Ademola Olonilua
As Nigeria celebrates its 56th
anniversary as an independent nation, some Nigerian celebrities tell
Saturday Beats about their thoughts on the current state of the nation
Saidi Balogun
For ace actor, Saidi Balogun, Nigerian
entertainers have nothing to celebrate today due to the adverse effect
of piracy on the sector. The actor is sad that a 56-year-old country
does not have any stiff penalties for pirates. In his words, he said
today should be a day for mourning and not celebration.
“Nigerian entertainers should be in a
mourning state. It is not for the country alone but for our industry.
The National Assembly has refused to pass bills with stiff penalties on
piracy. Now the price of crude oil has crashed and everyone is crying
whereas we could generate money from the entertainment industry and
everybody would be smiling. It is not an independence that is
celebrating it because we are still dependent. We entertainers are still
under the colonialism of the legislators. Maybe they are afraid that if
they pass the right bill against piracy, they would not be able to
enslave us anymore. To me, entertainment can boost our economy aside
from our dependence on crude oil. Does it mean that if there is no crude
oil, our economy would die? Let them pass the right bill so that we can
make more money and improve on our country. Three years ago, a
president said that our industry contributes greatly to the economy’s
GDP, so, they should please pass laws with very stiff penalties on
piracy. If I had my way, I would have asked all artistes to march with
placards to the house of each legislator who is in any committee that
has to do with the entertainment industry on Independence Day. Since
their lives are all about padding, they should help us ‘pad’ that law,”
he said.
Kenny Saint Best
KSB on her part believes that today is
not a happy day for Nigeria because of the hardship in the country.
According to the singer turned politician, Nigeria is not really
independent. She told Saturday Beats that Nigerians are only surviving and that should not be the case of the citizens of a 56-year-old country.
She said, “We are celebrating an
inverted independence. We are celebrating a dependent independence and
the painful aspect of it is that we don’t really know what we are
dependent upon. We would have been having a merry independence if the
corruption eating deep like a virus had been curbed during that era of
War Against Indiscipline. If the military that introduced the WAI were
disciplined themselves, by now we would have been celebrating a cheerful
independence. It is unfortunate that we still have the same virus
eating into the fabrics of our society. All we have is a change of
costume of leadership and this hasn’t allowed Nigeria to become the
independent nation that it should be. It is quite unfortunate. Our
economy can’t seem to stand on its own. A particular government may seem
to have got things right, then another one takes over and sucks it dry,
then we begin from square one. We are celebrating a sickly
independence. Before now, we used to have individual buffers in case of
hard times but this time around, there is no buffer from anywhere. Maybe
this would now lead us to the kind of independence that the country
actually requires. Right now, Nigerians need to be productive; we need
to look inwards and realise how we can make this country work. Before
now, we have been thriving on the largesse of corruption. Now that there
is nothing to suck anymore, it would force us to think of what to do.
It would teach Nigerians to cut their coat according to their sizes. We
are seeing cases of parents who had to bring their children back to
Nigerian schools because they could not afford to pay their fees abroad.
It is time to bring these kids back, put them in public schools and
these influential parents should begin to think of how they can make our
public schools better. We are the only ones that can make it work
through truth, sincerity, honesty and pro-activeness. Nigerians are
surviving and for a country that got its independence 56 years ago, we
should not be thinking of surviving.”
Charly Boy
Although the Area Fada, as he is fondly
called, is not happy about the situation of the country, his anger lies
with Nigerians and not their leaders. The weird one said that Nigerians
are the cause of their problems. He added that there was nothing worth
celebrating in the country presently except the gift of life which is
God’s doing.
“What are we celebrating? The only thing
a Nigerian can be thankful for at this time is the gift of life. All
that is happening to us is our fault. Every time we put the blame on the
leaders, what about the followers? These leaders are not from Ghana or
Togo; they are from among us. If we don’t look like them, we should have
resisted the policies that put us in this kind of hopelessness and
frustration. But it is because we look like them, somehow we have the
same mindset and we are waiting for our own turn to embezzle when the
opportunity comes, that is why this situation is never going to change.
Mark my words; it is going to get worse before it gets better. If the
masses have become sheep, why are you blaming the leaders for being
wolves? The president keeps saying he is fighting corruption; maybe it
is true that he is fighting corruption but he is the only one shouting
the propaganda. I don’t see his ministers and cabinet members say the
same thing. Do they believe in that? They are fighting corruption; are
they saying that they have not been able to prosecute and imprison one
corrupt person so far? After one year? Do we want to be deceived all our
lives? It is not about Buhari or Goodluck, what about us? We are very
bad people and until we change, things would not get better. The change
is not going to come from above or from Buhari, it would come when we
change the way we think and hold our leaders accountable for all the
wrongs they have done. Until we are ready for that, then nothing would
change because these people know that poverty has messed up the way we
think. There is nothing to celebrate except for us being alive and for
that, say thank God. But for how long would we do this?” he said.
Doris Simeon
Delectable screen goddess, Doris Simeon,
on her part said that Nigerians are not happy currently. She advised
that instead of celebrating the independence, Nigerians should embark on
fasting and prayer.
Simeon said, “Nigerians are not happy
with what is going on in the country right now. We are not happy at all.
I think it would be so sad and crazy if our government celebrates the
independence in an elaborate way. What are they celebrating? Our
foolery? Nobody is happy. They say a fool at 40 is a fool forever and we
are 56 years old. Are we not a fool forever already? Things are very
bad in the country and it is so sad. We are not happy and that is the
simple truth. There is nothing worth celebrating in Nigeria at the
moment. In fact, instead of celebrating the independence, I would advise
Nigerians to embark on a dry fast all through today and pray to God
because at this point, it is only God that can save us. While growing up
they always said, ‘Nigeria go better,’ now we are grown up and have
children and we are still saying the same thing. When would things be
better in this country? They say the children are the future leaders of
tomorrow, yet there is no room for the youths to lead; they refuse to
give the youths a chance to serve. It is crazy.”
African China
Like his colleagues, African China, does not believe the independence is worth celebrating. In a chat with Saturday Beats, the singer said that things are very tough in Nigeria at the moment and it seems there is no hope for the common man.
“This independence is not worth
celebrating and my reason is simple, there is an adage that says a fool
at forty is a fool forever and Nigeria is 56 years old. It has surpassed
that age limit. You don’t celebrate fools or underachievers. We only
celebrate success stories. So far, what success story has come out of
Nigeria? If you are successful, people would always want to associate
themselves with you but it seems Nigeria is not trying its best to
succeed so that other nations can associate themselves with us. If you
travel to other African countries, they don’t want to associate
themselves with Nigerians and it is because of the perception they have
of this country. I would have advised that people should go about their
normal duties today and keep facing the hardship. There is no hope,
everything just keeps getting worse; there is no hope,” he said.
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