₦airaland Forum

isleman:
@AdamuW - yes of course, there are good guys there. One of my friend's husband work there and he is pretty good on his job. The problem is, he is oppressed by the system. Even if you have bright ideas, it will killed by seniors so that you don't get promoted above them because of your good ideas which make the look silly and not productive. Unlike the private media that have a mandate to make money or get no pay.

wish you the best with NTA. My best advise, go there only when you have money. They don't like starters.

Agreed

isleman:
@AdamuW

bro! only talents can discover talents. NTA don't have the talents, so they cant discover one. remember they are civil servants, they act on instructions. They are not allowed to think. They only work for salaries, promotion and pensions.

I hear you @Isleman. But the NTA is all we have man and can be an effective media tool when mobilised. That's why politicians hijack it so much. We can't just leave it to them as some kind of political play thing and propaganda machine. Don't worry I'm not naive and I know to do that will almost be impossible! And there are some good people in the organisation. We can start with them.

Here's the latest instalment in the 'Making of Bino and Fino cartoon' blog posts. http://binoandfino./2011/05/27/the-making-of-a-nigerian-cartoon-show-pt2/

Like I said, with these posts I'm trying to give animators and the general public a glimpse into the behind the scenes thoughts on the project. It will track our successes and failures.

In this post I lay down the reasons we decided to go with 2D as an animation method as opposed to 3D.

@OKX
Culture debate is a tough one for me. It's like trying to catch water. I'm the first to say culture is changing and never static. But even in this global age certain areas in the world still have a distinct social culture. When it comes to moral culture as in when people say the 'west' is corrupting us with their culture it's not correct. We in Nigeria don't have the monopoly on moral culture. There's good and bad moral culture/standards in all areas of the world. I could go on but I'll stop regarding that. I don't have all the answers.

I still say it's important to have children's programs that reflect the children themselves and their host culture no matter how subtle. For instance you can start from the obvious base point of having black and African looking characters in all our shades. Not the one black character in a cartoon but the entire cartoon having black characters is powerful in itself. It sends a message to black/African kids that they are just as important as any other kid.

Then you can talk about languages, accents, clothing. Yes, we do wear t-shirts and jeans in Africa. I'm doing so now. But I wore a kaftan yesterday. Nigerian Children might watch Willow Smith singing or the Cbeebies channel just as white kids in the U.S. or the U.K. but go and eat a traditional Nigerian meal for lunch whilst their white peers might eat spaghetti or pizza. I'm finding it hard to explain but even though there are commonalities, we have enough culturally specific material to work with in Africa to give children's media a unique voice.


As for the way our cartoon has been received well we have a loooooooong way to go. The limited release has been received well.The feedback has been great. I welcome it all, whether positive or negative. You'd be surprised the amount of resistance we've met though. I'm not complaining about it just stating it. We're just getting on with it as you and other's are in the sector.


I'm looking forward to hearing more solutions on the way forward. That's the hard part.

OK this is interesting. The general consensus from the Nairaland public is that Nigerian animation is wack, crap, stinks, rubbish with cockroaches flying out of it!

I'm not going to argue with you as you are the public and you call the shots. As the owner of an animation studio in Nigeria I am interested in changing that status quo so that you the public who are parents would be happy for your children to watch homegrown local cartoons. Many of us animators do.

Now we've established that Nigerian animation is not at the standard you want. How do you suggest we change it? What would you like to see? What type of programs if done right would you let your kds watch? How do you propose we do it right? Would you pay to watch our cartoons in the cinema?

Give us suggestions and insight. Anything would be of help. Because the situation needs to change. We can't keep getting ONLY foreign content for children on our TV stations no matter how good or bad. That's unacceptable. So please provide suggestions and solutions, guidance, whatever.

I know some in the graphics section will be listening keenly. I am.

texazzpete:
I know, I've read your reply in your profile's 'recent posts' section.

