In my second missionary journey to Performing Musicians Employers’ Association of Nigeria (PMAN) – this time as the association’s secretary general – I had had to do a familiarization tour of all states of the country where we had functional chapters. That assignment took me to Kano, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Enugu, Gombe, Kogi, Imo, Kaduna, Abia etc.
Whilst each state had the association headquartered in its state capital, Abia curiously had hers headquartered in Aba – instead of Umuahia. As an Umuahia man, that didn’t sit well with me. Somehow, I felt a bit of pain. Why Umuahia’s case was different, I didn’t know – and I confess that I didn’t ask, but was only interested in taking up the matter with the national leadership with a view to reversing the “anomaly”.
Upon my return to base, I was quick to privately raise the issue with my boss, Mr. Charles Oputa (a.k.a Charly Boy). He smiled with a measure of pity for my ignorance and did kindly let me into the place of Aba in the evolution of Nigeria’s entertainment industry. Before then, I merely thought that what distinguished Enyimba City amongst its peers was its widely acclaimed status as “Japan of Africa” – an emerging fortress of technology.
And having myself rocked made-in-Aba shoes and clothes as a primary school pupil, I additionally knew Aba to be easily the leading industrial and commercial centre east of the Niger. To be sure, I met both Lennard’s and BATA Shoes in Aba as a child. I recall also that my elder brother at some point worked in International Glass Industry (IGI), Aba and there were also a number of factories that dotted the Aba business landscape including Patterson Zochonis (PZ), GB Olivant, Star Paper Mill and Tonimas.
So, the portrayal of Aba by someone who is in a position to speak authoritatively, as indeed second only to Lagos in the entertainment sphere left me fascinated. I had learnt about the famous Ukonu’s Club which provided an assortment of entertainment to the fun-loving people of Aba. Aba, I was told, was home to various highlife bands, pop groups and Founders 15. And quite frankly, I knew when record labels such as EMI, Anodisk, Premier and Tabansi flourished on Aba soil. I also knew that Aba produced many entertainment prodigies including Nigeria’s Lady of Songs, late Christy Essien-Igbokwe. And lest I forget, Enyimba City never shared her glory with anyone as the capital of Christian music production and distribution in the defunct eastern region. Names like Okwe and Obi Igwe would eternally lend their support to this factual assertion.
If we had industry stakeholder-groups that were alive to their responsibilities, issues such as the bulk monies in record and distribution deals involving Nigerian artistes going to foreign record labels and distribution companies ought to be dominating conversations amongst government, PMAN, Musical and Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) and Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON). Unfortunately, the contrary is the case.
In the past, the afore-listed record labels shared profits with our illustrious musicians. It was win-win for everybody. What is more, both parties ended up ploughing resources back into the local economy for further mutual and corporate gain just as they expanded their respective capacities to create jobs.
It was amid this regrettable state of affairs that news filtered from Abia recently that the state’s governor-elect, Dr. Alex Otti, has concluded plans to establish, upon his assumption of office, a Ministry for Aba Affairs. This is masterclass!
The story of Aba as a festering sore need not be retold here. Having crossed the biblical Red Sea on March 18, Abians should focus on partnering the incoming administration on how to reinvent God’s Own State. However, the question on the lips of many Abians since this news broke is whether the mandate of the proposed Ministry for Aba Affairs would go beyond the obvious – infrastructural development and urban renewal?
This is the case because Aba’s infrastructural deficit is so huge and to a reasonable extent does appear insurmountable. Besides the near absence of road infrastructure, portable water and reliable power supply, there is also an urgent need to recover Aba’s markets from their present state of misery. However, my guess is that there will be a broad policy framework that aspires to prioritize Infrastructural Aba, Commercial Aba, Industrial Aba and Residential Aba.
Under “Industrial Aba”, the governor-elect should kindly consider the creative sector as a low-hanging fruit. We live in an era where the market value of Netflix climbed to $196billion, overtaking that of ExxonMobil which stood at $166billion. According to the Agusto & Co. report, same Netflix with several billion subscribers globally, is gradually becoming the target of many Nigerian filmmakers.
Further, studies have shown that for many emerging economies, cultural tourism, which is a by-product of creative industry, is a major foreign exchange earner, including several Least Developed Countries (LDCs) such as Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Haiti, Madagascar, Nepal, Rwanda and Tanzania. Tourism generated US$ 485 billion in exports for emerging economies in 2013, being the fourth export earner (UNWTO 2014). What then are we waiting for? Aba has what it takes to compete globally and does deserve a fair share of what is up for grabs in the creative industry.
It is strongly recommended that the in-coming administration, in line with its vision for a new Aba, should consider establishing a creative industry mapping process – as an integral part of the broader Aba Master Plan, with a view to identifying different data sets that exist in the different Abia communities; and if need be, create entertainment sector clusters for optimal productivity and by so doing considerably shrink the state’s unemployment figures.
Logically speaking, Aba should serve as the heartbeat of this policy option while Umuahia, Ikwuano, Ohafia, Isuikwuato, Bende, Abiriba, Arochukwu and others should be energized to play complementary roles in fully exploiting Abia’s dormant entertainment resources for the economic health of God’s Own State. And rather more importantly, this, in my view, is one of the ways to supply the much needed “sustainability” component for Infrastructural Aba, Commercial Aba and Residential Aba. It is also one of the smartest paths to rebranding Abia after 24 years of poor governance.
Chuks Akamadu, M.IoD
Managing Director, Afrocultour Limited
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