Famous film star Regina Daniels has issued a disclaimer to celebrities and movie producers speaking against child labour and the need to keep the industry safe.
She expressed discontent on how unsafe the industry was for young girls as she narrated an encounter with a 14-year old make-up artiste on set in Delta State.
Speaking in a video shared on her Instagram page, the mother of two stressed how dangerous the movie industry was for young girls both as workers and actresses alike while expressing gratitude to her mother for shielding her from wolves.
She said:
“I went to a location and I met a young girl. She was wearing a short skirt, a crop top. She greeted me and said, ‘Aunty, do you need the mirror?’ Taken aback, I decided to probe the young girl further and she told me she was, ‘the make-up artist’. She was obviously young.
“Then I asked, ‘How old are you?’ She said; ‘I’m 14 years. I replied; ‘Okay, who is your madam?’ I asked the question because something in me desperately wanted her to be under the guardian of a woman. And then she said, ‘No, not my madam. My oga.”
“I was shocked! So I asked if she was being paid and all but to my surprise, she revealed she wasn’t being paid. That she was trying to ‘learn work’.
“Trust me, I know the industry. It’s a very dangerous place for young girls. I was there. But I was opportune to have a really strong mother. A mother that was constantly on my neck, and feared by a lot of people. So they would just give me space.
“They knew that is Mama Regina’s daughter. So, they all gave me space.”
She further stated:
“So I asked her to call her boss. He came and was also a young guy. So I asked him when he started working with the girl. And he told me it was (the day before yesterday).
“I’m very inquisitive especially when it involves young girls. So I asked the girl why she wasn’t in still and her parents’ whereabouts.
“And she told me they were in Port Harcourt. That she came to Lagos since last year, meaning she came when she was just 13 years.
“When I asked about where she slept, she told me in different hotels. I looked at her and said, ‘So, that means you have enough money to lodge yourself and she said, ‘No o aunty. When I go, I just ask anybody, can I follow you and sleep in your room?’
“She told me that she asks both men and women. When I asked her if any had ever tried to sleep with her, she said, ‘Yes. But sometimes, I don’t use to agree and sometimes I will run’.
“I could immediately feel that this girl is losing it. Then I told her she must go back to school and to her parents. I told her I would take care of her and sponsor her schooling till she finishes. But she told me she didn’t want to go back to school.”
Chiding her colleague as well as crew members for willfully working with underage girls on set, Gina noted; ‘She told me she had been working with different celebrities, crew member. She mentioned a few. Then I began to wonder if those celebrities were senseless or the crew members.
Remarking on the ‘inhumane’ treatment usually meted out to young girls in the society, the screen diva said: “The society is bad as it is and we know that young girls are at the mercy of the society. Guys can defend themselves but you see the girls, they would forever be at the mercy of the society; the underprivileged ones.”
Rounding up with the girl’s return to school, Reginal Daniels added:
“So, this girl went back to school, her first test… She was supposed to be in JSS3 but her struggle with life, men, and everything else didn’t permit it.
“She wrote her first test in JSS1 and performed extremely well. She scored 90 over 100 and she promised to make me proud.”