The thing is, your show and Sesame street can co-exist. As consumers, Sesame street does a brilliant job of giving our kids some good educational material. I'd much rather they watched Sesame Street than teletubbies for example. And this deal will enable even poor kids to tune in.
As for the content, your blog makes it sound like some Western indoctrination of some sort. It isn't. It shouldn't be. There are Nigerian experts attached to the projects that should serve to ensure our cultural values are still projected in the show. Until Nigerian animations are ready for prime time, Sesame Street is a great stop gap measure.

Keep up the good work, though. History always shows that when Nigerian content is ready for primetime, nothing can stop it. Nollywood is booming in Nigeria, for example. Night clubs can go for weeks without playing any non-Nigerian song. Who ever thought we'd see this INSANE boom in the Nigerian music scene?

@Texazzpete Thanks. I'm not really here to argue with people but to air views and seek solutions. I just want to see a greater balance. I suppose since I'm behind the scenes and know the politics of this one it hits closer to home. I have nothing against Bert and Ernie and the Gang on Sesame Street!I grew up on them too. It's the mechanism behind the entry of the Nigerian Sesame Square . I have issue with. I have no doubt that a lot of it will be beneficial to our kids. The Sesame Street Brand do their best to make sure of that.

I'm just saying that it'd be nice to get the same access to the top dogs at the Ministry of Education and the NTA that USAID had because of their clout and money. That way I know we could develop our own content. I don't agree with the Chinese way of blocking content but I do agree with the French goverment's way. They said that 60% of all content was to be from France. That applied to children's programming. They then supported the arts to build up their capacity to produce quality content. So what happened was that the french animation houses became powerful,created jobs,generated revenue, and started exporting children's animations to the world or were handling outsourced jobs from the U.S. That's changing now with competition from Korea, China and India but I hope you get my point.

As for having Nigerians on the Sesame Square project meaning that our interests and culture will be protected. I'm not too sure on that front. It's a 50/50. You see if I'm paying for a message to be sent as USAID are, I would want it to be sent on my terms as I'm footing the bill. So I think USAID quite rightly will call the shots here on what Sesame Square will be about because this is American taxpayers money they're messing with. If they have a positive agenda it will go through if it's negative it'll go through. I'll reserve total judgement on that front until I watch the entire series. I know the strategy of the project is to promote AIDS awareness and general educational and social values. Let's see if the balance is right. 

I want African kids to get local content that relates to them  on a social / cultural level. So the kids see their own languages, food, accents etc in their media. It means a lot on so many levels. And there are so many talented young artists out there without jobs who would excel in a Nigerian animation industry. That's all. I accept that we as animators have to step it up. I know there are issues within our ranks. No problem. I'm not asking for handouts for the sake of it. Just to be met half way.

Anyway it'll be interesting to see how things develop.

Toaskarity:
pls what is sesame square?

Sesame Square is the Nigerian version of Sesame Street. USAID teamed up with Sesame Street Workshop the non profit organisation behind Sesame Street and local media production house Ileke Media to produce it. It airs on NTA as part of an AIDS awareness and general education campaign that will go into schools touching the lives of 80,000 children.

@Texazzpete
I never said there should be any bad blood. I also stated in my post that I have no ill feeling towards USAID or Sesame Street workshop for producing the series and education program. Let’s get that clear. My issue is with our side allowing it to happen and getting a correct balance. That's all.

You raised a fair point about what have we done and why is our cartoon only available outside of Nigeria if every rubbish piece of content can be run on Silverbird. I’ll try to answer that for you. It’s to do with access and return of revenue. I have approached the NTA and will continue to do so until they buckle. I’ve been kept waiting in DG’s waiting rooms for months on end, literally. And still did not see them. Trust me when USAID say they want to see the DG of NTA with the backing of the US embassy and a budget of $3,800,000 waving in the air, trust me they will see because he will give them audience and receive them differently. Fine, I expect that will deal with it. But I just wanted to point that out to you. Politics and power are at play and can help.

