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‘Nigeria’s entertainment industry lacks proper structure’

By Victor Ifeanyi Uzoho
09 June 2018   |   4:03 am
Having been in the Nigerian entertainment industry for nearly 20 years, a music promoter, artiste manager and record label executive, Paul Chiori Cole, well known as Ossy Achievas, has said that Nigerian entertainment industry is booming, but the truth is, there is no platform, stressing that entertainment is a different business entirely. The Chief Executive…

Chiori

Having been in the Nigerian entertainment industry for nearly 20 years, a music promoter, artiste manager and record label executive, Paul Chiori Cole, well known as Ossy Achievas, has said that Nigerian entertainment industry is booming, but the truth is, there is no platform, stressing that entertainment is a different business entirely.

The Chief Executive Officer, Achievas Entertainment and Founder, The Richout Foundation made this known to The Guardian in a recent chat. He stated that the industry has no proper structure, adding that the structure being seen to exist is one that does not give room for an investor to start recouping his investment, needless to say profit.

He said, “The way it is structured, piracy is a very big challenge to entertainment in Nigeria.

Greed is another big challenge, as the structure doesn’t persuade artistes to keep to their contracts and record labels to keep to their own bargains and do what they are meant to do for artistes.”

According to him, some people now go into entertainment business, because they want to be popular and don’t have passion for what they are going into.

“We need a proper structure like what we see in the western world.

Other countries that have proper structures like the United States benefit a lot from the industry more than Nigeria.

“It is true that Nigeria music itself has cut across borders, but we don’t have a proper structure. 

The poor enabling environment and lack of government support are causing this.

I have been int the industry since 2000, and I worked with notable names and faces like, Daddy Fresh, Daddy among others,” he added.

The multi-tasking chief executive further noted that the challenges hampering the growth and development of the industry also include lack of infrastructures and supports, which consistently affects young talented acts.

“In entertainment, I’m into events management, music and sports, and the major challenges I have so discovered in the industry, particularly for events has been lack of sponsorship.

I organised ‘Olamide Live in Concert’ (OLIC) in 2014 and did it alone with no sponsors.

I did the second edition with no sponsors, and not until the third edition before we got some sponsors, who were ready to part with a very small fee. 

So, lack of sponsorship and government support is a big challenge.”

Chiori explained that music is everyday thing, stressing that once you release a song as an artiste, it goes viral and people copy it for free even when you spent millions putting them together in order to make money.

On motive behind his recently launched ReachOut Foundation, Chiori, who turned 40 on May 27, said it is to give back to the society, and the amount of poor people he sees around him.

“The helpless kids I see hawking in the streets instead of going to school. Generally, the rate of poverty and the rate of unemployment have gone very high and it has dawn on me that the government cannot provide employment for all.

So we are trying our best to take some part of the street.

“We give scholarship to people we can give so they can study and those who we can help start a trade, we help them start a trade.

So the ReachOut Foundation in its entirety was to give back to the society. The foundation has a broad scope. We are targeting anyone that needs help and attention.”

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