A total of seven awards were given to Nigeria at the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), which was held in South Africa over the weekend.
October 1
Of the 28 categories, Kunle Afolayan’s ‘October 1′ got best Nigerian film, best actor in leading role for Sadiq Daba and best costume for Adeola Sagoe.
Comedian, Ayo Makun’s ’30 Days in Atlanta’ won best comedy film while Kemi Akindoju got best young promising actor for her role in ‘Dazzling Mirage’ in a joint win with a Ugandan actor, Hassan Insigoma.
Destiny Ekeragha won the best first feature film by a director for the movie ‘Gone Too Far’ and the ‘Legacies of Rubbies’ won Nigeria her first AMAA prize in animation.
Full List Of Winners
Best Short Film: Twaaga – Burkina Faso
Best Animation: The Legacies of Rubbies – Nigeria
Best Documentary: Egypt Modern Pharaohs ‘Nasser’ – Egypt
Best Film in an African Language: Timbuktu – Mauritania
Best film by an African living abroad: Fevers – France/Morocco
Best diaspora short film: Sound of Tears – Canada
Best diaspora documentary: The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution – USA
Best diaspora feature: Supremacy – USA
Best Production design: iNumber Number – South Africa
Best costume design: October 1 – Nigeria
Best Make-Up Njinga: Queen of Angola – Angola
Best soundtrack: Triangle Going to America – Ethiopia
Best visual effects: iNumber Number – South Africa
Best Sound: Lobraz Khan – Mauritius
Best Cinematography: Lobraz Khan – Mauritius
Best Editing: Timbuktu
Best Screen Play: Le President
Best comedy film: 30 Days in Atlanta
Best Nigerian Film: October 1
Best Child Actor: Layla Walet Mohammed and Mehdi A.G Mohammed – Timbuktu
Best young promising actor (Joint winners): Kemi Lala Akindoju – Dazzling Mirage Hassan Spike Insingoma – Boda Boda Thieves
Best actor in a supporting role: Samson Tadesa – Triangle Going to America
Best actress in a supporting role: Ama Amphofo – Devil in a Detail
Best actor in a leading role: Sadiq Daba – October 1
Best actress in a leading role: Lesliana Pereira – Njinga: Queen of Angola
Best first feature film by a director: Destiny Ekeragha – Gone Too Far (British-Nigerian)
For the second year in a row, Uzoamaka Aduba wins an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, after being upgraded from her guest starring role this year, for which she won her first Emmy, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. The 34-year old made history by becoming the first person since Ed Asner to win Emmys in two different categories for the same character. She stars as Susanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on the award-winning Netflix television series, Orange is the New Black.
Overcome with emotion, she gave the night’s best speech, according to the audience present at the award show and viewers at home. In the speech, she thanked her fellow cast members and crew of the show, Netflix, show creator Jenji Kohan, and her family. Her sister, Chioma, who was present received a special shout out, in which Uzo thanked her for her friendship and mentioned that she was humbled to be called her sister. Uzo Nwanneka Aduba was born in Boston, Massachussetts in the US, to Nigerian parents. She studied Classical Voice at the Boston University, and began her acting career in 2003.
In 2012, she auditioned for a different, smaller part in Orange is the New Black, but got the part of “Crazy Eyes” instead. According to Jeniffer Euston, casting director for the series, Uzo’s hairstyle (knots), which is similar to that of the character that she plays, and ‘something’ with which they could connect with in the actress, made her perfect for the role.
The role of Susanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren has previously garnered Aduba numerous awards and recognition besides the Emmy, such as a Critics’ Choice Television Awards nomination for Best Supporting actress, a Screen Actors’ Guild Awards recognition which she shared with the rest of her fellow cast members, and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards.
Social media went agog following Uzo’s win and her acceptance speech, which brought tears to the eyes of her audience and everyone else who listened to it. Timelines were flooded with congratulations from television and other media channels such as BET, The Boston Globe, Hollywood Reporter, Just Jared, Variety, as well as fans of the show.