I have invested all my company’s profits, sold my personal investments and put in years to realise the project we are working on. It doesn't mean it's the best and we'll let the audience decide on the quality. The feedback from sales so far have been positive overall.This project has given employment to a few people on Nairaland. It was paramount that the production was done entirely in Nigeria and we succeeded. So we have in a small way built a human capital resource pool. I'm not someone who's interested in complaining from the sidelines.

Animation takes a long time to produce. Hence we can’t just throw it on Silverbird like some of the ’crappy’ home movies you mentioned. They can produce them in weeks and most of those make no money at all via that route. I have studied that model trust me. My company wants to make a sustainable business out of this plus make the best products we can. That’s the only way we can provide jobs whilst producing good content for children. It pained me that it was easier to set up distribution outside Nigeria that would protect our investment than in Nigeria. But we will be having our launch in Silverbird in the coming months.

Another reason why I flagged up the Sesame Square project is that it is odd that the U.S. Tax payer and their Aid organisation sets the agenda for what our children see on the primetime slot on our flagship national broadcaster. That is wrong. But we are the ones giving them the vacuum to fill. Also it’s important to point out that Sesame Street got popular via broadcasting on PBS which is publicly funded. We all have to start somewhere with the help of broadcasters.

You don’t have to be sympathetic to my cause at all as you put it. I have accepted my and our sector’s responsibility in the equation and we are doing something about it. I understand your points. We can always do more but other sectors have their role to play too.

Wow. So much to reply to. It looks like we as animators need to step up our game. No problem. It will happen.

@OKX you are correct I did originally aim the post at the graphics section to ask what we could do to make ourselves heard and to put ourselves in a position to get the NTA to take our sector seriously. But it's fine to broaden the debate.I hear you on the professional angle. But you see Sesame Street or Disney etc didn't start out as professional as they are now. I don't feel you have to wait until you are perfect before you call yourself or your company professional. You just have to strive to be the best and to keep learning. It's a tough call and it's all relative. I guess. Also I'm not going to claim that my studio is the most professional etc.

@Texazzpete You raised some fiar points which I will try to answer. I've actually tried but Nairaland keeps thinking my posts are spam.So it's difficult to reply. If this goes through then I'll send my reply to you.

@Texazzpete
I never said there should be any bad blood. I also stated in my post that I have no ill feeling towards USAID or Sesame Street workshop for producing the series and education program. Let’s get that clear. My issue is with our side and getting a correct balance.

You raised a fair point about what have we done and why is our cartoon only available outside of Nigeria if every rubbish piece of content can be run on Silverbird. I’ll try to answer that for you. It’s to do with access and return of revenue. I have approached the NTA and will continue to do so until they buckle. I’ve been kept waiting in DG’s waiting rooms for months on end, literally. And still did not see them. Trust me when USAID say they want to see the DG of NTA with the backing of the US embassy and a budget of $3,800,000 waving in the air, trust me they will see because he will give them audience and receive them differently. Fine, I expect that will deal with it. But I just wanted to point that out to you. Politics and power are at play and can help.

I have invested all my company’s profits, sold my personal investments and put in years to realise this project. This project has given employment to a few people on Nairaland. It was paramount that the production was done entirely in Nigeria and we succeeded. So we have in a small way built a human capital resource pool.

Animation takes a long time to produce. Hence we can’t just throw it on Silverbird like some of the ’crappy’ home movies you mentioned. They can produce them in weeks and most of those make no money at all. I have studied that model trust me. My company wants to make a sustainable business out of this plus make the best products we can. That’s the only way we can provide jobs whilst producing good content for children. It pained me that it was easier to set up distribution outside Nigeria that would protect our investment than in Nigeria. But we will be having our launch in Silverbird in the coming months.

