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Oge Okoye-Duru just returned from London where she recently had her second baby. That explains her absence in movies and at showbiz events. In this interview with SNR REPORTER, Ifeoma Meze, the actress spoke about what she has been up to and her immediate plans.

You do not look at all like someone who just had a Baby. Did you do some exercise to lose the baby fat?

I am already slim. I do exercise especially in the first three months after childbirth to stay in shape. I do all kinds of exercise from cycling to normal stretching. I used to exercise twice a day then but now I do it once.

Why did you choose to have your baby in London?

I feel more at ease in London than any other country. Don’t forget that I was born there too. Besides, I want a better life for my kids.

Does it have something to do with the citizenship thing?

Of course yes. I am a British too. I just want a good life for them when they get older and also for them to be able to move around the world freely without hiccups. I believe they will have a better life with their British citizenship.

Are you saying you don’t believe or have faith in Nigeria?

I just know that the step I took for my kids on their nationality is the best for them. I know what I am doing honestly. Nigeria is a good country and there is hope of it becoming better but I have my reasons. My kids will all have British citizenship.

How do you feel now that you are blessed with a boy and a girl?

I am so happy and thankful to almighty God for making me a complete woman. You know, the joy of every mother is to have a baby boy and a baby girl. We first had a boy and now a girl. We wouldn’t have wished for more. I feel so, so great.

How do you intend to cope with the pressure of raising two kids considering your career as an actress?

That’s not an issue at all. When I had my first baby I got a lot of help from my mum and my domestic staff too. I never allowed the movie thing to affect the mother-child relationship between us. I always came back early to make sure he was okay though my mum was around to look after him till he became a big boy. My children’s care can never suffer for my career. As much as the job is important, the home front is equally inevitable and must come first. I blend the two together perfectly such that none suffers for the other. My baby boy is grown now and he goes to school. When I first came back in December, I worked only in Lagos because my new baby was still very young but now I can do some jobs outside Lagos because she is a few months older. Having two kids cannot be an issue for me.

How soon do you intend to return to the screen?

I am already back on the screen and in fact, better. Before I finally left the country for my ante natal in London, I had more than nine scripts and I was hoping I could do the movies before I left but it wasn’t too easy for me. Some of the movies have been shot now while some producers insisted that I just have to come play my role as soon as I deliver. So, now that I have successfully delivered I don’t have a choice than to hit the movie location as soon as possible. I returned to Nigeria in November and by December I was back on location because I enjoy doing it and besides many producers can’t wait to have me back on board. Movie, to me, is not about money; it’s more of a passion and fulfillment.

without hiccups


Nai ji ria go beta

hmm. . . bad belle

mohumyta:

without hiccups


Nai ji ria go beta

amen o!

I really hope that this is an old interview because she stood out to me because I remembered her shouting from the top of the hills about how she was born in the UK and so will her kids. She is just trashy to me.

i wish her all the best,and i know so many people would kill,just to have a British citizenship, at-least she's honest.

"exotic" factor aside, are there really any long term benefits to being born overseas?

just wondering.

diasporan nigerians seem to be doing just as well if not better than nigerians born and raised abroad, accent or no accent.

as per college tuition and all that- graduates of nigerian universities are collecting visas by the day although admittedly it's easier when all you have to do is buy your ticket and hop on a plane instead of queueing for visa.

not saying it's a bad thing to have your children abroad, btw.

Its ironic that she has British citizenship herself and found a better life for herself in Nigeria.

at least she is being honest about it,i give her kudos fior that,am all for frank views

If this is all that there is to this interview, then I doubt the truth in what she is saying by "the steps she took for her kids" If you are a british citizen and live in any part of the world, you can have your children as a woman and they will automatically be british too. You dont have to be physically present in the UK for them to also have the Citizenship. My conclusion, this story is flawed!

Abio,dnt mind her,she can even born in her village sef and her kids will still be citizens if shes one.

ONIRANU OTIRO NIGERIA PIN.

So why is this on the front page? Let your children have whatever citizenship you like, that is none of our business.

Congratulations,

Kini Big Deal about British Citizenship, I hope they wont be stabbed someday, British is very common with such.

uplawal:

Abio,dnt mind her,she can even born in her village sef  and her kids will still be citizens if shes one.