A young Nigerian’s acting career got a major jump-start this week. Samuel Adegoke was overjoyed when he found out the good news this week that he’d won the 2015 ABC Discovers Digital Talent Competition.
The aspiring actor, who lives in Los Angeles, will receive a 1-year, $25,000 talent deal with ABC.
He beat out 7,000 other applicants.
Two of the other finalists were from the Bay Area, including Brandon Modelo of Antioch and Benita Nall of Palo Alto.
The ABC Discovers Digital Talent Competition helped launched the career of Academy Award winning actress Lupita Nyong’o.
The Positive Nigeria team congratulate Samuel Adegoke and look forward to the emergence of yet another Nigerian trail blazer in him.
If you have ever stumbled on His Highness ObaLamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III in company of his family, he certainly will leave such indelible magical memory of regal display of African family fashion in you forever.
Alaafin and his wives in Westfield, Londong in 2014. Photo: Synchro
Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, born 15 October 1938 is the Alaafin, or traditional ruler, of the Yoruba state of Oyo and custodian of the throne, the culture and of its historic empire. The king does not mince words or actions in upholding the culture and tradition of the Yoruba people of Western Nigeria whom he represents. Talking in September 1984 he said: “Traditional rulers should be seen as the perfect embodiment of the culture of the place, as well as the synthesis of the aspirations and goals of the nation. This is not only in social values of veracity, egalitarianism, justice and democracy; but in dress, utterances and comportment; even the mere necessary trivialities that mark Nigeria and the locality as a distinctive entity”.
Alaafin presenting a “talking drum” to the former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.In his palace sandwiched by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III (right) and late Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Abdulazeez Arisekola-Alao during the later’s visit to the palace.Alaafin and the US Consul-General
Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III’s, appearance, is not only his good looks, but his dressing. He is always clad in Yoruba traditional attire made of the finest quality hand woven silk cloth known as aso-ofi (or aso-oke), that is richly embroidered and the peculiar cap made from the same fabric in the style called Abeti-Aja (Dog Ears) always adorning his head.
His neck, wrists and fingers bejeweled with beads and gold ornaments, and sometimes, with a walking stick. A real debonaire, he carries it all with panache exuding a regal air.
“Traditional rulers should be seen as the perfect embodiment of the culture of the place, as well as the synthesis of the aspirations and goals of the nation. This is not only in social values of veracity, egalitarianism, justice and democracy; but in dress, utterances and comportment; even the mere necessary trivialities that mark Nigeria and the locality as a distinctive entity”. – Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, Sept. 1984.
His wearing of his national dress the ‘Agbada’ was a conscious act from his princely days, to project his cultural identity, at the time it was considered old-fashioned. But now, everybody wants to dress like the Alaafin, who has become a pace setter and fashion icon. All Oyo people old and young certainly adopt his style, which has become a sin qua non, to distinguish them as Oyo citizens. It is now the vogue for Yoruba and non-Yoruba who like his fashion.
Visiting the mosque on Friday with his wivesAlaafin arriving Abuja in company of his wivesLondon: Everyone wants a photo moment with this rich, royal African family everywhere. Photo: Synchro“Iku baba yeye” stepping out with one of his wivesAt the palace
The well-traveled monarch says everywhere he has been all over the world, “my own type of dressing attracts them — they want to know about it, and I told them that for centuries, this is what we have been used to, and they like to touch it. I told them that it is made from our local fabric… and some of them marveled!”
And when Alaafin chooses to go out with his harem which he often does, it is a sight to behold! The queens, adorned in usually traditional attires made of same fabric as the Oba’s are a beautiful picture. Complemented with matching shoes hand bags, and jewelries, the leave all passers-by transfixed at the beauty of the African culture.
Indeed, the king has caused quite a stir of attraction wherever he steps alone or with his family.