Another reason why I flagged up the Sesame Square project is that it is odd that the U.S. Tax payer and their Aid organisation sets the agenda for what our children see on the primetime slot on our flagship national broadcaster. That is wrong. But we are the ones giving them the vacuum to fill. Also it’s important to point out that Sesame Street got popular via broadcasting on PBS which is publicly funded. We all have to start somewhere with the help of broadcasters.

You don’t have to be sympathetic to my cause at all as you put it. I have accepted my and our sector’s responsibility in the equation and we are doing something about it. We can always do more but other sectors have their role to play too.

@Texazzpete
I never said there should be any bad blood. I also stated in my post that I have no ill feeling towards USAID or Sesame Street workshop for producing the series and education program. Let’s get that clear. My issue is with our side and getting a correct balance.

You raised a fair point about what have we done and why is our cartoon only available outside of Nigeria if every rubbish piece of content can be run on Silverbird. I’ll try to answer that for you. It’s to do with access and return of revenue. I have approached the NTA and will continue to do so until they buckle. I’ve been kept waiting in DG’s waiting rooms for months on end, literally. And still did not see them. Trust me when USAID say they want to see the DG of NTA with the backing of the US embassy and a budget of $3,800,000 waving in the air, trust me they will see because he will give them audience and receive them differently. Fine, I expect that will deal with it. But I just wanted to point that out to you. Politics and power are at play and can help.

I have invested all my company’s profits, sold my personal investments and put in years to realise this project. This project has given employment to a few people on Nairaland. It was paramount that the production was done entirely in Nigeria and we succeeded. So we have in a small way built a human capital resource pool.

Animation takes a long time to produce. Hence we can’t just throw it on Silverbird like some of the ’crappy’ home movies you mentioned. They can produce them in weeks and most of those make no money at all. I have studied that model trust me. My company wants to make a sustainable business out of this plus make the best products we can. That’s the only way we can provide jobs whilst producing good content for children. It pained me that it was easier to set up distribution outside Nigeria that would protect our investment than in Nigeria. But we will be having our launch in Silverbird in the coming months.

Another reason why I flagged up the Sesame Square project is that it is odd that the U.S. Tax payer and their Aid organisation sets the agenda for what our children see on the primetime slot on our flagship national broadcaster. That is wrong. But we are the ones giving them the vacuum to fill. Also it’s important to point out that Sesame Street got popular via broadcasting on PBS which is publicly funded. We all have to start somewhere with the help of broadcasters.

You don’t have to be sympathetic to my cause at all as you put it. I have accepted my and our sector’s responsibility in the equation and we are doing something about it. We can always do more but other sectors have their role to play too.

@OKX
Hi Man . Long time. I hear your points and agree to a degree. But I think you are underestimating some of us in the sector. I know you're not unprofessional, I know we're not, I know @zpixel isn't, and the list goes on and on. Also the NTA has the mandate and is not profit driven. I know some good people in NTA but there seems to be some sort of bottle neck somewhere. With the right vision they can help this sector grow just like the BBC and Channel 4 helped the animation sector grow in the U.K.

That's why I was wondering whether it was our fault for not lobbying hard enough or making enough noise. It's a chicken and egg situation. I know we have a lot of work to do on our side but can't the broadcasters reach out? I know it's probably expecting too much! But you never know. Maybe they've reached out and I didn't even know about it.

Also didn't Sesame Street start life on America's public station PBS?

[flash=560,349]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRsYNNZiuQc?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0[/flash]

Hi all. This a trailer for my company’s new Nigerian educational cartoon project called Bino and Fino. I’m posting it in the cultural section because we have a long term goal for this cartoon to play a part in passing on elements of Nigerian and African culture to children. For example we will make versions in the main Nigerian languages after we've set the foundations up. We currently have the situation that the majority of children’s programming on TV in Nigeria whether local or satellite is foreign. This project is designed to help redress that balance. That’s why I thought those in the cultural section might be interested in it.Your input would be very valuable.

