Tuesday, 26 August 2014
Before all our children become entertainers!!
BBA sponsored by Coca-Cola: $300,000 (N48m). MTN Project Fame: N7.5m & SUV. Etisalat’s
Nigerian Idol: N5m & multi-million naira contract. Glo naija sings: N5m & SUV. Gulder ultimate
search: N10m plus endorsements & SUV.
COWBELL Mathematics competition: N100k. Lagos State Spelling Bee: N50k. School scrabble:
N25k. Cool-FM spelling game: A goodie bag filled with Amila drink. And someone is asking why
there is so much failure in WASSCE?” That was a message I received on my phone some days
ago.
My friend, Ayodele Adeyemi, told me a similar story recently. Someone saw the brilliance of his
daughter and told her that she would be a doctor. The girl said no: She would be a musician. The
person was surprised.
That story is not strange today. If you ask children in primary school or even secondary school
whom would they like to be like in future, they would mention Davido, Whizkid, Omawumi, Don
Jazzy, Genevieve Nnaji or Ali Baba. It is a good thing that our entertainment industry has become
a source of pride to our nation and a source of livelihood for thousands of youths. Youths who
could have been at jobs they hated or even derailed into crime have found themselves happily and
richly employed. Rather than being mocked by society, they have become a source of envy and
admiration. But therein lies the problem…
Since the entertainment industry has become a money spinner and a glamorous industry, every
child wants to be in it.
But, why not? Currently, the TV programmes with the highest prizes are in
music or entertainment. Unknown faces become celebrities almost overnight. Their mates watch
such transformation and are filled with envy and admiration. Children watch their intelligent uncles
and parents go unnoticed, uncelebrated and impoverished, while entertainers – many of whom
are not particularly book-intelligent – become the stars of the day.
On the contrary, how many big-budget programmes or prizes are dedicated to rewarding
excellence in creativity or the like? Very few. The NLNG Prize for Literature was virtually the only
big prize until recently when Etisalat Prize for Literature came on stream.
The doctors, lecturers, teachers, etc are frequently on strike over pay and conditions of service.
Nigerian writers have to move to the United States or the United Kingdom to be appreciated.
Beside entertainment, politics is the other field that is very attractive because of the direct and
indirect money that oozes out of it as well as the glamour that goes with it. It is more rewarding –
financially and socially – to be a local government chairman than to be a professor. If you are
lucky to be a senator, a minister or a governor, you are made for life! Beyond amassing a lot of
money, you are also initiated into the political circle, which ensures that even when you leave
office, you are made an ambassador, a chairman of an agency or the like. You would not like to go
back to the university, your medical practice or whatever you were before. As a doctor, an
engineer or lecturer, your money comes in trickles, but as a senator or governor, it drops into your
account like a bomb regularly.
But if you can’t be a politician, why not be an entertainer?
President Goodluck Jonathan may not feel cool when shaking an
engineer, computer scientist or professor, but when he is shaking hands with a musician like
D’Banj or an actress like Genevieve, you will notice that his smile will be broader. Why? He is
shaking hands with a star. Unlike before when our entertainers just had enough to take care of
their basic needs, today’s entertainers earn up to N5m for a 10-minute solo rendition of two of
their songs on stage. For those who have up to four shows per month, even if they earn a million
naira per show, that gives them N4m monthly. Many CEOs of top companies don’t earn that. And
this amount excludes the money made from commercials, endorsements, celebrity appearances,
fees to act as a judge at shows, album sales, and any other private businesses the celebrity is
involved in.
So, it is not surprising that many of our young ones want to be entertainers. In their views,
excluding the money and glamour in entertainment, it does not look as strenuous as reading and
sitting for exams to be a pharmacist or a professor. Being a musician is fun. You stand on stage
(in the limelight) while others huddle together in darkness, watching you. You don’t need to have
all A’s or come first in your class. But once successful, you overshadow your siblings and
parents. Your parents and siblings are identified from your standpoint: Omawumi’s mother,
Omotola’s husband, Okocha’s sister. You travel from one city to the other or from one country to
the other, stay in the best hotels, eat the best foods, and drink the best wines – all the time.
No wonder, parents railroad their children into entertainment. They organise three or four of them
to sing, put it in CDs and send the children to filling stations and shopping malls to sell the CDs.
Some parents push their children to participate in all music competitions in the land. Those who
are wealthy use their wealth or connection to push their children to be featured regularly in the
media.
At the auditions of reality shows, there is no manner of people you won’t see. Even those who
croak like toads participate, believing that they are the next “Tu Baba” or “PSquare.” It is all
because of how lucrative the entertainment industry.
TV stations have also caught the virus. While new all-music channels and programmes are
springing up, almost all the local channels have dedicated the hours of 12 noon to 2pm to music.
It is a great thing that our entertainment industry is booming. Many African countries are envious
of our achievement, but we need to emulate the US in our national development. The reason the
US is different is that it is not a one-product economy. While it is the headquarters of
entertainment in the world, it is also the headquarters of academic excellence and research. It
consciously encourages its doctors, engineers, scientists, lecturers, broadcasters, writers, etc, to
be the best by providing a wonderful environment. It does not create the impression that a
senator is better than a professor by paying the senator higher than the professor, or giving the
senator more recognition than the professor.
Even though it glamorises the actor or musician, it does not give the actor or musician any
impression that he is better than the police constable or primary school teacher. Politics is not
made so lucrative that every media person prays to be appointed a politician’s press secretary.
Many broadcasters actually earn more than politicians; so politicians can’t talk down on them or
buy them over. The street cleaner does her job with pride. She knows that one day she can write a
book on strategic street cleaning and it will become a bestseller that earns her millions of dollars
and fame. She does not need to become a musician, a politician, a contractor, or a girlfriend to a
politician before she can become successful as a street cleaner.
That is how a robust economy is built. It is an economy in which people have the potential to
excel, to be rich and get national recognition in whatever field they operate in. That way, children
who have the proclivity for research or teaching are not discouraged by such fields’ low-
rewarding prospects and get lured into music or acting. Those who will sing will sing. Those who
will act will act. But the nation must not make those who should be in other fields to jump into
entertainment or emigrate, just because they believe that their natural field is unappreciated.
curled:Nairaland
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This so very true. Please organize your work
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