Alaafin in Brazil
One European visitor to oyo in the 1820s described Alaafin Majo Mansolah as being “richly dressed in scarlet damask robe, ornamented with coral beads and short trousers of the same colours with a light blue stripe, made of country cloth, a cap of blue damask, thickly studded with handsome coral beads was on his head, and his neck, arms, and legs, were decorated with large silver rings.”
The Alaafin is very bold in his fashion statement, though said in no words, rings loud – Our African culture is beautiful and admirable!
In continuation of the list of successful Nollywood movies, here are the top 5 Highest Grossing Nollywood movies of the decade. Yes! They very much are worth the hype!
Interestingly, recent efforts have shown significant improvement in picture, production and post-production quality. This records are waiting to be upset in coming months as the race in churning out even better movies with fine scripts and quality production hots up.
Enjoy the current ranking of the top 5 movies of the decade. Please note that revenues from special screenings, DVD sales, online streaming and theatrical screenings outside of Nigeria are excluded from this gross total.
5.Last Flight to Abuja (2012) – Directed by Obi Emelonye
Based on true events. A set of everyday Nigerian travelers’s board the last Flamingo Airways flight scheduled to fly from Lagos to Abuja on a fateful Friday night in 2006. The plane cruises at 30,000 feet, tranquil and on schedule. But like a bolt out of the blue, through a mixture of human error, technical failure and sheer bad luck, the plane rapidly develops major difficulties that sends it teetering on the brink of disaster. As the pilots fight with the controls of the stricken plane, a series of flashbacks unravel the twists, turns and leaps of fate that put each passenger on the fateful flight. Young lovers, an elderly couple, a corporate party, a sportsman on the threshold of greatness; all the passengers are caught up in the nightmare scenario and sense the final moments of their lives approach. All… except one! What does he know?
The film which was shot in Lagos, received 5 nominations at the 2013 Africa Movie Academy Awards and won award for the category best film by an African based abroad. The movie raked in some 57 million Naira from Nigerian cinemas.
The Last Flight to Abuja
4. Ije (2010) – Directed by Chineze Anyaene
Unprecedented in scope, “Ijé” tells a tale of Chioma, a child growing up in the Nigerian countryside, who warns her restless sister Anya about the trappings of the American dream. Ten years later, Anya is accused of killing three men in a Hollywood Hills mansion–including her record-producer husband. Chioma travels from Nigeria to Los Angeles and, with the help of a young, unproven attorney, discovers that the dark secret her sister wants to keep hidden might be the only thing that can win her freedom.
The film received several nominations and awards including the awards for Best Editing at the Treasure Coast International Film Festival 2010 and Best International Student Film at the Swansea Bay Film Festival 2010. It grossed N59 million from the Nigerian cinemas.
Ije
3. Half of a Yellow Sun (2013) – Directed
During the mid-to-late sixties, twin sisters Olanna (Thandie Newton) and Kainene (Anika Noni Rose) return to Nigeria after their education in England, they make decisions that shock their family. Olanna moves in with her lover, the ‘revolutionary professor’ Odenigbo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his houseboy Ugwu (John Boyega) while Kainene takes over the family interests and pursues a career as a businesswoman, falling in love with Richard (Joseph Mawle), an English writer.
As the Igbo people struggle to establish Biafra as an independent republic, the sisters become caught up in the shocking violence of the Nigerian Civil War and a betrayal that threatens their family forever.
The movie, an adaptation of Orange Literature Prize winner, Chimamanda Adichie’s book – Half of a Yellow Sun was entirely shoot in Nigeria with Academy Award winner, Nigerian Hollywood actor Chiwetel Okafor (starring as Odenigbo) as key actor. It is reputed has Nigeria’s movie with the highest budget of all time. The movie raked in 60 million Naira from Nigerian cinemas.
Half of a Yellow Sun
2. October 1 (2014) – Directed by Kunle Afolayan
The film which is set in Colonial Nigeria, narrates the story of Danladi Waziri (Sadiq Daba), a police officer from Northern Nigeria who is posted to a remote town of Akote in Western Nigeria to investigate the frequent female murder cases in the community, and have the mystery solved before the Nigerian flag is raised on October 1, Nigeria’s Independence Day.
