Okenyi Kenechi
I have watched in the past few months, with dismay, as Port Harcourt based artists invite top government officials to their shows. I have also watched as these top government officials ignore these entertainers like plagues and gifted them empty seats. I feel sad on their behalf as I have seen first hand, the distraught some of them had afterward.
In that last few months, I have equally watched Governor Ambode of Lagos State attend several events with his wife, cabinet members and captains of industries. Now, that is a Governor that understands the importance of entertainment and its role in creating unlimited numbers of jobs, keeping the youths busy and generating revenues.
The entertainment industry in Lagos is rock-solid because government helped to build it. The entertainment industry in Rivers State is on its knees begging for help because government chose to ignore it.
While the Rivers State politician will host a continent full of social media praise singers, Facebook itchy fingers, and Twitter retweet activists; most of them with no level of expertise in the areas of image management, just copy and paste, the same politician will ignore invitations by entertainers, an industry that is capable of creating millions of jobs for the youths in a state with a staggering unemployment level that the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics estimated to be at over 42 percent. The government is sitting on a goldmine, yet it has failed to realize so.
Governor Wike, during his third year anniversary celebration, once more, relegated Rivers State based acts to the background. Allowing some of these acts perform in the presence of the world would have been a great opportunity for them. Yet, that opportunity was missed.
Rivers State is filled with talented entertainers. Despite the lack of structure and platforms that will enable them to excel in their trade, they have struggled against all odds to make their marks. What these young people need are the necessary push and the world will hear their names. The push that they need is not in the form of financial handouts. No. It is by creating an enabling environment with the needed structures that will make it easier for them to showcase their crafts.
The government will earn billions of dollars in revenue from entertainment in the state if it plays its cards well and ignoring that critical sector is not the best way to go about it.
A robust entertainment industry has a multiplier chain effect on the economy of every state; ranging from fashion, tourism, security services, tabloid, television, radio, to full industrialization. A robust entertainment industry in Rivers State will not only create jobs but reduce insecurity, allowing the government to kill two birds with one stone.
The government is not isolated in this ugly trend of ignoring entertainers from the state. The oil and gas industries are culpable too, so are the telecommunications industries.
While Shell, Total and AGIP will sponsor shows in Lagos, pay artists millions of Naira to perform, they won’t be caught pants down doing the same in Port Harcourt.
The reason is that they always take orders from Lagos before they release funds. However, when their company staff are kidnapped, they don’t take orders from Lagos before releasing funds for their release. Should the youths who are struggling to be heard all turn to kidnapping before they will be heard?
How many artists of Rivers State extraction are MTN and Glo Ambassadors? The popular faces are those from Lagos.
How about the rich and mighty in the the state?
While Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu and Ifeanyi Ubah of capital oil attend Phyno Fest in Enugu, the case is different here. Their presence is not necessarily political, it is purely economics. Phyno Fest is the biggest show in the whole country with attendance level of over 20, 000. This is a huge number that any government can tap into. People come all the way from Ghana for Phyno fest. Why is it not happening here?
Do we have a Commissioner in charge of Youths Development and Tourism in Rivers State? If we have, what exactly has the person been doing?
The government needs to marshal out plans on how to build that industry. The private sector needs to be included too. This is not about the upcoming general elections. This is about creating jobs, projecting the image of the state to the outside world and keeping the youths busy and they will strive to be at the top. This is about sustainability.
These young people cannot build those infrastructures on their own. They struggle to pay for event centers for their shows without any form of help. At the end of the day, only few persons attend their shows. Juxtapose that with AY live shows or Basketmouth shows in Port Harcourt, where these people come from Lagos and pick money from Port Harcourt, sometimes without paying taxes, to go and increase the revenue of Lagos.
This has to stop. Give these young people the opportunity to compete favourably with their peers and the world will hear about them.
