Nollywood actress Regina Daniels has condemned the employment of young girls for labour in the Nigerian movie industry.
Speaking in a video shared on Instagram, she said the industry is not a safe space for children to work in.
Regina Daniels revealed that she had met a 14-year-old working as a makeup artiste, moving from set to set with no parental guidance or guardian.
The young girl, she said, wore “a short skirt, crop top” and surprisingly worked under another young guy on the movie set as a make-up artist – without being paid.
“Her parents are far away in Port Harcourt and she came to Lagos last year. She sleeps in different hotel rooms with whoever agrees to accommodate her every night and is not willing to go back to her parents.”
“This girl told me that she is here to learn but trust me, I know the industry, the industry is a very dangerous place for young girls,” the actress added.
Regina Daniels said she took the young girl under her wing and sent her to boarding school so she could further her education.
The actress, who also started her career young, said that although she was lucky to have her mother’s protection from unwanted attention, it is unfortunately not the case for many of these young girls.
Regina Daniels said the young girl mentioned the name of some celebrities she had worked on set with – leaving her to question why those colleagues did not question why this was a minor working on set or staging an intervention.
She urged her fellow actors not to turn a blind eye and condemn producers and other filmmakers who employ minors on set.
The actress added that she has vowed to always fight against any movie producer who recruits young kids for movie roles.