‘UNMASKED’, a documentary film focussing on the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria is will premiere in Lagos on Friday, May 7.
A collaborative work between Daria Media and Zuri24 Media, the film was produced and directed by Femi Odugbemi alongside a frontline journalist, Kadaria Ahmed, who co-produced and presented.
It features interviews and insights from people drawn from the medical, political and financial sectors of the society who are at the forefront of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout; as well as regular people who are victims of the virus in different ways.
The documentary was released in March and first screened at the 2021 iREP International Documentary Film Festival to critical acclaim by an international audience comprising filmmakers, media scholars, students and film enthusiasts across four continents.
The event of this Friday, is, however, the official premiere of the docu-feature which will be followed with a conversation around the issues raised in the film.
The conversation will centre on how the public and private sector can collaborate for the development of a robust and effective public health care system.
The event will feature eminent speakers including the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, as well as the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu.
Others are the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi; Founder of the Chair Center Group, Ibukun Awosika and Tosin Runsewe, Chairman/Non-Executive Director of Evercare Hospital Lekki, Lagos.
The Conversation will be moderated by Kadaria Ahmed, who is renowned for such assignments as well as being a media content producer.
Subsequent screenings of the documentary will take place in Kano, Ibadan, Kaduna and Port Harcourt, where the conversations will revolve around the training and retention of medical personnel in Nigeria as well as the provisions of basic health care as a prerequisite for the development of robust human resources.
Giving a background to the production of the documentary, Odugbemi said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has turned the world on its head and hit the world’s most populous black nation Nigeria with predictable ferocity. With its soft underbelly of corruption, poor healthcare infrastructure, weak systems and an ever-increasing number of its population below the poverty line, the impact of Covid-19 Pandemic has been substantial, but could this also be an opportunity for a reset?” This is the context in which the conversation will hold on Friday after the documentary has been screened.
In her own view, Ahmed said, “It is the hope of the producers of the documentary that beyond documenting the Nigerian story of covid, Unmasked acts as the catalyst for a conversation on shortcomings in our public health sector that were unmasked by Covid.”