You can find out more about the Bino and Fino project on the website  http://www.binoandfino.com     

and the blog http://binoandfino./

Here is the pilot episode we did last year before working on further episodes.
[flash=560,349]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ5sOMOYwkQ?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0[/flash]

Sesame Square is now running on the NTA. Sesame Square is a Nigerian version of Sesame Street. The news was even on the front page of Nairaland. I was happy when I first heard the news. Many of us were happy about the development. Then I took a step back to look at the bigger picture.

I don’t think we should be celebrating when other’s do what we can do ourselves. Or what we SHOULD do ourselves. I have nothing against Sesame Street Workshop for producing the show. In fact a friend worked on the show because a local production company was used for some of the work. The funding for the show comes from the American tax payer via USAID which is the US Agency for International Development. It’s funded to the tune of about $ 3,800,000.00 . I have gone more in depth into the project and my general thoughts about it on my blog here.http://binoandfino./2011/05/24/sesame-street-in-nigeria-good-or-bad/ It’s quite long and I didn’t want to clog up Nairaland.

But as animators who have the ability to produce children’s programmes, don’t you find it strange that the U.S. can donate that amount of money to produce a children’s show in another country but our own government via the NTA can’t be bothered to notice it’s own local talent and harness it?

Now who’s fault is it? Is it us as an industry? Should we be lobbying government and broadcasters harder? Is it the government and our broadcasters fault. Can you imagine if the NTA just made available just 0.1 % of the Sesame Square budget (about N5 million naira) to some of the animators on this forum to come up with various pilot episodes for cartoons and children’s shows? Maybe we need to shout louder.

OKX:
if the animation involves either human characters or other objects that u manipulate as if they have a personality (eg. a talking or dancing book)- then that involves character animation.

if it largely involves either manipulating text, graphics to give the illusion of motion,that falls more under motion graphics.

if the animation has characters that behave naturally as in the real world (no exaggeration) that would be classed as realistic. (eg.
Final Fantasy)
if the characters animations are very exaggerated, it could be stylized and/or cartoony. like where the character stretches unrealistically or squashes into impossible sizes/shapes.

the rough full production process would be something like this:

conceptualisation (creating d idea in your head)
story/ script writing (writing it out)
concept art (visually creating the characters in your animation)
storyboarding (creating a 2d visual representation of your entire storyline)
creating sound to match your story
modeling (creating the xters in 3d)
texturing (making the xters look real)
rigging (setting the xters up 4 animating)
animating (self explanatory, lol)
rendering (generating final images for compositing into the final output)

post production would involve:
editing the clip
composition (combining and treating the images for best look)
adding any special effects
re-recording or mixing the sound
and compiling into movie format.

these r broad steps and each of the steps is typically undertaken by a specialist in that area (for best output- even tho u find individuals with skills in 2 or more areas. i guess it depends on your budget)

phew. i am done!

@OKX Well done on educating clients. We need to do that more. I hope you find someone for your job. There are some great companies on this site.

fred4alabi:
Are must be the one with Nimo and Mimi story? hoping we could work together sometime. I actually trying to develop 3D animations (part time). Its not so easy. You guys are doing a great job. with what you have, you can get subscription right from T.V stations across Africa. keep it u[

Yes I'm the creator of the Bino and Fino cartoon. http://www.binoandfino.com Thanks for the good words of support. As you said it's not easy getting something like this done in Nigeria. What kind of work do you do? I think I've seen you in the graphics section in Nairaland. We're currently not doing any 3D work and are focused on increasing awareness of Bino and Fino amongst the general Nigerian public so they can see that there are local alternatives to Sesame Street starting to be made. When we crew up for the next production stage we might need extra hands.

[flash=560,349]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRsYNNZiuQc?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0[/flash]

This is the trailer to the new Nigerian educational children's cartoon Bino and Fino. It's currently on sale in the US and Europe. We'll be launching it in Nigeria at special family cinema events very soon. This cartoon has been developed to help Nigerian/African children pride about their culture, learn some of their languages whilst also getting basic education and entertainment. To learn more about this new educational vehicle please visit http://www.binoandfino.com .

