YNaija Editorial: A constellation of stars are coming home this season but Lagos is still losing

Wizkid

This is the season of joy and there will be no less than 10 A-list entertainment events taking place across Lagos within the period of the Christmas festivities.

Many of the top artists in the country have started drawing the curtain on an eventful year. Brymo Live was fulfilling for those who had tickets to see the “Purple Jar” serenade at the Terra Kulture arena. That venue is one of a handful of places where artists find the space to express themselves well enough to simultaneously give their fans a good night’s worth of entertainment. With the massive growth of this industry, one would ordinarily assume the Lagos state government would consider it as a source of revenue.

But a mental or actual scan of the publicly owned event venues within the metropolis produces a scanty and uninspiring list. The Muri Okunola park is, at present, the only government-owned event centre of any reasonable standing in comparison to the standards available from private providers.

This presents a challenge to emerging acts as well as the mass of dreamers who have not quite hit the six-figure ticket fee list. It is easy to rave over how far acts like Wizkid and Davido have come without recognizing how much more they could have benefitted from a reasonable support system. Today, both artists are loosely referred to as the Messi and Ronaldo of Nigerian entertainment due to their perceived invincibility in the music game at the moment, and the victory lap they have both been on, earning hotly contested nominations and wins at the MTV Europe Music Awards, The BET Awards, The British Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) awrds, and the Nigerian Entertainment Awards and The Future Awards Africa prizes back home. However, neither artiste can rely on the state government to provide the necessary entertainment infrastructure to facilitate their careers.

Of seven major shows holding between now and the end of the year, only Bez’s “Bez Live” and Olamide Live In Concert (OLIC) 4 at Teslim Balogun Stadium will take place at a government-owned arena. The Falz Experience will be at Eko Convention Centre, while both “One Night Stand with Adekunle Gold” and “The Burna Boy Show” are set to hold at the Federal Palace Hotel. Nonso Amadi’s “Homecoming” is at the Hard Rock Café. Wizkid is not even having his main concert in Lagos this season, opting to rather hold it at the Transcorp Hilton hotel in Abuja this Saturday.

The National Theatre at Iganmu only stands as a relic of history. Freedom Park on Lagos Island is more of a museum and a place where folks meet up to extend Whatsapp conversations. Three stadia in the state – National, Teslim Balogun and Onikan – are nowhere near as attractive as an event centre should be, with the associated safety issues.

The Government does not need to wait till it can build a local Madison Square Garden, replicate the MGM or employ same architects that built the Las Vegas Convention Centre. But the few facilities it has in place, the state should more than do well to make them worthy of an artist’s talents. The entertainment industry has grown so much that has eclipsed the available infrastructure and it will be a shame if the precocious and eccentric young minds in every street across the state, from Mushin to Bariga, Lekki and Gbagada, fail to get the structural support that could accelerate their careers and push them towards the next level.

Our artistes, actors and comedians want to fill stadiums and sell out theatres, give them a place worthy of filling.

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