Nigerian sports and general entertainment on a borrowed foundation: a leaking investment
A man brought fifty motorcycles to a remote village, where there had not been any motorcycle or cars before. Young men in the village came daily to hire the motorcycles for commercial transport-service, and return them in the evening. Sometimes, the bikers’ make enough money to cover the lease and other personal expenses, and other days, they do not recover even the lease. Yet, whether they make enough money or not, they must pay the motorcycle-owner before taking any of the motorcycles. Without owning the source of the relevant equipment/infrastructure, Nigerian sports and general entertainment may remain avenues for foreigners’ enrichment and a leaking investment for the country.
Many Nigerians have decried the almost non-existent flow of national revenue from the Nigerian sports and general entertainment. Instead of yielding income for the country, the Nigerian sports and general entertainment industry continually request government support. As many movies fail to make profits, the lowly-patronized Nigerian Football League continually beg funds from any possible sponsor. Using his twitter handle, Senator Ben Murray Bruce decried the neglect of the Nigerian sports and general 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 part of human life, which can and has been used for leisure, education and diplomatic relations. Scripted entertainment like jokes, dramas, poems and songs demonstrate and influence prevalent and original thoughts of the 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 pleasantly influence original thoughts and harmonize the people’s passions. Achieving these pleasant effects profitably depends on the methodology and equipment used for performing and displaying the original contents.
The Nigerian sports and general entertainment seem to be plagued by two factors that are also holding the Nigerian society.
The first is the inability to research, predict and demonstrate a progressive social transition from different primordial African cultures to modern heterogenous countries. This inability stems from the disjointed obscurity about the history, social structure and moral foundations of contemporary African countries. Presently, different Nigerian producers randomly choose between primordial fictions and contemporary imitation of Western trends. Thus, many Nigerians proudly insist that they do not watch Nigerian movies, which are shallow, uninspiring, detached from social realities and often too predictable. They insist that Nigerian movies lack core social messages for evaluating, educating and reorganizing Nigeria for contemporary development.
Truly, 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 between the constituent groups in Nigeria for 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 arouse and engage Nigerians’ emotions in developmental thoughts.
Also, the porous monitoring against piracy in Nigeria discourages producers from investing heavily on productions.
Nigerians seem too economically distracted and uncomfortable to pay high ticket fees for watching ‘alien’ football clubs. Also, these clubs are owned by individuals or uncommitted governments, and have not developed from the passion of the people in whose locality they operate. This is unlike European football clubs that bear names and emotional affinity of cities from where they originate.
The second factor is the inability of Nigerians to locally produce even some of the equipment for performing and displaying Nigerian sports and general entertainment. Almost all the Nigerian sports and general entertainment equipment are imported at expensive rates, because of technological unproductivity in Nigeria. This general unproductivity stems from the confiscation of mineral resources and lack of funding for education, research and industrial development in Nigeria. Hence, the cost of getting modern equipment for performing and displaying Nigerian sports and general entertainment is very discouraging for invest, without assurance of recovering the funds.
The making of stadiums, sport-kits, studios, cameras, editing computers and other relevant gadgets are all done and imported from outside Nigeria. By seizing access to mineral resources, Nigerian government blocks technological production in Nigeria, such that Nigerians do not have real leverage in acquiring relevant gadgets.
Despite the socio-political obstacles in providing original and engaging sports and general entertainment in Nigeria, Nigerians will still excel. Nigerian youths are still filled with hope and zeal for a better society. 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.