And of course I love Sesame Street. It's just time to produce our own content as we are the best ones to tell our own story.

lioncoolst:
Adamu. I must commend you for your ingenuity and thotfulness. Really cool! This is something I have always dreamed of but could never get myself to do, but seeing my fellow Nigerian brother delve into this aspect of work, I say, more power to your elbow. May our God give you the strength to do more than this. Thumbs up.

Many thanks @lioncoolst. Though it's my initiative I have to say that this is a team effort and a small group of people have worked hard on this project. So I don't want to claim all the credit. :-) Thanks for the support.

@OKX Many thanks. You know all the behind the scene challenges. We have a long term plan for this and will keep pushing.

Dan9797:
Really nice and impressive! I'm also interested in the voice-acting opportunity-if there's any.
07030584360
Abuja.

timpaker:
Good job Adamu! i can't believe the graphic!! its so tight and impressive!!!
i'd like to be part of this project,either voicing and otherwise. i stay in Abj. contact me if you can on timpaker@gmail.com

Looks like we have a lot of Abuja voice talent. Currently we aren't looking as we've done production on the 1st DVD. But when we crew for the next we might call you in for a casting. Thanks for showing interest guys.

biodun404:
Hey adamu.i'm interested in voice acting in the cartoon in there is a chance.i'm quite good in changing in my voice to any character i want.i'm based in lagos, 07033507970

Hi Biodun. We're crrently not looking but do you have any samples of your work? You can even just upload a file onto youtube or something. When we crew up for the next episodes we can take a look at your talents. Also as OKX said other people like him might be interested in hiring.

There’s no point blaming the Indians. There’s no point and it‘s too easy. This is not really about race. It’s about finance, power and self respect. It’s us. Who’s country are they in? If we have and enforce the right regulations and care for the welfare of Nigerian workers then Indians, Chinese, English, Lebanese, American and of course NIGERIAN companies can’t get away with bad practice. But if we Nigerians don’t respect and take care of ourselves why the hell do you expect someone else to? This is a complex issue which has many sides but for me that’s the core problem.

chichimma:
Well done! Keep it up! I really like it

@Chichimma Thank you very much for your support.

zarrek000:
Hello

Do you need an artist, I am willing to assist if there is any room.

Paul
22C8003D
Canada

@Zarrek Hi thanks for showing interest. We currently aren’t looking for an artist. Maybe when we ramp up for production on the next series of episodes. But it says you are based in Canada. We’re based in Abuja. One thing I’m very keen on is developing and training local talent when I can. So those are the guys we look for when we crew up. I hope you understand.

sledjama:
I love the storyline, it is patriotic but boring. try to get some comedy into this
We are Nigerians, We can beat them

@sledjama Thanks. I can see how you might find it boring. You have to bear in mind that was our first pilot episode. We did it get feedback about pace, value, if children liked it, if parents saw the value in it educationally etc. The new episodes on the DVD are a step further. And we will keep on learning as we go. Another thing is that you might find it boring no matter what we do as it's aimed at a preschool kindergarten age group as well. And I personally want this cartoon to be a nice, calm educational one. We might do a more wacky funny one in the future!:-)

Booshman:
I remember watching this about a week ago and enjoyed how charming it was. And to the person above me, CLOSE YOUR MOUTH! It's called "taking baby steps." If you try to jam too much into the first impression of new idea, it shows, and it makes the presentation look amateur. I wish much success for Bino and Fino!

@Booshman Thanks for the support. As you said it’s a step by step process and we’ll learn as we go and make it better. Sesame street etc didn’t mature in a day. We are also open to constructive criticism from Sledjama. We are aware that we can’t please everyone and don’t intend to. As long as we are providing a great educational resource to children within an African cultural setting we’ll be happy.

