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BBNaija does not address cultural, religious concerns, insists group

By Charles Ogugbuaja, Owerri
05 November 2019   |   2:25 am
A group, the Periscope After Work Professionals, rose from its maiden meeting on Thursday, October 29, 2019 in Owerri, Imo State, saying the just ended reality show, BBNaija, failed to address Nigeria’s cultural and religious concerns.

big brother

A group, the Periscope After Work Professionals, rose from its maiden meeting on Thursday, October 29, 2019 in Owerri, Imo State, saying the just ended reality show, BBNaija, failed to address Nigeria’s cultural and religious concerns. The group said that despite the viewing satisfaction offered to some Nigerians, added artificial distressors to already legion of unemployed Nigerians.

In an eight-point statement jointly signed by the Executive Director of the body, Anthony Akalugo and the Director of Programmes, Victor Iyama, and made available to The Guardian, the group said: “In light of Nigeria’s cultural and religious bias, the show failed to address the concerns and implications even though it should not be viewed as an unacceptable programme solely on account of its perceived sexual content.”

In the event attended by young professionals in the media, publicity, education, library and technology sectors, among others, they held that: “The show barring all moral or cultural interjections is a business initiative that can be described as a success with regards to return on investments, However, the original concept of big brother is a forum for multicultural integration.”

The group urged the Federal Government to adapt selling points of the brand and re-profile, stressing: “The FG, through the Federal Ministry of Interiors, should adapt the selling points of the reality show to re-profile the content so as to promote unity of our multicultural society and foster integration of Nigeria’s ethnic diversities.

“The show succeeded business-wise, raking in cash in excess of N7.2 billion for the investors pulled from over 240million votes, despite the harsh economic realities because:“It was packaged to offer entertainment and fun, which provided artificial distressors to an already depressed largely unemployed class of young people confined by circumstances to their houses and mobile handsets.

“It exploited the use of beauty and sexual content to push through its brand as could be seen in some other brands where despite the non correlation, beauty and near nudity have formed attraction points to pull patronage.“There is a celebrity-mentality in the Nigerian society, which by default, pushes to celebrate and idolise those who come through to fame by a reality show. The concept keyed into this as the show offered minor and major influencers to exploit this tendency among Nigerian young people. “With or without jobs Nigerians love to be entertained, distracted from stress or formalities & would go all the way to search for a fulfilment of these until they can find one. The show took advantage of this.”

In continuation, the group advised that show could be strategically and positively taken to grow the country’s economy. It noted that the brand success strategies could be leveraged on to grow any economic venture;
• by adopting the vigorous packaging and marketing style the BBNaija gave to its product;
• by adopting the entertainment and fun add-ons with which the show spiced up its content ; and
• by adopting very encouraging reward system & incentive mechanism for performance excellence.
“In light of Nigeria’s cultural and religious bias, the show failed to address the concerns and implications even though it should not be viewed as an unacceptable programme solely on account of its perceived sexual content.”

The group further advised: “Nigeria must prove its claim as Big Brother in Africa by first promoting its home grown products and producers.“There must be value reorientation and domestic talent concentration. There must be acceptability and patronage of ‘made in Nigeria’ products and an identity of our brand and investment style must be stamped in all our investments across Africa.”

In view of the inroads some business concerns transcending transborders, the body noted: “Marketing of made in Nigeria goods such as, Innoson Motors, Dangote Brand, Globacom brand, etc., should be encouraged to leverage the multilateral ties of Nigeria and the various tiers of government should patronize the made in Nigeria products, as a way of multicultural and economic integration to achieve a working nation and to stir up commerce and job creation.”

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