This weekend, Bukola ‘Asa’ Elemide, Nigeria’s most celebrated singer returned to Eko Hotel’s convention centre for the second time following last year’s first. Over the past few years, Eko Hotels, Victoria Island has become the only worthy venue for concerts and major music events. The hotel’s auditorium has housed both local and international events hosted by Nigeria so many times that it is nearly inadmissable to say the large hall is not the finest concert venue in Nigeria, even though it was not initially instituted to be one.

In terms of facility, Eko Hotels has a great sound system aided by surround speakers in the high ceilings and soundproof walls. It’s situation on the Victoria Island however, alienates large number of mainland dwellers who would rather stay home than brave the traffic to and fro. There is also a simple problem of high cost of using the space thanks to high booking demand and limited supply due to lack of equal alternatives.

On the rise of African music on global scale, a it must be made clear that digital success and physical connection are two different things. Particularly, one of the reasons artists who crossover never come back home is because of a lack of internationally availed local infrastructure to support their craft. Beyond better distribution systems that drastically reduce piracy, there this also vested intrest of private companies and local government agencies charged with promoting arts and culture by providing basic infrastructure for inner city communities to have direct access to the movers and shakers of the culture. Some of such infrastructure are concert halls, grassy open grounds and (or) smaller town halls and converging points for showcases and exhibitions.

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk of the potential of Nigerian music for Nigeria’s economy. But until there is local support to help artists access their fans directly, the internationally mapped successes of outliers of Wizkid, Davido, Yemi Alade et al, will only be viewed very far away from where it has come.

To reinforce the importance of Nigeria’s booming music industry, public and private institutions alike must invest in the neccessaries for culture cultivation and to reduce the dependency on Lagos based venues. This is particularly important for the success of Nigeria’s growing generation of DIY artists coming off the internet, who will need to desperately connect with real fans via live performances. We need to demand more from Nigeria’s ministry of arts and culture and perhaps this would be a great starting point.

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