"How is Ramsey Noah?" asked Abdul, a colleague from Tanzania. "Ramsey Noah?" I was not really sure the direction his question was leading. "Yes, Ramsey Noah" he reaffirmed. "I love Nigerian movies" he said. Wow! I have always known Africans all over the world are always excited by Nigerian movies but to hear someone ask me how one of our actors was faring was a real honour. He spoke so well about other actors and actresses, ones we normally under-estimate.
Another evening, I met a young lady from Uganda and when he heard that I am am from Nigeria, she delved into a long conversation about Nigerian actors and actresses. She knew them more than I did, and I'm so sure she has watched more Nigerian movies than I have.
Back in Nigeria, we never really appreciate what we have, however, it is very refreshing to meet people, especially Africans who share some admirable passion for our products. The Nigerian music, movies and other arts seems to be selling more than our politics (thanks to the hard-work of our artistes and the corruption of our government leaders). It is a good thing we still have something to celebrate though, but are we really appreciating them enough? I admit I'm guilty as charged!
As a way of keeping in touch with home, I often visit Facebook, and one of my friend's status the other day read "Are you a creative person, an innovator or a writer? Do you appreciate intellectual works? Then support Nigerian Musician as they start their Hunger strike campaign today and do watch out for no music day comes September. . ."
"wetin dey happen o? wat re they going hungry for?" I asked, alarmed because the post was not really detailed. "cos of piracy wahala, dey want gov to intervane and would want all lover of creativity, all tv station and radio house not to play music no matter how small it would be some time in sep for 12 hours" He replied. Hmm, what more can our artiste ask for?
Love is a universal language, football is a universal language, entertainment is growing fast, even faster than football, into a universal language- crossing borders and breaking down barriers. We don't know what we have in Nigeria, until we meet strangers in foreign land enthusiastically celebrating it without inhibition! They have taught me how to celebrate our very own (not mediocrity, by the way) and we should embrace such attitude!
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