By CHINEDU HARDY
NWADIKE
Everyone
finds a constraint as an excuse for not getting to the top, same thing with me,
because I should have made a video documentary of this. So what was the
constraint that prevented this? The usual thing every Nigerian is facing. Fund.
When
I sit back to watch satellite TV channels to enjoy the entire celebrity buzz
they usually bore us with, I ask myself where these people came from. Did they
just become stars or did they pass through anything before getting there?
In
Nigeria, experience has never been anyone’s teacher, because we are mostly
afraid of change. We can only embrace better technology; change our wardrobe;
fatten our bank accounts; make more TV and radio appearances; pose on the cover of magazines and newspapers,
and so on. But are these really the changes we want?
How
can we see the changes in the life of an individual as change? What happened to
the system? Is it not what we are supposed to change to embrace total change?
A
country where a community can boast that they have received dividends of
democracy because an administration helped one of them build a mansion and buy
cars. They talk as if everyone will live in that house and drive the cars. They
forget the roads everyone will walk on; the tap everyone will fetch from and
electricity that will light every body’s path. We need to start changing the
system.
Living
upcoming is one of the worst things happening on Nigeria streets and it should
be one of the things we should be working towards changing.
When
I thought of this article, I spoke to many people who complied on the ground of
anonymity, meaning I won’t be mentioning names here but every sour experience
here belongs to a Nigerian, who is someone’s brother, sister, cousin and child.
Being
an upcoming entertainer in Nigeria is never a profession, one has to get
another job that will fetch the money he will be investing on the entertainment
side of him.
In
Nigeria today, who pays the media more, the stars or the upcoming entertainers?
Returning the favour, who do we see more on the screens, magazines, blogs and
who do we hear more on the radio? The stars or the upcoming one?
Many
guys have turned gay and many ladies became lesbians because they want to make
it. Ladies gave up nights to satisfy countless men and some guys have done same
to satisfy ladies who promised to do one thing or the other for them. This is
the system we live in.
Studio
rats wish to be stars; rats that will one day grow into gorillas and melt out
the same punishment they received on others that are still rats.
A
certain male artiste said “I spend most
of my time in this studio. I run errands for the producer and at times I do
cleaning for him. He buys me food when
there is money, when there isn’t, I find a way to eat. In return, he gives me a
beat and under him I can have my own songs. I do this because I cannot afford
the normal recording fee in bulk”
Another
female artiste said “I want to sing but I
don’t have money to pay for studio sessions, blogging and radio airplay. But if
I can mingle with these people, within a short time, I can get them free of
charge. Anything goes, as long as I get
what I want”
An
upcoming female model said “I’ve had
several sour experiences in the industry especially when we have to work as
ushers in big events. They don’t make provisions for our accommodations for a
reason, because we’ll have to pass the night with one of the very rich guests.
Sometimes their offers are irresistible. You just have to take it because you
want to be a super model in Nigeria someday”
“We are often kept
in rooms with others, and any day you’ll be unlucky, you’ll get a lesbian as a roommate.
They usually give you horrible nights.
The worst ones are those with the backings of the organizers; there is simply
nothing you can do. At times they can promise you a top spot, as well as more
competitions. The truth is no matter how much we say, we can never say
everything we have seen because we need to retain our dignity as women” another female model told me.
I have witnessed a case where a crew member
ran out of the hotel room he was sharing with another guy in the middle of the
night because his gay roommate was trying to molest him. What did the owner of
the event do? Nothing!
A
female artiste once told me that a DJ said she must be sleeping with him
regularly for him to be playing her songs. The question will now be thus, if
she sleeps with every DJ that will be playing her songs, how many would she be
sleeping with at the end?
Another
pretty singer came to me wearing an engagement ring, I was surprised and she
said “Do you know how it feels to have
almost every man you come in contact with trying to sleep with you? Some of
them respect the ring, while others don’t. But at the end, it helps better than ordinary
words”
Many
pure talents have quitted because of this horror upcoming artistes are
subjected to and radio presenter are not left out.
I
have recently ignored complaints from upcoming artistes about a certain gay
radio presenter who would like to sleep with them before he can start playing
their song.
I
haven’t seen a lesbian presenter, but well and well they exist somewhere
subjecting females to the same horror.
Most
male presenters are the worst in this act, they take cash from guys and sex
from ladies. And the fact that most ladies would love to sleep with these guys
whom they see as celebrities makes it easier for them.
When
was the last time the media put these sufferings into consideration? When was
the last time the so called politicians put the plights of these young people
in their budget? Would human right activists ever remember them to say we want
to invest in saving these lives that are being lost gradually?
Most
of them have turned drug addicts, most of them are sex slaves and it is funny
no one is talking about it. We just dwell on the polished experiences of the
stars, written in a way that it can only entertain but never inspire nor call
for change in the system.
Does
these upcoming entertainers have their part of the blame? Yes most of it. Some
complain they do not have a dime to pay for services they desire, yet at night
you see them in bars and lounges spending above N7000 on alcohol and tobacco.
If
you can buy alcohol, why not buy good clothes, shoes and other
accessories. Some ladies would prefer
bags of N30,000, hairs of N50,000 to the money they would use in recording and
promoting themselves.
They
would prefer to have expensive looks so as to be accepted in the world of
famous people, forgetting that something is still missing. Costumes can make a goat look
like a lion, but it will never give it a roar, and the looks will never last
because one day, the real lions will feed on the goat.
Can
we all join hands in this sensitization? Encourage these youths who are mostly
graduates to take up an alternative job [Although most of them have joined the
entertainment industry because there are no jobs. And the industry is one way
anyone can employ himself] to see that they stay away from these tigers that
have come to do nothing but devour them.
Can
we give then the courage to expose these people who in most cases are tagged
‘untouchable’ because they run the media?
Can
the media device programmes that will give these people the coverage and
encouragement they need? Do not forget that these upcoming artistes are dumped
in our recycling points. Every star will come from there, while some who have
tasted stardom, will still go back there.
These
are our brothers and sisters.
Chinedu
Hardy Nwadike is novelist, singer and blogger; he writes from Owerri Imo State,
Nigeria. chikisnow@yahoo.com,
08038704454,
@hardynwa and pin:763D08AE
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