Kunle Afolayan consolidates his position as arguably Nigeria’s best movie director alive. The movie got 17 nominations within six months of release into the cinemas. It won 13 of the nominations including The Best Movie and the Best Directed Movie at the Multichoice Africa Magic Viwers’ Choice Awards.
In the cinemas, it already caught up with the record of Half of a Yellow Sun released a several months earlier, recording N60 million from viewership alone.
October 1
1. 30 Days in Atlanta (2014) – Directed by Robert Peters
Akpos wins a 30-day holiday for two to Atlanta, Georgia. He takes his cousin (Richard), an IT specialist on the all-expense paid trip. Akpos flings his unique personality, showing-off his smartness and foolishness in an exciting mix of rhetoric and witty humor.
Romantic comedy film produced by Ayo Makun and directed by Robert Peters. The film was shot on location in Lagos and Atlanta. It premiered on 31 October 2014, making it the most recent movie on the list. It has been declared the highest grossing film of all time in Nigerian cinemas, although the film was met with mixed to negative critical reception.
It is reported to have grossed a whooping N137 million from the cinemas in Nigeria alone.
The following are the highest-grossing Nollywood Movies in Nigerian cinemas. Revenues from special screenings, DVD sales, online streaming and theatrical screenings outside of Nigeria are excluded from this gross total. Films before 2000s are also excluded from this list as their gross totals have not been inflation adjusted.
10. Phone Swap (2012) – Directed by Kunle Afolayan
It narrates the story of Mary who works under a very stringent boss and Akin who is very bossy and distants himself from people around him. They both bump into each other at the airport, leading to their phones being swapped. This leads to an exchange in their destinations and the need to help carryout each other’s assignments.
Phone Swap was shot in Lagos and made in partnership with Globacom and BlackBerry. The scripting stage for the film took two years, while the production and post production stages took six weeks and three months respectively. The film received critical acclaim and was highly successful at the box office. It received 4 nominations at the 8th Africa Movie Academy Awards which includes the category Best Nigerian Film and won the award Achievement in Production Design. Altogether it won 13 different local and international movie awards from twice as many nominations. It is believed to have grossed over N21million from the Nigerian cinemas.
Phone Swap
9. Weekend Getaway (2012) – Directed by Desmond Eliot
A2012 Nigerian romantic drama film directed by Desmond Elliot, starring Genevieve Nnaji, Uti Nwachukwu, Ini Edo and Ramsey Nouah. It received 11 nominations and eventually won 4 awards at the 2013 Nollywood & African Film Critics Awards (NAFCA). It also received 2 nominations at the 2013 Best of Nollywood Awards with Alex Ekubo eventually winning the award for Best Actor in a supporting role. The film was a box-office success in Nigerian cinemas generally because of its star-studded cast. It raked in about N23 million from the cinemas in Nigeria.
Weekend Getaway
8. Flower Girl (2013) – Directed by Michelle Bello
A romantic comedy film set and shot in Lagos, Nigeria.It revolves around a story of Kemi (Damilola Adegbite) who is dying to get married to Umar (Chris Attoh); a young man who is desperate to get ahead in his career. When their relationship hits troubled waters, Kemi seeks the help of movie superstar Tunde (Blossom Chukwujekwu) and they hatch a plan to get Kemi what she wants.
The movie boasts of 9 awards locally and internationally including Best African Film – Black International Film Festival U.K 2013. It grossed about N30million from the cinemas.
The Flower Girl
7. The Figurine (2009) – Directed by Kunle Afolayan
The movie narrates the story of two friends who finds a mystical sculpture in an abandoned shrine in the forest while serving at a National Youth Service Corps camp, and one of them decides to take the artwork home. Unknown to them, the sculpture is from the goddess ‘Araromire’ which bestows seven years of good luck on anyone who encounters it, and after the seven years have expired, seven years of hard luck follows. The lives of the two friends begin to change for good, as they become successful and wealthy businessmen. However, after seven years, things start to change for the worse.
