#BBNaija: The BBN is indeed a "Big Bother" to Nigeria (Must Read) - Nathan Alexandre

Africa, one of the most less developed continents in the world where hunger emergencies, insurgencies, xenophobia, overpopulation, high fatality rates and other associable problems have encroached its fertile soils and dilapidated its farmland ridges which some unforgettable heroic farmers of old times have created with their sweats and bloods.


This is the poor state of an Africa that finds it hard to maintain a lofty status with the rest of the world and what a pity! Big Brother Africa, a meaningless shtick, invented to divert the uprightness of youths and demoralize the orientation of the aged. How much more are they misled, the youngsters who never miss any of each lewd episode? You may or may not know that this event has a world audition, continental audition and now, the country auditions have been adopted and how lugubrious, Nigeria of all nations, the giant of Africa, also did. Should this be the African priority that should only be involved in finding better ways to empower its productive youths and compete scientifically and technologically with the rest of the world? What can Africa boast of I wonder? Infinite corruption, insecurity, internal conflicts, imbalanced economies? Are these not enough regrets? Well, let me address the giant of Africa in precision.

When it was first aired in 2006, the Nigerian version that is, I was much younger and even then, for the only single day I ever sat to view it, I never found the correlation between the whole audition and the name it bore. “Big Brother Africa? What is brotherly big about these bawd scenarios? Big Fools Africa!” and so I concluded the very first and last time I saw that particular show of indecency. I mean, what more can it be represented as, a lewd show of several months, every single day where non-ambitious set of youths and wastrels gather and lavish a supposedly productive time of their lives on an insignificant event and sexploitation? Come rain come shine, those times wasted are never going to be gained, ever!

Though I never sat to view a second episode till date but you know what becomes of an event that is media friendly-If you decide not to attend to it on the visual media, the textual media will take over and as if that is not enough; the “garrulous” media as pioneered by human viewers and fans will not stop jingling their reporting bells everywhere! I hear about it on buses, the roads, offices and even hospitals wherein are filled with more patients than healthy people, I still hear it all about! How a member who is married had sexual affairs with another member who is a single mother. How he was then evicted and Nigerians, especially ladies, went welcoming him as he flew back into the country. How the cameras display peoples’ kissing of one another and expressions of other sexual behaviours. How each both each evicted member and the remnants cry even more than they would have if they had lost their mothers, whenever eviction takes place. How thousands of unreasonable youths have to be at alert not to miss the show even for once; how they surf the internet to make complimentary comments about the show… It has now become so intolerable and I must speak on this menace!

So we have a Nigeria where the national GDP per capita has dwindled over the years; 171st position in the world according to the world ranking and 36th in Africa. Nigeria, a country that has the capacity and necessary basic components to traverse beyond most other nations of the world and be among at least, 1st to 20th position in the world on everything, has been crippled by a wide range of factors, most of which are accountable to its governance. Corruption, insurgencies, ignorance, mismanagement and more are such responsible factors. So what are the steps being taken to curb these negative factors? What we always hear right from childhood is, “it begins with you”. Not being skeptical about this but if truly it was supposed to begin with the citizens of the nation, us, then we are the unrepentant and unchanging weevils that burrow deeply into our own beans and violate its edibility, thereby rendering it useless.

25 million naira and a luxurious car for a fool who succeeds in wasting one-third of a year of his or her life span and voted for by regressively thinking individuals with their earned money. “Oh! Nigeria is bad, things are hard! The nation is going down! Dollar is rising by each day and the naira is becoming invaluable! Buhari has killed Nigeria”, these are what most Nigerians exclaim here and there every day since 29th of May, 2015. Yet, they struggle vainly to purchase airtime and data for messaging the Big Brother Nigeria’s show. They struggle to fill up with fuel, their electric generators despite the epileptic supply of power by the crippled PHCN in the bid to participate visually in this unreasonable show. Big foolish fans of the Big brother, right?

What about the Big Foolish Sponsors? The rate of robbery and petty theft has increased in the country due to the inability of most to secure a relative job. People are going hungry, the economic sectors need to be invested in to be developed, the beggars are storming the streets, the orphanage homes are not getting sponsorships and the masses are crying of discomfiture but what do our sponsors do? They zealously spend money on these economically irrelevant shows. What improvement has it brought to the mess which Nigeria currently finds itself in? This morning, I heard that a rich millionaire has promised to give out to Efe (one of the Big Fools’ members) a sum of 15 million naira and a car whether he wins the competition or not! Meanwhile, he (the millionaire) must have hungry and jobless people along the street of his house or even uncomfortable family members, what an extravagant human. What are they even competing for? I have not seen it!

You can imagine what good it will add to the nation if a total of 35 million naira plus the miscellaneous millions which they spend to run the show, are invested into a sector or used to empower some industrial youths out there. If a sum of 15 million was requested from such man on a normal day by a needing relevant organization, he would either deny them assistance or grant them a cheque of few thousands. What is wrong with Nigerians? They keep complaining of the bad condition of the country and are refusing to make moves to revamp it but lavishing resources wastefully on a rather unproductive event. What are these shows doing to children of fragile minds? Let’s ask ourselves! I know children that do not see kissing or wearing indecent apparels as big deals even at their tender ages because of constant exposure to these types of scenes.

Alas, as awkward as it sounds, the show is not even ongoing in Nigeria but being captured in South Africa where the Africa audition similarly takes place. How did I know this? I came across a very irritating headline on the internet the other day that lined thus, “Nigerian govt steps in, probes why Big Brother Naija moved to South Africa” (Premium Times). “The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, asked the NBC to determine whether Multi-Choice has breached the Nigerian Broadcasting Code in any way, by shooting the show in South Africa, as well as the issue of possible deceit, since the viewing public was never told that the event would be staged outside Nigeria.” (Premium Times). You can imagine how concerned and emphatic the Nigerian government holds this emptiness of a show while its economy continues to wallow in irrational irritability.

1, 000 Naira is now just about 138 Cedi and this was a monetary unit that could not stand a naira at one time. Ghana is becoming better and better and best at what it does. I have never heard of a Big Brother Ghana except if they are contemplating to start it of recent but even if they commence such; a banana bunch that’s already ripened should not be left on the tree but an unripe one needs to be abandoned for eons more. Nigeria is not a country which an irrelevance like BBN should be a priority to. The BBN is indeed a "Big Bother" to Nigeria.

A word they say, is enough for the wise. If any Nigerian government parastatal sees this and wishes to take actions against and not for my humble submissions, please, I am at home, come and kill me.

©AnDré
I.G : dreyskywalker