A man brought fifty motorbikes to a remote village, where there had not been any motorbikes or cars before. Young men in the village came daily to hire the bikes for transport-service, and return them in the evening. Sometimes, the bikers earn enough for the lease and other personal expenses; and other times, they do not earn even the lease. Yet, whether they make enough money or not, they must pay the bike-owner before taking any of the motorbikes. Likewise, without owning the source of the vital equipment and infrastructure for their operations, Nigerian sports and entertainment may remain avenues for foreigners’ enrichment.
Many Nigerians decry the unstable flow of revenue from Nigerian sports and entertainment. Instead of yielding income for the country, the Nigerian sports and entertainment industry continually request government support. Using his twitter handle, Senator Ben Bruce decried the neglect of the Nigerian sports and entertainment industry. He showed that, using movies like STARWARS, Game-of-Thrones and 24, developed countries earn more revenue than the total budget of some African countries.
Entertainment is a necessary aspect of human life, which can and has been used for leisure, education and diplomatic relations. Scripted entertainment like jokes, dramas, poems, novels and songs show and influence people’s thoughts in a society. Subtle messages are passed to the society using scripted entertainment, while the extra-energies and passions are harmonized using sports. Sports and general entertainment form steady sources of income for societies where they influence original thoughts and harmonize passions. Achieving these effects and gains depends on the method and equipment used for performing and displaying the contents.
The Nigerian sports and general entertainment seem to be plagued by two factors holding the Nigerian society.
- The first is the inability to research and show a progressive transition from intercommunal African thoughts to modern political thoughts. This inability stems from the disjointed obscurity about the history, social structure and moral foundation of pre-colonial African societies. Presently, different Nigerian producers randomly choose between primordial fictions and contemporary imitation of Western trends. So, many Nigerians insist that they do not watch Nigerian movies, which they see as shallow, uninspiring, unrealistic and most predictable. They insist that Nigerian movies lack core social messages for educating and reorganizing Nigeria for modern development.
True as charged, many Nigerian producers do not have the training or funds to engage in extensive social researches like western producers. Presently, there is no agreed plan or philosophy guiding Nigeria’s governance and activities. This lack of agreement between the component groups in Nigeria makes entertainers confused about the social philosophy to portray. Hence, they borrow superficial elements from foreign cultures, which fail to inspire Nigerians for progressive thoughts.
- The second factor is Nigerians’ inability to locally produce any of the equipment for performing or showing Nigerian sports and entertainment. Almost all the Nigerian sports and entertainment equipment are expensively imported, due to unproductivity in Nigeria. This unproductivity stems from the government seizure of people’s mineral resources[1] and lack of funding for education, research and industry. Thus, the cost of getting modern equipment for performing and showing Nigerian sports and entertainment is very discouraging.
The making of stadiums, sports kits, studios, cameras, computers and other relevant gadgets are all done and imported from outside. By seizing all mineral resources, Nigerian government blocks technological production in Nigeria, such that Nigerians do not have real leverage in acquiring these gadgets.
Despite the socio-political obstacles in providing original and engaging sports and entertainment in Nigeria, Nigerians will still excel. Nigerian youths are still filled with hope and zeal for a better world. They only require proper direction, education, motivation and access to relevant resources for unique productivity. Hence, despite the lack of funds, Nigerian producers will endeavour to research deeper into original social circumstances obstructing agreement and productivity in Nigeria. This research will enable them to demonstrate and predict better ways for Nigerian rebirth.
[1] Nigerian Mineral and Mining Act.