ENTERTAINMENT: One Of Nigeria's Foremost TV Guru; Amaka Igwe Passes On - Nigerians Mourn

Amaka Igwe

Amaka Igwe reportedly died on Monday night in Enugu after an asthma attack. The veteran producer was reported to have travelled to Enugu in company of her husband to make preparations for a new Igbo soap, when the incident occurred.
She did not respond to initial rescue operations and passed away before arriving at the hospital.
Amaka Igwe was the founder of BoBTV Expo, Top radio Fm amongst other business ventures.
She produced popular soap operas like Fuji House of Commotion, Checkmate, and films including Violated, Rattle Snake amongst others
She found the massive studios of the Enugu State Broadcasting Service from where such classics like the long rested Basi and Company and the New Masquerade were produced.

Amaka With One Of Her Numerous Awards

Amaka had conceived Checkmate by watching Mirror in the Sun. She had written a script about an all-conquering female hero like Queen Amina and had conceived it like a traditional stage play, but when she saw Mirror in the Sun, she decided to make it a modern all conquering female hero story.
She is survived by her husband of 21 years Charles Igwe, three children, and her mother.
Nollywood Mourns
The President of the Actors Guild, Ibinano Feresima, told Channels Television via telephone that the late Igwe will be missed. She discribed her as a friend and sister who fought for Nollywood.
A few Nigerian Nollywood celebrities including Uche Jumbo, Omoni Oboli, Stephanie Linus-Okereke and Charles Novia have taken to their social media pages to mourn the death of Mrs Igwe.

Nigerian film-maker and Nollywood icon Amaka Igwe has shockingly passed on at 51. A spokesperson for Amaka Igwe studios told NET the sad incident occurred in Enugu where she had gone, in company of her husband, for pre-production preparations for a new Igbo soap. ‘She suffered an asthma attack and was immediately rushed to the hospital after initial interventions had failed. She passed on before getting to the hospital’, a statement issued this morning read. Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction and bronchospasm. Asthma attacks are triggered by a number of environmental and genetic interactions and usually come unannounced. Mrs Igwe is survived by her husband of 21 years Charles Igwe, three children, an aged mother, siblings and a large extended family. Mrs Igwe’s last major outing was at the inaugural edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Conference held on April 26, 2013 at the Grand Ball Room of Eko Hotels and Suites. Participating as a keynote speaker, Mrs Igwe delivered a speech on the ‘Reflections from an unapologetic commercial Nollywood filmmaker’. Born Amaka Isaac-Ene, the deceased was an accomplished writer, producer, director, entrepreneur and teacher. She is the founder of BoBTV Expo, founder and CEO of Top Radio 90.9FM, Amaka Igwe Studios, and the newly-launched Q Entertainment Networks. The Lagos mainland based Top Radio station was launched years ago, with preparations underway to launch Q Networks, a DSTV channel in a few weeks. A visionary and pioneer of modern Nigerian TV drama and film, she hit national limelight as the writer and producer of award-winning TV soap ‘Checkmate’ and its off shoot ‘Fuji House of Commotion’. Her Nollywood projects include RattleSnake and Violated – two critically-acclaimed movies that set apart Amaka Igwe Studios in the much-criticised Nollywood industry. Amaka Igwe studied Education/Religion at the University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University). She had a Master’s Degree from the University of Ibadan. She had her early education at All Saints School (Now Trans Ekulu Primary School), Girls High School Awkunanaw, Enugu and Idia College, Benin. Interestingly, Amaka Igwe wanted to study law but officials of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) offered her a chance to study Education and Religious Study instead. From OAU, Mrs Igwe signed the MNET short celluloid film ‘Barbers Wisdom’ as director and then proceeded to the University of Ibadan where she grabbed a master degree in Library and Information Services. She married her longtime partner Charles Igwe in 1993. They had three kids together – Ruby, David and Daniel. She worked as a lecturer at the Anambra State University of Technology and briefly in oil and Gas, before settling for the motion picture industry. Mrs Igwe will be remembered for raising the bar in movie and TV production in Nigeria, creating high standards with her company Amaka Igwe Studios at a time when Nollywood wasn’t taken serious, for not conforming to low standards as a means to achieving success and inspiring many Nigerian movie makers....

Read More at thenet.ng/2014/04/breaking-news-nollywood-icon-amaka-igwe-is-dead/ Follow us: @theNETng on Twitter | theNETng on Facebook

Nigerian film-maker and Nollywood icon Amaka Igwe has shockingly passed on at 51. A spokesperson for Amaka Igwe studios told NET the sad incident occurred in Enugu where she had gone, in company of her husband, for pre-production preparations for a new Igbo soap. ‘She suffered an asthma attack and was immediately rushed to the hospital after initial interventions had failed. She passed on before getting to the hospital’, a statement issued this morning read. Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction and bronchospasm. Asthma attacks are triggered by a number of environmental and genetic interactions and usually come unannounced. Mrs Igwe is survived by her husband of 21 years Charles Igwe, three children, an aged mother, siblings and a large extended family. Mrs Igwe’s last major outing was at the inaugural edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Conference held on April 26, 2013 at the Grand Ball Room of Eko Hotels and Suites. Participating as a keynote speaker, Mrs Igwe delivered a speech on the ‘Reflections from an unapologetic commercial Nollywood filmmaker’. Born Amaka Isaac-Ene, the deceased was an accomplished writer, producer, director, entrepreneur and teacher. She is the founder of BoBTV Expo, founder and CEO of Top Radio 90.9FM, Amaka Igwe Studios, and the newly-launched Q Entertainment Networks. The Lagos mainland based Top Radio station was launched years ago, with preparations underway to launch Q Networks, a DSTV channel in a few weeks. A visionary and pioneer of modern Nigerian TV drama and film, she hit national limelight as the writer and producer of award-winning TV soap ‘Checkmate’ and its off shoot ‘Fuji House of Commotion’. Her Nollywood projects include RattleSnake and Violated – two critically-acclaimed movies that set apart Amaka Igwe Studios in the much-criticised Nollywood industry. Amaka Igwe studied Education/Religion at the University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University). She had a Master’s Degree from the University of Ibadan. She had her early education at All Saints School (Now Trans Ekulu Primary School), Girls High School Awkunanaw, Enugu and Idia College, Benin. Interestingly, Amaka Igwe wanted to study law but officials of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) offered her a chance to study Education and Religious Study instead. From OAU, Mrs Igwe signed the MNET short celluloid film ‘Barbers Wisdom’ as director and then proceeded to the University of Ibadan where she grabbed a master degree in Library and Information Services. She married her longtime partner Charles Igwe in 1993. They had three kids together – Ruby, David and Daniel. She worked as a lecturer at the Anambra State University of Technology and briefly in oil and Gas, before settling for the motion picture industry. Mrs Igwe will be remembered for raising the bar in movie and TV production in Nigeria, creating high standards with her company Amaka Igwe Studios at a time when Nollywood wasn’t taken serious, for not conforming to low standards as a means to achieving success and inspiring many Nigerian movie makers....

Read More at thenet.ng/2014/04/breaking-news-nollywood-icon-amaka-igwe-is-dead/ Follow us: @theNETng on Twitter | theNETng on Facebook