The original idea for a thriller film came long ago from Kunle Afolayan himself and Jovi Babs and it was to be titled Shrine. The script took nine months to be finalized and the development stage took five years. The film was shot in Lagos and Osun State for three months. The movie clinched 5 Awards at the African Movie Academy Awards 2010. It grossed about N30 million at the cinemas.
The Figurine
6. The Return of Jenifa (2012) – Muhyideen S. Ayinde
Following the huge success recorded by the first part “Jenifa”, the main character Jenifa (Funke Akindele) returns with more rib-cracking spectacles as she battles adapting to the finese of city life. She gradually leaves the notorious call-girl engagement for a career in dancing; suddenly her whole life came crashing in – she has been tested HIV positive… or so she thought. Interesting movie with many nominations and a few wins. Cast in Yoruba language with English subtitles, Returnr of Jenifa grossed N35 million at the cinemas.
This article is dedicated to all those Ghanaians who went to Nigeria in search of a better life between 1978 and the second “Ghana Must Go” in 1985. You saw the very best of Nigeria and no matter what happened to you then, or later, you will never forget your time in that country!
Some people say it was the “constro” boys who went first and came back home with the good news. Others say it was the trained teachers (Cert A holders) who went first, started teaching in secondary schools there and came back on holidays and took along their brothers and friends who are graduates. Still others maintain that Ghanaians had been travelling to Nigeria since goodness knows when. There were vehicles that made the long journey from Kumasi or Accra to Lagos. Long before our independence, Anlo fishermen and traders piled themselves into trucks setting forth from Keta into the wilds of Nigeria. The journey took the whole day. Nigeria was far away, very far away indeed.No matter where the truth lies, one thing is certain. The great movement of Ghanaians to Nigeria in search of a better life would not happen until after 1975. Prior to that, nobody left Ghana to settle in Nigeria because Ghana was not good enough for him. There have always been ties between individual Ghanaians and Nigerians with inter-marriages meaning some Ghanaians moved to settle in Nigeria. But nobody left Ghana to escape economic hardships. Not until the mid-70s.
The largest chunk of the economic migrants from Ghana to Nigeria made their moves between 1978 and 1981 or thereabouts. By 1982, Lagos was full of Ghanaians from all walks of life.
The largest chunk of the economic migrants from Ghana to Nigeria made their moves between 1978 and 1981 or thereabouts. By 1982, Lagos was full of Ghanaians from all walks of life. They ranged from university lecturers (and students), medical officers, political refugees, through secondary school teachers to our boys working on construction sites and our girls selling bread in the “go slow” on the highway leading out of Lagos to Abeokuta. They rushed to the slow moving vehicles peddling what they called “Ghana bread”. (Some of the Yoruba didn’t like this bread complaining that there was too much sugar in it. Yes, much of Ghanaian bread contains too much sugar. If there is not too much sugar, then there is too much salt!) Some of our girls chose the easy way out and betook themselves to the houses of ill-repute where they plied their damnable trade.
By the 70s, the journey now took only a few hours from Accra to Lagos. If you liked, you made the “short-short” one by taking a vehicle to Aflao, crossing the border on foot, taking a taxi to the station near Asigame (Grand Marché) in Lomé, where you took one of the Peugeot “caravans” straight to the Badagry border where another vehicle took you into Lagos. You could also take a vehicle from Cotonou and make it to the old port of Porto Novo (Xogbonu) and enter Nigeria at Idiroko which was the border crossing before the huge Badagry border was rebuilt as the main entry point. The Idiroko to Lagos road was still called the “Old Ghana Road” when we were there.
Lagos looked big to you. Much of it was like a huge construction site. This was the time when foreign companies like Julius Berger were building flyovers, overhead bridges, and motorways all over the place.
