing the message that using the illicit drug is not good."

On his part, Adamu Musa Adams, who is the associate producer maintained that the movie will go a long way in helping in the fight against the use of illicit drugs, noting that it is on that premise they are partnering with the necessary agencies charged with that responsibility to produce the movie.

“The fact is that the purpose of Greenwave is, apart from being correctional, to expose the ills in the society in the name of corruption that has been one of the factors sabotaging the fight against the abuse of substances in Nigeria.

“The movie Greenwave is not just a movie. It is a model designed to, outside entertaining, use the influence of great actors in Nollywood who are great influencers of the youths, so that we can find a way to solving the problem of the 14.7 percent of the Nigerian youths and other citizens that abuse drugs and other substances. The efforts by the NDLEA to fight against this has always been sabotaged by the activities of the cartels, by corrupt measures using corrupt agents to sabotage the fight and earn a living from it."