mdee1: This space has been payed for

Timohunk: is it in nigeria that you are talking about education?a country where you will graduate and no job will be available...you need to upgrade...for me,Basketball is my own career #nba

Geekaydon: Pls mind you......dnt spoil sm ppol's business instead...fight for the solution to your area of intrest which is not selling.....calling youths who go into entertainment lazy ppol is wrong......everybody wants money.....who does'nt want.....and if you go into entertainment and your talent was recordnised...then ure good to go...some ppol are saying it as if its every aspiring musician that make it.....go to schools today.....most ppol find it as a joke....go tru malpractices to get their waec done...get to school and read only to pass...and for those who riili suffer for education what have they make out of it that can stand with what talents av got sm ppol....
My fight.....EVERYBODY WANTS A WAY TO SURVIVE AND NOT JUST A WAY BUT THE BEST WAY......most musicians are sure if they dont make it they have their certificate to fall to to atleast live life and feed a family.....but seriously if you dont show up @ the mtn audition and its your year.....ure a fool cause you dont know what they call luck.....i started music cos i like the entire life of going to lagos today and london tommorow...whats bad there...am still in school still....pls fight for making education pay more in nigeria and not spoiling sm ppols business......sm musicains are inteligent in books than some fools who get their school fees paid untime @ school...and actors go to school..... Gbammmm @geekaydon

Ptoocool: 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.

agrovick: Ptoocool! Plz I need your permission to include this in my dept's magazine. Pls dont say no

Ptoocool: 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.

MizMyColi: I am very selective of what I read these days, but when I read a post that long from start to finish without loosing interest, then whoever that writer is, He is Good.

Ptoocool:

BBA sponsored by Coca-Cola: $300,000 (N48m). MTN Project Fame: N7.5m & SUV. Etisalat 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. Read more

WoodcrestMayor: ...writer must be good and the reader truly worried abt the trend.
Itz good to know topics of this nature still captivate peeps on nairaland.All hope isnt lost afterall

Frenchkiss564: i dont think its a black man thing, humans generally love entertainment, ever wondered why justin bierber, lady gaga and co have much more twitter followers than bill gates, warren buffet e.t.c maybe black people are taking it to the extreme at the expense of very important things

Engen:

Please stop being sentimental, all you all blaming the TV, Media houses, Diamond bank e.t.c...Please blame the parents,bring up your child the way they should and after a while they won't depart from your instruction...Parents chasing money and neglecting their children...with all the successes we're recording among our entertainers and sport personalities 90% of them cannot speak english nor make sense when they open their mouths.

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME...'Aboran oro lanso fun omo aluwabi to ba de nu e adi odidindi' (Yoruba)

gorgeousnogo: All i can say @op is that i like d idea of peeps hopin to b future entertainers. Will so much make getting a good job 4 us future microbiologists, doctors, etc easier in dis country. Make them all go n bcome dbanj or whateva. I wan bcome beta than danagote

bigx: Bad Belle Post


See it this way, when everyone veers into music (and most fail), it would create a scarcity of professionals and the demand for doctors and the rest would increase with the attendant reduced supply (check the humongous failure rate in waec). The current poor salaries they are earning is a result of everybody wanting to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer because of perceived high salaries (at least when I went through school)

IdomaLikita: Will Anything Happen If The Govt introduces a Law making it Compulsory for all Corporate Organizations Sponsoring Talent Hunts to also Show Proof of Sponsorship of Educational Development in like Sum?

Lilimax: I read this write up somewhere and decided to share it using this medium:

Dear Nigerians, the reasons for mass failure of our teenagers in public exams are not far fetched.

1 FACEBOOK,YAHOO,TWITTER,MYSPACE and generally browsing on the internet instead of reading their books

2 ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE and EUROPEAN FOOTBALL LEAGUES, it is easy for an average nigerian teenager to know the tha names of all chelsea players but same youths cannot tell you the square root 25 in mathematic. Worse still is that these days instead of seeing inscriptions like UNIVERISTY or SCHOLARS on the exercise books, what you see are pictures of paloma,Drogba,Beyonce,Omotola etc

3 DSTV,Home video and african movie magic, watching television and films endlessly.European champions league,English premiership,Barca,Blues,Chelsea,MANU etc

4 GSM and BLACKBERRY, the average Nigerian teenager uses the latest and expensive gsm phones just to show off that they belong, when they are actually nothing.

