Twenty-seven-year-old Nigerian musician Ileriolowa Oladimeji Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad, died on Tuesday, September 12 under questionable circumstances.
Mohbad’s death has raised questions, protests, condolences, carnivals, even revenues, in Nigeria and abroad. It also points at opportunities, lapses and rings some alarm bells.
The following are some key take-aways from the unfortunate incident:
1. The world is paying particular attention to Nigeria, especially in the area of music and the creative arts, and this calls for proper interrogation, planning and engagement for maximum benefit.
2. As individuals, corporates and even as a nation, we must always keep hope alive and never relent because with sustained vision and effort, success is but a matter of time.
3. Recent feelers and developments in Nigeria’s music and creative industry portray it as being deficient in structure as well as in internal and external controls and regulation, leaving room for serious lapses and dire consequences arising from the activities of opportunists and charlatans.
4. Nigeria’s teeming youth are brimming with energy, creativity and enthusiasm and there appears to be a shortage of worthy role models to guide and mentor them.
5. The use of psychotropic drugs, especially by the youth, is getting alarmingly pervasive globally and locally, and this needs to be painstakingly interrogated and addressed before a whole generation short-circuits.
6. There are too many ungoverned or poorly governed spaces in Nigeria, creating leeway for the unscrupulous to feast upon hapless individuals and groups.
7. Social media is looming larger every day, with the potential to build up or knock down, for good or for bad, in an instant. This calls for special attention to this medium, as regards regulation, monitoring and deployment as well as reading for early warning signals in various spheres of life.
8. The world we live in has become a ‘glass bowl’. There is scarcely a hiding place anymore. As such, individuals, groups, corporates and governments must set and observe strict codes of conduct in order to stay above board and be seen as such.
9. Response to impulse, as well as to distress calls fail to match the speed of technological development in many areas in Nigeria and this lapse needs to be urgently addressed.