KKEZ:
Gosh!!! i miss those days - Kidivision 101, Tales by moonlight, storyland, Square one, Voltron, Superted, Gozillar, Speed Racer, G force they are so interesting, anyway i am still watching VOLTRON sha


Do u guys also remember 'SUPER TED'? , and mother nature gave him, and his name was called SUPER TED! one of those good programe for a child's mind not this gbushun!! gbushun!! shootings that have clouded our morden catoons.

Classic cartoons man. But back in the day they also had plenty of shooting though. Voltron and G Force especially. I even remember there was a special button on the Phoenix that one guy was in charge of pressing and it only shot missiles. So it's a bit unfair to say it's only in modern cartoons.

bababuff:
When are we getting the DVD in Nigeria?

Thanks for your interest. We're working hard on setting up our distribution channels in Nigeria. To get the latest updates you can keep your eye on our website http://www.binoandfino.com/ and also in the Nairaland Graphics section.

No problem.

Hear's a picture of the cartoon for people to get an idea of the style.
[img]http://binoandfino.files./2010/10/facebook-events-pic-family.jpg[/img]

Thanks for the comments guys. Thanks Admin from our team for putting the topic on the front page. Especially after putting up the Sesame Street on the NTA topic on the front page as well. 

Also if you are in the US or Europe you can buy the 1st Bino and Fino DVD for your kids for $10.00 off our website at http://www.binoandfino.com/

Spread the word if you can.

fred4alabi:
All over the world, someone starts something and others emulate especially if its good. Sesame street is a house hold name, even if we start our own, it may never beat sesame street. if its going to be sesame street, let it be sesame street, if its going to have Nigerian content, let it be something else. why dilute the whole thing. it may in turn lack what we used to enjoy and be heavily criticized because its not the sesame street we used to know. never the less, its a good idea and its welcome.

A day was not complete for me as a kid without sesame street and Voltron. these two program lured me to science and animation which today am partly an animator and am working on several projects to give back to the society and young ones to enjoy what we enjoyed that is no more there today.

Our children spend lots of time on DSTV these days and watch programs that do not connect them to their society and not meant for their age because our local TV won't show what is good for them. So many silly music videos, children belt is corrupt with music videos. My daughter is so crazy about one Hanna Montana and so angry about that because i see nothing educating about the program, its just another mere western distraction from these westerners of no pedigree.

I was listening to a song by Angeliqu Kidjo sometime last week titled "babalawo", and i wondered who told me that story. I remembered I'd watched a kiddie drama on it for years while i was growing up e.g. on children's day and some other days for children. I wonder how my children can get that feeling, knowledge and cultural belonging. My parents never told me the story, i watched it on TV, where are those TV programs that will transcend our cultural values to our children? little wonder they have no love for their father land and all want to go abroad. I believe NTA being a government station owe is a duty to uphold these cultural heritages. Do schools these days tell such stories? Most schools are busy imbibing and copying western jargon either sensible or not and as such sky-rocketing schools fees.

sometimes i get scared of how to train my children in this society to develop their minds the way mine was. As a kid, i learned moral values from my parents and learned cultural values more from the society which includes TV. Our society has losing it all. God help us.

I agree with most of what you said. Sesame Street and Voltron were my major shows as a kid. With Tales By Moonlight and Battle of the Planets.

But I would stop short at saying that all modern ‘western’ programs are morally bad and that Nigerian/African ones are good by default. Or to be more general that western society is bad and African morals and values are better. I think that line of thought takes responsibility away from us and provides a scapegoat. We’re just as moral and as immoral as the ‘west’ it’s just a different flavour. If we were so moral and we were as religious as we all claim, our country would not be in the position it’s in today. That’s my opinion. I know it’s a socio political debate that’s complex and for another time but it relates to children’s programming in a way. And you said it yourself. Sesame Street inspired you.