For the Ghanaian making the journey by road to Lagos for the first time, it was a real experience. Once you cleared the Badagry border and was on your way on the dual carriage to Lagos, you knew you were somewhere far away from Accra. Lagos looked big to you. Much of it was like a huge construction site. This was the time when foreign companies like Julius Berger were building flyovers, overhead bridges, and motorways all over the place.
Central Lagos
Even though Ghanaians could be found in every state, most of them were in the Yoruba speaking states which are geographically nearest to Ghana. The Yoruba are one of the largest of Nigeria’s more than 250 ethnic groups. There are far more Yoruba than there are Ghanaians of all tribes worldwide! Most of the Nigerians who lived among us in Ghana before the Aliens Compliance Order (ACO) were Yoruba. They were the ones we called Alatafuo or Anago and when we went to them, they also called us Omo Ghana (no offence meant, none was taken either). So the Ghanaian connection with the Yoruba, in particular, is a long one. Some versions of Ewe history even trace the origins of the Ewe to a place called Ketu in Yorubaland. In the early 80s, in places like Ogbomosho, Ejigbo, Osogbo, Ilesha, one could still meet those Yoruba who had lived in Ghana before ACO and who still spoke fluent Twi, Fante, Ewe or Ga. They were proud to display their knowledge of these languages, having quite put behind them the bitterness that surrounded their painful and sudden departure (the munko munko or ACO) from Ghana.
The years around 1980 marked the most dizzying heights of Nigeria’s oil-fired economy. The oil money was flowing through everybody’s fingers and some of us were there to partake of the goodies. They accepted us so long as there was something for everybody.
Every Ghanaian who went there got some kind of job. Teachers were in high demand. It was very easy for the Ghanaian teacher to fit into the Nigerian classroom. Because WAEC gave us all the same GCE syllabus, Ghanaian teachers found themselves teaching exactly the same things they were teaching in Ghana. Maths, Science and English teachers were especially in high demand. The greatest need for teachers was in the states controlled by the UPN which were implementing free education – the type Akufo-Addo is promising us. The UPN was then led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the revered Yoruba leader. (I have, sometimes, wondered if there is some resemblance between him and Akufo-Addo that goes beyond their old style round metal-rimmed glasses.) Secondary schools were built in all towns and villages and students went straight from primary school to these schools without any exams.
The years around 1980 marked the most dizzying heights of Nigeria’s oil-fired economy. The oil money was flowing through everybody’s fingers and some of us were there to partake of the goodies.
It was not that there were no Nigerians who could teach their children. The economy was so good that Nigerian university graduates looked down on the teaching job. They easily got higher paying jobs in industry or obtained generous state or federal government scholarships to pursue advanced studies in foreign universities. Ghanaians readily took their places and acquitted themselves well. Indeed, there will come a time, (if that time is not even now) when a crop of prominent Nigerians can proudly say that some of their best teachers in secondary school were Ghanaians. They will be referring to that time, around the 80s, when so many Ghanaians taught so many Nigerians.
The (Nigerian) economy was so good that Nigerian university graduates looked down on the teaching job.
Everything was very cheap in this country. What we had then called “essential commodities” in Ghana were anything but essential in Agege (the name of the Lagos suburb that, in Ghana, became used for the entire country). Blue Band Margarine, which had ceased to exist in Ghana, was available at every roadside seller’s. Beer was one naira for the premier brands of Star and Gulder – brands that we had known from Ghana. The big bottle of Guinness, Odekun, (which was unavailable in Ghana) went for 1.30 naira and the little bottle (kekere) made you poorer by a mere 70 kobo. Semovita cost 80 kobo a kilo. We did not even have Semovita in Ghana then. Sardines and Geisha (which Nigerians looked down upon but were favourite items in Ghana, the lack of which can cause governments to be overthrown) were all over the place selling cheaply. During the Christmas season, imports were increased bringing down the prices of items across the board. In Ghana price increases were particularly notable during the Christmas season.
The naira was equivalent to the pound and fetched you more than a dollar!
