RMD Credits Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark and His Mother for the Discipline Behind His Career

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Veteran Nollywood actor Richard Mofe-Damijo , widely known as RMD, has reflected on the values that shaped his professional life, crediting his mother and encounters with literary giants Wole Soyinka and J.P. Clark for teaching him lessons about discipline, punctuality, responsibility and personal standards. Speaking at a recent event, the actor traced those lessons back to childhood before connecting them to the working habits he developed as a young performer. His comments offer a rare look at the personal rules behind a career that has moved through acting, media, law, public service and film production over several decades. His mother’s message became a lifelong rule RMD said one of the most important messages he heard growing up was a reminder from his mother not to forget whose child he was. For him, that statement was not simply about family pride. It became a wider idea about representation: at different moments, a person may be carrying the name of a family, school, company, profession, community or public institution. That way of thinking appears to have shaped how he approached responsibility later in life. Instead of treating professional conduct as something separate from personal identity, he described both as connected. The standards a person carries into work, in his telling, are part of what that person represents beyond themselves. For an actor, that idea can have practical consequences. Film sets depend on schedules, crews, location access, equipment, cast availability and production budgets. One person arriving late can affect dozens of others. RMD’s emphasis on punctuality therefore reflects more than personal preference; it is a work ethic built around the collective nature of production. J.P. Clark and Wole Soyinka reinforced the lesson RMD said his encounters with J.P. Clark and Wole Soyinka helped turn those early values into professional habits. He recalled working around Clark in 1984 as a resident actor at the J.K. Randle Centre and later encountering Soyinka as a director. The strongest lesson he drew from Soyinka was simple: if a meeting or rehearsal was scheduled for a particular time, Soyinka would already be present before it began. RMD said that example taught him not merely to arrive on time, but to arrive early enough to be fully prepared. That distinction is important. Punctuality is often described as appearing at the scheduled moment. RMD’s standard is stricter: preparation should begin before the official start, allowing work to commence immediately instead of using the scheduled time to settle in. His comments also show how professional culture is passed from one generation to another. Younger artists frequently learn not only through formal training but by watching how experienced people behave—how they prepare, communicate, rehearse, respond to pressure and treat collaborators. A career long enough to pass the lesson forward RMD is now in the position once occupied by the senior figures he watched earlier in his own career. With decades of work behind him, he is one of the actors younger performers encounter as an established industry figure. He acknowledged that responsibility directly, expressing hope that people who work with him will also notice habits they can carry into their own careers. That turns the lesson into a cycle: he learned by observing senior artists, and now believes others can learn by observing him. Nollywood has changed enormously during RMD’s career. The industry has moved from television drama and home video through the DVD era, multiplex expansion and international streaming. Production values, budgets, distribution models and audience reach have all shifted. Yet the underlying demands of professionalism—showing up prepared, respecting time and being dependable—remain largely unchanged. Public service added another dimension to his view of responsibility RMD also connected his personal values to his years in government. Reflecting on public service, he said government can create significant positive change but can also challenge the values of people who enter the system. His comments focused on the importance of having principles strong enough to survive difficult institutional environments. The actor’s argument was not that discipline makes every system easy to change, but that individuals need a clear internal standard before entering spaces where compromise can become normalised. That perspective fits the larger theme of his remarks. Whether speaking about family, theatre, film or public institutions, RMD repeatedly returns to the idea that people represent something larger than themselves and should behave accordingly. Professionalism as part of longevity Talent is often the most visible part of an entertainment career, but longevity usually depends on less glamorous qualities as well. Reliability, preparation, adaptability, relationships and reputation all affect whether performers continue to receive opportunities over time. RMD’s career offers a useful example because it spans multiple generations of Nigerian entertainment. He has worked in periods when the industry’s technology, business models and audience expectations were radically different, yet has remained visible through those transitions. His latest reflections suggest that he sees discipline as part of that continuity. The lesson learned from watching Soyinka arrive before the appointed time becomes symbolic of a wider approach: prepare early, understand what you represent and treat other people’s time as valuable. For younger actors and creatives trying to build sustainable careers, the message is less dramatic than a viral success story, but potentially more durable. A single performance can create attention. Professional habits determine what happens when the next opportunity arrives. RMD’s story makes that point through three generations of influence—his mother at home, senior literary figures during his early professional years and the younger artists who now watch him. In that chain, discipline is not presented as an abstract virtue. It is something learned, practised and eventually passed on.