So many people who knew her could not believe the news when it broke on Monday, April 28, 2014 that cerebral and celebrated movie producer and media entrepreneur, Amaka Igwe, was no more. The 51-year-old mother of three children, Ruby, David and Daniel, had gone to Obinagu-Udi, Enugu State with her family for a short vacation before starting the shooting of an Igbo movie series when she had an asthma attack and died before help could come. Loved by many within and outside the industry, Aunty Amaka, as she was fondly called, left with some unfulfilled dreams, secrets and aspirations.
HER AGED MOTHER
It is the joy of every parent to have children that would bury them. Unfortunately, her mother, Mrs. Patience Ijeoma Ene, who turned 80 in January 2014, is still alive. Amaka would have loved to give her a befitting burial, but death thought otherwise and took away that dream from her.
RUBY, LIKE MUM
Amaka Igwe left three promising children. Ruby, a girl and her two brothers, David and Daniel. Ruby, a Law student of the University of Kent, United Kingdom, is a writer and also the author of The Land of Kalamandahoo. She attended Highburg Sixth Form Academy, Portsmouth in Hamphire, United Kingdom, for her A’levels. She had earlier passed through Greensprings Schools, Lekki, Lagos for her primary and secondary education.
Mum had been waiting for her to complete her university education at Kent, get married, start her own family until this. She also wanted to encourage her in creative writing, and her other endeavours, but all these she won’t be around to witness again. Her first son, Daniel, 18, who also attended Greensprings Schools, is currently at Yale University in the UK. Very creative, like his late mum, he was said to have learnt how to shoot movies with emerging digital phones and cameras at a very tender age. He has since been tipped to carry on with his mother’s legacy.
FOREVER HELPING
A very kind-hearted and homely wife and mother, Amaka got married about 21 years ago to Charles, a financial manager. They both complemented each other as Amaka handled the operational/technical aspects of all they did while he managed the business aspect of their multi-million naira business empire. In fact, they were together in the village for vacation, site visitation and pre-production works for her new Igbo series when she had the asthma attack that took her life.
HER NEW Q TV NETWORK FOR LAUNCH THIS MONTH
Known to be involved in so many media and movie endeavours, late Amaka Igwe’s new Q Entertainment Network Limited, a proposed DSTV Channel, was due to hit the screen this month, May 2014. All preparations had been put in place for the successful launch of this new TV channel before her untimely death. QTV would have joined other successful businesses she had like: Amaka Igwe Studios, Top Radio FM 99.9, BOBTV and the Centre for Excellence in Film and Media Studies, a film school. The Igwes are said to also own three duplexes, including their residence, inside MKO Abiola Gardens, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
THE IGBO NOLLYWOOD JOURNEY
Aside her television station, Q Network, a DSTV Channel which may still be launched this month, was one of her unfulfilled dreams. She wanted it to become watchers’ delight, showing regularly on Africa Magic like the Hausa and Yoruba movie channels. She was in pre-production preparations for the new Igbo soap when death took her away.
FILM ACADEMY IN THE EAST
Since the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) granted late Amaka Igwe (MFR) a licence to run a vocational institution for film and media studies in 2007, a source told YES INTERNATIONAL! that she had been looking for means to establish another centre for excellence in film and media studies in the East, preferably Enugu, which is believed to be the heartbeat of Nollywood in the Eastern part of the country, to complement the one she set-up 6 years ago in Lagos. We were informed that establishing a centre like this in her home state to help develop the movie industry was part of her dream and plans. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to see it through.
TOP RADIO’S PERMANENT SITE
A source also confirmed to YES INTERNATIONAL! that one of the dreams of late Amaka Igwe was to move her radio station, Top Radio FM 99.9, from where it is now, on Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Lagos, to a befitting and spacious permanent site. Beside the fact that the rented building was recently renovated, Amaka had plans for a more convenient property. TOP FM’s current office building is owned by businessman, Myke Ikoku.