Those Ghanaians who went to Nigeria before 1980 saw the very best of the country, economically. In some states, graduate teachers were given car loans in cash! You took your 3,000 naira, went to a car dealer and drove away with your brand new locally assembled VW “beetul”. It cost you less than 3,000 naira so you had something left over to buy petrol and drinks to celebrate your first new car with your friends – to “wash” the car, as it were. In the early 80s, a graduate teacher’s monthly pay of 360 naira was enough to buy you a return ticket to the UK. That was before the Thatcher government brought in visa requirements for Ghanaians and Nigerians. Those Ghanaians daring enough went on holidays in Britain. The naira was equivalent to the pound and fetched you more than a dollar!
Some State governments in Nigeria even pay up to N3,ooo in cash to graduates to purchase their VW Beetle manufactured in Nigeria then.
This was also the time Ghanaians would tell jokes about the newcomer who went to the wayside chop bar and asked for 50 kobo rice and 50 kobo meat and the seller woman looked at him with surprise. He insisted on his order and when he was served, there was no way he, alone, could eat it all that much food. He thought the naira was like the cedi he had left behind in Ghana.At the beginning of each academic year, the now defunct West Africa Magazine published long lists of Nigerian scholarship winners who would be going to universities in Europe and North America to study obscure subjects in the sciences and technology. It was as if the states were competing with each other to see which of them could send the greatest numbers of their citizens on scholarships abroad. And each year, we would look at these lists with a tinge of envy. Our country could not afford to give us similar privileges.
Oshodi in the early 1980s
The daily newspapers were bumper affairs of 48-60 pages at a time when our flagship national daily, Daily Graphic, was still running 16 pages in tiny print. There were even broadsheets, something we had never seen in Ghana before. A few of the numerous newspapers really had quality stuff. The newly established Lagos Guardian attracted articles from some of the country’s greatest brains – Wolé Soyinka, Niyi Osundare, Kole Omotoso, Chinweinzu. Then came the newsmagazine, Newswatch, modelled on Time Magazine and better than anything we ever had in Ghana. On its staff were some of the country’s best journalists including Dele Giwa who was murdered by a mail bomb during Babangida’s reign of terror. There were several television and radio stations at a time when Ghana still had only one television channel and one national broadcaster and we had never heard of FM broadcasting. Naija movies were not available then.
The Ghanaian immigrant felt completely at home. Ghana was not too far away and you could visit home for the weekend. We settled. We started enjoying the food, the beer, the women and the music. Oh, the music, especially Yoruba music. Because of Juju music’s roots in highlife, it was easy for Ghanaians to take on and like that music. Moreover, some of us still remembered the time when the Yoruba lived among us in Ghana and played lots of the music of the accordion playing I. K. Dairo. They may have played the music of Haruna Ishola too.
Sunny Ade’s “Synchro System” was irrestible to even Ghanaians living in Nigeria in the late 70s to early 80s.
The 80s marked the heights of the careers of King Sunny Adé with his velvety voice (Gboromiro; Synchrooo … synchro system) and “Shief” Commander Ebenezer Obey and his evergreen, forever and forever wedding song: Eto gbeyawo laye t’Oba Oluwa mi file le, pelu aseni… (What God has joined togedaa let no man put asondaaa…). Fuji, Apala and Sakara music are more difficult for Ghanaians to absorb. They are more traditionally based with Islamic roots. But if you live in a place where you hear a certain music type being played over and over again, and see the people cooing over it, you cannot help but get infected yourself. That is why many of us will never forget names like the late Alhaji Sikuru Ayindé Barrister, Kollington Ayinla, or Mama Salawa Abeni. Today, Fuji music has morphed into the Yoruba variant of hip-hop. But for those of us who were there in the early 80s, it is the music of Sunny Adé (is there any musician who has sung his way into the hearts of the Yoruba more than this man who has so many wonderful tracks you won’t know which ones to choose as your favourites?) and Ebenezer Obey (who is now into gospel music having also fallen victim to the excessive religiosity that is now afflicting many parts of Africa) that we have continued to enjoy long after we left the country even if we do not understand all the mgbati mgbati.