5 GSM TEXT LANGUAGE, I will not be surprised to see students write words like ur(for YOUR), 2moro( For tomorrow) in their EXAM sheets

6 QUEST FOR CHEAP FAME AND WEALTH, The goverment,electronic media(tv and radio) and companies have not been helpful at all. The average nigerian youth especially the girls want to BE silver Birds most beautiful Girl and get cheap money and fame(Nobody has remembered all the previous miss world,but we still remember MOTHER THERESA),they want to win IDOLS WEST AFRICA, they want to be in NOLLYWOOD, they want to be TWO-FACE, they want to win maltina street dance ,they want to win starquest and GULDER ULTIMATE SEARCH

Warning is that wealth gotten by vanity shall DIMINISH.
7 The new craze of TALENT SHOWS: Suddenly The only talents our youths now have are music,dancing,acting and stand up comedies, they no longer have talents for maths,physics and entrepreneurism.
Check out the list:MTN PROJECT FAME,BIG BROTHER,STARQUEST,MALTINA DANCE HALL,AMBO,GUILDER,IDOLS WEST AFRICA,PEAK TALENT HUNT ETC…What a bad distraction
It is only COWBELL that sponsors national mathematics competition and give scholarships to outstanding students in UME exams and yet we don't patronize cowbell

dabriggs:

Please go and read the expose again and see his point. He is saying there should be a balance. And frankly, betwneen me and anybody who cares to be on the other side of the divide, we need more doctors and engineers than Davidos. We celebrate the obvious absurd in Nigeria. No where in the write up did he call entertainers lazy people. You see what the system has done to you all. You cant read and comprehend.

And please, teenagers who cant even spell words correctly should stop coming here to claim upcoming stars. Youths who are seriously intellectually disabled.

As a matter of fact what is special about Nigerian music and entertainment industry? Is it "skelewu!skelewu" or "doro..doro..doro". or "chorkini chorkin"? And frankly I am not expecting much from the so called aspiring stars of Nigeria. We will keep hearing the same senseless repetitions in their music.

One day we may all be affected by the effects of half-baked intelectualism from our prolonged neglect and lack of foresight. Until Kings become intellectuals or intellectuals becom kings we cannot develop.

Anyway,to be a bit cynical, what are we even talking about? Afterall even when Nigerian Stars were unappreciated Nigeria hardly developed. Standarsds coul have been better back then,but it wasnt much really.

GeneralShepherd: I'm an engineer also going for an Msc in subsea engineering at Cranfield University this October but guess worth what? I am also a DJ and i absolutely enjoy being both!!

Edited:damn this android autocorrect!

Geekaydon:
Pls mind you......dnt spoil sm ppol's business instead...fight for the solution to your area of intrest which is not selling.....calling youths who go into entertainment lazy ppol is wrong......everybody wants money.....who does'nt want.....and if you go into entertainment and your talent was recordnised...then ure good to go...some ppol are saying it as if its every aspiring musician that make it.....go to schools today.....most ppol find it as a joke....go tru malpractices to get their waec done...get to school and read only to pass...and for those who riili suffer for education what have they make out of it that can stand with what talents av got sm ppol....
My fight.....EVERYBODY WANTS A WAY TO SURVIVE AND NOT JUST A WAY BUT THE BEST WAY......most musicians are sure if they dont make it they have their certificate to fall to to atleast live life and feed a family.....but seriously if you dont show up @ the mtn audition and its your year.....ure a fool cause you dont know what they call luck.....i started music cos i like the entire life of going to lagos today and london tommorow...whats bad there...am still in school still....pls fight for making education pay more in nigeria and not spoiling sm ppols business......sm musicains are inteligent in books than some fools who get their school fees paid untime @ school...and actors go to school..... Gbammmm @geekaydon

CocoaOla: And Africa can't produce common MICROPHONE

and our New Age children are joining the trade

and the funniest part of it is that is becoming a generational[b]causecurse[b]

PassingShot:

The Op is not wrong in his thrust because it's true that entertainment is too celebrated and accorded higher ranking in Nigeria.

Your assertion is not also wrong either but the fact is that the media and the society are not helping matters the way these celebrities from the entertainment industry are being celebrated and promoted at the detriment of engineering, science and technology.