Connect with us


Abounu Abounu: Sir Shina Peters, WizKid and Nigeria



Not many of Wiz Kid fans will know Sir Shina Peters (SSP) and if they did they probably would not have been old enough when he held Nigeria spellbound with his hit album “Afro Juju Series 1”.SSP as he was fondly called held sway from Sokoto to Lagos and no social gathering was complete without the DJ playing his songs. This was at a time when most people listened to music on A.M stations and “cassettes”.

SSP’s concerts attracted thousands of people. I remember picking up the National Concord newspaper and there he was on the front page with the title “President-General”. But times have since changed. We have evolved through the LP era to now listening to music online through social platforms and apps.Technology has changed how musicians produce and sell music.SSP would often travel with scores of his band boys and piracy must have taken its toll on his earnings. Today things are different, Wiz Kid and his likes now use technology to produce the best songs with “wicked producers” like Young John. They don’t have to travel with 50 band boys to concerts but yet they are still able to produce world class music and earn the sort of money that will make SSP salivate. Just last week, I learnt Wiz Kid made 70 million nairas in one month from the Spotify music app.I can now understand why Davido keeps saying he has 30 billion naira in his account.

Technology has changed the world so much so that those who have refused to hop on the technology bus have sadly been left behind. They remain stranded on Poverty Avenue; as we can see the richest countries are the most technologically advanced and the reverse is the case for the poorest. In SSP’s case, he was wise to have invested in businesses that continue to pay dividends. His son, Clarence Peters has followed in his footsteps but has keyed into new technology to boost his career and is now on his way to having his “30 billion in the account”.

Nigeria like SSP was a giant a few decades ago. A prosperous educated country and truly the giant of Africa. But unlike SSP it failed to invest wisely and today we have a country relaxing on Poverty Avenue like it belongs there. There is no gain saying that Nigeria needs to industrialise and adopt new and different ways of doing things. We all know this is what we need to do as a country to get out of the quagmire of hopelessness that we find ourselves in.

Our biggest problem remains a big over bloated sub performing government. Big governments inevitably lead to increased bureaucracy by people who know nothing about wealth creation and this in turn fuels and perpetuates corruption which ultimately kills any development plan. Look at the case of the Nigeria Police, a police that is now a shadow of its self. Some of its functions have been taken over by a number of other organisations like EFCC, ICPC, FRSC and NSCDC.This only increases bureaucracy and financial burden; a burden Nigeria can no more afford to shudder. Nigeria must first rationalise its public bodies and reduce them to the barest minimum. It is only at this stage that the Government’s “Ease of Doing Business” policy will become meaningful.

The private sector should drive Nigeria’s technological advancement for they are better placed to do so.Look at Amazon, which is owned by the richest man in the world today. It now collects State tax, what we call VAT for over 40 states in America. This year, Arkansas will be joining the league of American states enjoying the Amazon state tax windfall.All purchases made on Amazon originating from Arkansas will be charged sales tax and this is expected to raise 100 million dollars a year. One company generating over 100 million dollars a year for one state! With the current exchange rate, this will be about 36 Billion naira, more than what Davido has in his account and much more than what many states in Nigeria are able to generate internally.

But how did Amazon get to this stage- a company that employs three hundred and fifty thousand people directly, millions more indirectly and has also become a major tax collector? Amazon first started as a bookshop and was a late entrant into the Internet business. It moved quickly to modernise its operations using the latest technology.Today Amazon has its hand in every pie and you can’t but marvel at its ingenuity. I use it’s Alexa system, a small piece of technology which controls everything in my house from heating to the lights and even my music system.

Amazon could not have grown exponentially without the enabling environment. Amazon was not burdened with having to wait three months to register its name with the Corporate Affairs Commission where I understand one man, yes one man has to vet all names and can for any reason ranging from company names rhyming with others to how the name sounds refuse your registration application. Amazon does not have to deal with Federal Inland Revenue Service, State Inland Revenue Services, Nigerian Customs, Local Government Emblem Tax, Nigeria Immigration, Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Agency and Nigeria Maritime Safety Agency turning up on daily basis asking it to comply with extant statue and laws or risk being shut down. Laws meant to promote businesses have suddenly become tools of draconian oppression. This is why it is imperative that Government starts by reducing the number of agencies and layers of government.A big over bloated government does no one good.

And if there is one thing the current government can do to achieve this is by organising a referendum on merging the Senate and House of Representatives into one manageable body, limiting the number of political appointees at all levels, fixing a spending ratio not exceeding 70:30 percent in favour of capital projects over recurrent expenditure amongst many other things that need to be done to reposition our great country. The current structure of Nigeria needs over hauling (I am careful not to use the word restructuring because it means different things to different groups).But we must overhaul and reset Nigeria. And just maybe the next generation like Clarence Peters, might be able to boast of thirty billion naira in their accounts.

Dr.Abounu Abounu is a Consultant Psychiatrist and a former National President of the Nigeria Medical Students Association.