Parties were lavish and enjoyable!
Then things started getting bad. Many of us saw the signs very early because we had seen similar signs in Ghana. Salary delays had started. Contracts were not being renewed. It was becoming more difficult to get jobs. Prices were going up. Some construction works were being terminated midway. Remittances through the banks were becoming more difficult to get as the black market rates of the naira started running away from the official rates.
They did not sack us from their country. We had survived “Ghana Must Go” 1 and 2. We left on our own when they relieved us of our teaching jobs. It was difficult to get new jobs. We packed our things and went away, leaving behind so many grieving students and, in town, a few lovers with broken hearts. Our hearts, too, were broken. But we had to move on. Those who were too old to brave the journey to another part of the world returned to Ghana and went back to the teaching service or whatever else they were doing before the Agege craze. Many of the young ones came back to Ghana only to re-saddle and set forth again. Some of the “constro” boys, ever the most daring, took the desert road to Gaddafi’s Libya. Some of them lost their lives on the way. Some of us came to Europe. Others went to North America. There were those who made it to other African countries like South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, or any country willing to accept them. Anywhere else was better than the difficult days of Rawlings’ military Ghana. No matter where we found ourselves after the Nigerian adventure, it was the money we had put by while working in that country that helped us to start our new lives.
Sardine, available everywhere in Nigeria was huge luxury back then in Ghana.
Today, it is said that more than half of Nigeria’s 160 million people live on less than two dollars a day. The naira is now 150 to a dollar. The largest note is 1,000 naira (equivalent to 12 ghc). A proposal to print 5,000 naira bills was dropped. Another to re-denominate the naira was also discarded. A bottle of Guinness is around 300 naira and Semovita is 250 (na kekere bi dat o). The molue conductors at Oshodi are no longer shouting: “Enter with your ten ten kobo – 50 kobo one naira no change”. That belongs to a time in the distant past. The trip now costs 100 naira.
Nigerians are finding it difficult to exist on their monthly salaries. Many have voted with their feet and for some, even Ghana is better to live in. To be sure, though the Nigerian economy may not be riding the giddy Olympian heights of the late 70s, it has never descended into the gutters that the Ghanaian economy found itself in the same period. But the best is over and many Nigerians will give an arm to have the economic conditions of the seventies and early eighties back – those very conditions that made their country so irresistible to so many Ghanaians.
The molue conductors at Oshodi are no longer shouting: “Enter with your ten ten kobo – 50 kobo one naira no change”. That belongs to a time in the distant past. The trip now costs 100 naira.
Yes, there are Nigerians who are crooks, cheats, bandits, religious fanatics and what have you and the country does seem to have a bit more than its fair share of such elements. But the fact still remains that MOST ordinary Nigerians are honest, peace loving, God-fearing, very resourceful and friendly people. You have to live in the country to see these ones whom we do not hear much about. You can also ask the thousands of Ghanaians still living there. And, oh, the country itself is, actually, really beautiful.
For many of us, since Nigeria was our first foray outside our native land, the country remains special to us. We still have fond memories of all those wonderful years we spent there. How can we forget? I have not been back there since I left 26 years ago. I very much want to visit and walk the old paths again. What a wistful experience that will be!
December, 2014 | Uyo, Nigeria – There was plenty of Christmas cheer at the Uyo Township Stadium in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria during the run up to last month’s holiday season, where a new record was set for the largest group of carol singers.
Ibom Mass Choir
A 25,272-strong choir took the title after singing a medley of traditional Christmas songs that included The First Noel, Joy To The World, O Christmas Tree, Hark The Herald Sing, Once In Royal Davids City and O Come All Ye Faithful.
The new record beats the previous record set by a choir of 15,674 carol singers known as CENTI in Bogota, Columbia back in December 2013.
POSITIVE NIGERIA 