Shooting BBN in S/Africa, a wake-up call
Last week, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed displayed nationalism when he directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the reported shooting in South Africa of the ongoing Big Brother Nigeria reality show.
It is believed that the order was prompted by several calls the minister received from fellow Nigerians seeking to understand why the programme which came back after 10 years hiatus was being hosted in South Africa.
The Minister had asked NBC to determine whether Multi-Choice, by shooting the show in South Africa, has breached the Nigerian Broadcasting Code in any way, as well as the issue of possible deceit, since the viewing public was never told that the event would be staged outside Nigeria.
Ordinarily, the shooting and hosting outside the country of a show sponsored by Nigerian companies and meant for Nigerians is enough to trigger such questions. Some individuals have though described MultiChoice action as economic disruption while other stakeholders disagreed, saying that MultiChoice action was really necessitated by circumstance.
To some analysts, the question should not only stop at asking why MultiChoice is shooting in South Africa a programme sponsored by Nigerian firms and meant for Nigerians. It should go deeper to ask questions about other economic sabotages including why Nigerians including officials are going abroad for medical treatment, why Nigerians prefer to study in schools abroad, why Nigerians import toothpick and all manner of items that we can produce in Nigeria and why Nigerian firms shoot most of their advertisements in foreign countries.
For instance, Fidelis Duker, a film maker questioned in his facebook whether it is the government business now to know where BBN is produced. “What is your business where BBN is produced? It’s simply a strategic business decision. “Don’t Nigerian filmmakers shoot their movies in other countries? When some companies left Nigeria for neighbouring country, why didn’t you force them back? Fix your Infrastructure and everything will fall in place,” Yemi Alade, Afro-pop star was said to have reacted in the same way.
The issue
According to the analysts who spoke to BusinessDay, Duker seems to have captured the core of the national challenge, which is poor infrastructure. Second one is low national esteem as Nigerians prefer everything foreign. “We tend to believe as a country that what we have is not good enough”, says CEO of a marketing communications firm recently.
With the poor infrastructure, the organizers of BBN would have relied on generator for electricity for 11 weeks of the live programme for uninterrupted telecast. According to an observer, the cost of diesel for 11 weeks would have been higher than air lifting the whole crew to South Africa.
MultiChoice explanation
Expectedly, MultiChoice Nigeria which clarified the shooting of the show in South Africa explained that the company is committed to delivering the popular Big Brother Naija reality show to viewers’ TV screens on time and with the same unmatched high quality that its valued customers have come to enjoy on its platforms. “It’s with this commitment in mind that a decision was taken to stage the show in the fully-equipped Big Brother House located in South Africa. This Big Brother property has been previously used to stage other successful and seamlessly-delivered Big Brother productions, including Big Brother Xtremo (for Angola and Mozambique) as well as all past Big Brother Africa series.
“Both MultiChoice and our customers are currently experiencing tough economic times which have forced us as a business to review our operations so we can continue to deliver the best entertainment value for our customers without compromising on quality. Staging the show in a Big Brother facility that already exists – and has been specially built for such purposes – is not only cost-effective but has also allowed MultiChoice Nigeria to maintain the same excellent production values as with previous Big Brother editions whilst meeting tight timelines”.
Way forward
It is important that the anger over shooting of BBN in South Africa has again assisted to awaken national consciousness on our epileptic infrastructure and national pride.
Take a look at the National Theatre, an edifice that supposed to host similar programmes is a shadow of itself. National Stadium, Surulere is decaying and has not hosted international competition in a long time. These monuments and more are part of national waste that suppose to give pride and generate funds to Federal Government if put to proper use.
To create good infrastructure and move the nation forward, what government needs is political will. It should remove impediments on the part of electricity supply. It is understandable that government alone cannot fund all the projects. What it should therefore do, is to embark on Public Private Partnership backed up by strong law to build certain infrastructure that the citizens would be proud of. It should also build national pride in Nigerians. This will checkmate foreign medical trips including shooting of films abroad.