ONIRANU OTIRO NIGERIA PIN.

Are u really sure?

You were bone in Britain, but you have a better life in Nigeria.
Your kids will be born in Britain for a better life in Britain ? lmao

Some ignorant fools here talk anyhow,Queen worshippers,
yet they live very poor compare to people in naija,thye dnt know how to entertain guest,
if they want to force themselves,they dnt mind putting one small meat in your food to eat as a guest,very stingy people
Who says Ecowas passport cannot be more glorified in the nearest future?

maclatunji:

So why is this on the front page? Let your children have whatever citizenship you like, that is none of our business.

Siena:

Well, you must have been interested . . . the thread title was clear, you say it's none of your business, yet you chose to read it. . .

Yes, but her children may not want to follow in her footsteps. At least, they'll have the choice in terms of where they want to live / work. With Dual Nationality, they have more options, and less restricted travel worldwide.

If you are British and have British Children, is that news? I read the post because I thought she was a Nigerian movie star desperate to have British Children-now, that would be worth having on the front page, not this melodrama.

And the same Oge Okoye looks radiant in naija,but when she comes here she looks very haggard like shes seen the worst of life,we see her well in woolwich,cos london life is not easy for her.

uplawal:

And the same Oge Okoye looks radiant in naija,but when she comes here she looks very haggard like shes seen the worst of life,we see her well in woolwich,cos london life is not easy for her.

brouhahaha!!! y u kon take wicked like this na?

omo_to_dun:

Actually Nigerians in diaspora are Nigerians who are born and raised abroad or living abroad.

thank u jare, for bn tpiah's dictionary

How?
dnt mind the yeye girl,

Who says naija cannot be better in the nearest future?

oncolor:

Its ironic that she has British citizenship herself and found a better life for herself in Nigeria.

Couldn't be said better.

How did this BS make the front page?

To each his own. She chose to U.K over naija, so what? She believes thats the best she could give her kids so Why are some peeps trying to crucify her.
What are you all doing abroad? if I may ask

Well, I think she has done well to the best of her knowledge and haters should back off. She has the choice and she wants her children to do so too.

I feel more at ease in London than any other country. Don’t forget that I was born there too. Besides, I want a better life for my kids.

The better life for her kids could also be in Nigeria but they'll have the right to choose, do you know what lots of of our kinsmen are doing outside the shores to acquire such status? Atleast her children wouldn't need to join the lots in their generation if Nigeria's lot goes on in the direction we are currently heading.

She did not say she does not believe in Nigeria and the children are equally Nigerians.

should we be jumping up for that

Whatever the case, i didn't know about her till recently and that Blackberry Babes movie is a disgrace.

@everyone, Oge choses to have her children born in the UK because she understand how the system works. If you're a british or a permanent resident holder (ILR), when you give birth
to your child in the UK, your child automatically becomes a british citizen, but when you give birth outside the UK, your child becomes a registered british citizen, the difference-

Children born in the UK are considered English and enjoys certain right and favour than those born outside the UK i.e when considering the issue of job, equal opportunity and some defined previleges while those born outside the UK have to get a permit to enter such country and then go on and register the baby as a british citizen.

Finally, I think she did the right thing. She did her homework well. Welldone Oge!

The poster above just clarified issues for me.

I can see some of us are enraged at the woman's nerve in voicing out what many Nigerian women secretly agree with    .

But ms/mrs okoye is not the problem. We all know that 35 to 40 years ago, giving birth in North America or Europe (to guarantee a better life for your offspring) wasn't an issue. The question we should be asking is, why did things change and who is responsible?

And even more important, what are we going to do about it?

Do your research and vote in the next elections in April 2011. Make the right choices so that the oge okoyes of this world can have their children in any hamlet in Nigeria and their life chances will still be substantially similar to those of kids born elsewhere. Vote and protect that vote.

P.S. An election does not of itself and in itself mean democracy exists. But it is an important part of what democracy is. So please do not vote for a party/candidate and justify your choice by saying "they were going to win anyway", or "his diction is superb", or "he is from my ethnic group".  etc.

Vote for someone who will make sure your children have a country they can call their own.

The choice is ours to make.