NTA has a HUGE responsibility here. They were ones in the past who funded good programming but things are totally different now. PBS in the US I think gave us Sesame Street and the BBC in the UK gave so many children’s cartoons. The NTA should be taking the lead here because our children’s social, basic and cultural education is so important. NTA in theory has the mandate and power to do so. Even if the Nigerian/African stations want to import programming they can choose suitable ones of which there are plenty out there and not be lazy and go for the default ‘popular’ ones.

lastpage:
@AdamuW
Thanks very much for, not just your incisive thinking (something very rare nowadays!) but for taking it to "the Next Level"!
I dont bother anymore about "infantile shot-downs", Nairaland is where l come to "relax" and take it easy!

I do understand that we are not all equal, in all ramifications and being "anonymous on the internet", even if l get tackled by my "grandson", ITS GAME! The few people that are matured enough "in understanding" have already concurred on my suggestion, what else do l want?

I watched the clip of your programme and l must say l was very impressed!
This is the type of thing we are talking about: Something Nigerian an completely original!
(Imagine some saying we cant do anything original, just because others have one something similar? )
Peeps like you are TRAIL_BLAZERS and you have my respects.

How can we "get there", if we dont even have the confidence to "start"?
I particularly like the way the voice-over was done, the "tone" sounded very African (words like "Maama" thrilled me a lot!).
And again, you are not just doing kiddies, it was very educative (I never knew all the many countries that were fifty along with Nigeria!; we all learn everyday! )

I urge everyone to just visit the site and watch the preview, its just six minutes! Come back and tell how you felt.

http://www.binoandfino.com/black-african-kids-cartoon-tv/

My Suggestion: If you take the DVD to Schools all over the country and "offer" it to them in person for the price (Self-marketing like some start-up Musicians do!), l feel it will not only drive volume-sales, the Schools might even encourage parents to buy same for their children.

I would rather my kids watch something as educative and informative like this, than watch Ben10 Alien Force, all day!

Please keep it up and improve on this.
Rome was not built in a day and likewise, "Sesame Street" did not spring up from thin air, it was started by "humans" like you, in small-small drops like this.

THREE "GBOOSA" FOR YOU GUYS.

@lastpage Thank you very much for your support. It has not been easy. We still have a long way to go on this but we have a long term vision for the Bino and Fino cartoon. As you said, sesame Street did not get to where it did in one day. We have to do the same. Like I said before I’ve got nothing against Sesame Street. I just think it’s more important we have the confidence to develop our own high quality children’s programs. I don’t see why we can’t export our own stories and culture just as we import others within the children’s sector.

There are many young talented Nigerian artists out there, just look at the Graphics section on Nairaland. There are other cartoons being developed by Nigerian studios. Some have stalled others are still going and should also be launched this year. With good support and planning they will be successful.

This is very interesting. First of all I’d like to say I’m a Sesame Street fan through and through before anyone comments on what I’m about to say. This is an issue close to my heart especially as I’m an animator and cartoonist. I commend Sesame Street for doing this. I’ve been following this story for ages.

But for me the most important question was raised by @last page. ‘What about our own content?’ and he got shot down for asking it. Children’s media is a very important and powerful medium and is a subtle way of maintaining culture and also spreading propaganda. We don’t have any global African children’s programs that can match Sesame Street, Ben 10 , Dora the Explorer, etc. That’s very dangerous on many levels. Many families complain that they can’t find any African content for their children.

I and some other Nigerian/African animators and studios have stopped complaining and are facing the problem head on. My company has developed a cartoon which is now on sale called Bino and Fino. There’s also the O twins coming out soon. But we don’t have the firepower to market and distribute that Sesame Street has. I know that the Nigerian Sesame Street project got about $2 million funding from USAID which effectively means it’s subsidised and it doesn’t have to make a profit. We used less than a 10th of that to develop produce our cartoon.

So if you want to know more about Nigerian cartoons for kids check out the Bino and Fino Cartoon project website here http://www.binoandfino.com/and our blog here http://binoandfino./.

We have a vision to make it as big as Dora the Explorer. Other companies share the same vision for their titles. Sesame Street had to start from somewhere.