The Nigerian music industry has been described as not only unstructured, but very poor. Founder, Ten Strings Music Institute, Emmanuel Akapo, stated this recently at the unveiling of the 2024 activities of the institute.
“I don’t see a successful music industry. Wizkid takes a minimum of N100 million in Nigeria for a show but how does that money spread when it enters his account? He will spend N10 million out of it, and N90 million will go into his pocket, that is not how it is supposed to be in the industry. There should be a team of dancers, costumiers, at least 200 people that are supposed to be paid on that job but it doesn’t happen. So, I’m not happy that we are creating a few rich monsters while the industry is poor.”
He said government is not generating much from the industry “because it’s an unstructured field. You cannot harvest in a place you have not invested in. Does the Nigerian government know how to tax an artiste like Burna Boy? Is there a structure to tax him? If Burna Boy makes $2 million in the US, the US government will take 30 per cent of that money before it reaches his account. We don’t have that mechanism here because the Nigerian government does not have a stake in it so, they can’t tell him to bring30 per cent and if they want to enforce it, he will outsmart them because he knows what to do to claim that an organiser paid him N100,000 and the remaining are gifts to him.”
Giving an account of what the Ten Strings Music Institute has accomplished in its 17 years of establishment, he noted that countries such as, US, Australia, UK and others have put down structure for their music industry to survive, while the Nigerian government is unperturbed.
He started as a music teacher in Pefti Film Institute, but got frustrated as a result of the syllabus and teaching of classical music. He was also the music director of Soul Winner Cathedral, Festac earning N17,000 as a salary
Starting with just two children, Hannah and Simeon and later one adult student in Road 206, Festac Town, Akapo was eventually evicted from the studio after he could not add to the number.
After he was thrown out, Akapo was later given a two-room by the father of the two children.
Since its inception, Ten Strings has trained 25,000 students, and over the years, it has enrolled students from 20 countries, and at the moment, it has students from 12 countries studying across its centres.
Speaking on what kept him going, Akapo, said: “It is my eyes on the mark; to have a society where the very talented youths are trained, empowered and allowed to flourish.”
According to him, “to see people develop where their talents can be harnessed has been my passion and it has kept me going. The dream to see a successful music industry in Nigeria is what I am committed to. I am extremely passionate about this country. My friends mock and question why I’m in the industry, and I wake up and think about it, see what Nigeria is doing to me, but we have to be sincere, I’m in love with this country. The talents, the voices, the instruments I hear people play in Nigeria are not heard anywhere else. So, I think I will be extremely foolish to leave what we have here and Japa. My love for being here, especially in Lagos, my hometown is a driving force.
He said: “We’re starting our online school this year. By June, we will be live and we will start with just two courses; a Diploma in Afrobeat Performance and a Diploma in Afrobeat Production and our instructors will be from around the world.”
A Brief Schedule: Exploring Friendship, Forgiveness, Perseverance
A NIGERIAN writer, Racheal Oboh’s new novel, A Brief Schedule, can be described as ‘packs a punch’. It explores identity, family, friendship, love, forgiveness and acceptance, consistency, perseverance, and barriers, among other topics.
Following the publication of her highly successful debut play, The Archival Box, which has been translated into Chinese and French, the author needed to change the narrative of the menace of preference for male children, which “punishes women for circumstances beyond their control and puts wives under tremendous pressure to bear male children,” thus making them feel inferior to their female children.
The author deftly explores all these issues through the lives of the characters in her debut play.
In A Brief Schedule, given the author’s background as a lawyer, she also loves creative writing and has successfully imbued Oyebode, the protagonist, as a lawyer in the novel.
Oyebode experiences the common family financial hardship of not having enough money for his education. During those times, family love remained strong.
This book also touches on what it is like to act as a parent to a child when you are not the biological mother. It really hits hard.
Though still young and inexperienced, he began his career in a big law firm in Lagos. His boss, Mquio, belittles and degrades him, and some of his colleagues make fun of him in the courtroom.
Changes begin when Mquio assigns 12 client case files to Oyebode, putting him in charge. He became a chronic workaholic.
When reading the novel, some characters like Mquio, will get on your nerves. Regardless, the way the book turned out to show that forgiveness was all Mquio needed at the end is massive.
The way Oyebode and Royal reconnect at different stages is wired but interesting. It makes one want to know what next? What will happen?
The story is well-written. What happened to Royal’s family during the Nigerian-Biafran War was seen in this book.
There was someone out there plotting the main character’s downfall and eventually, he was accused of rape. A Brief Schedule also reflects our reality in work environment that is sometimes volatile.
