On January 9th, Nigerian filmmaker and founder of the African Movie Academy Awards, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe passed on to glory after an illness that resulted in her coma and thereafter she gave up the ghost in a hospital in Lagos, Nigeria.
The family of Anyiam-Osigwe issued out a statement in the early hours of Tuesday that confirmed the transition of their beloved daughter, in which the filmmaker was described as “the Ada of the Anyiam-Osigwe family, an outstanding personality, trailblazer, titan, pathfinder, go-getter, humanitarian, one-of-a-kind creative, and visionary leader”.
Brief history on Peace Anyiam-Osigwe
Peace Anyiam-Osigwe was the only female child in a family of eight children from the notable Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe family in Nkwerre, Imo state Nigeria. She was a graduate of the Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Law and Political science.
Born on 30th March, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe was a Nigerian filmmaker and an entertainment executive who was regarded as the “Queen of Nollywood films”. She was also the founder of the globally acclaimed film ceremony, the Africa Movie Academy Awards.
The Africa Film Academy was founded in 2005 which governs the film ceremony and has been regarded to be one of the most recognized awards for Africans in film making.
After she stepped down as CEO of the AMAAs, she started the AfricaOne initiative to celebrate Africans in the entertainment industry in 2015, as she also succeeded Mr. Ralph Nwadike in 2020 as the National President of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP).
Peace Anyiam-Osigwe was the initiator of a 100 films project focused on enhancing the quality of films produced in Nigeria and in 2019, she was conferred with African Film Pioneer Award at The African Film Festival.
Peace Anyiam-Osigwe was indeed a trailblazer in the nollywood industry and a President who had worked on building the capacity of film producers in the country through seminars and training.
However, in the statement issued out, the family stated that details of her rites of passages will be announced in due course, meanwhile they requested that the public respect the privacy of the family.