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Page 44 —SUNDAY Vanguard, OCTOBER 13, 2019
Viewpoint
By Toni Kan
eath, many people say, can be the
Dbiggest career move and for proof,
they point to Michael Jackson who was
mired in debt at the time of his death but
whose estate is now worth millions and
millions more than he made while alive.
Death has always fascinated pop
culture, especially when the dead is
famous or infamous and young to boot.
Think Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Kurt
Cobain and Amy Winehouse, Jean-
Michel Basquiat. These rock stars
captured the popular imagination,
blazed bright like a meteor then fizzled
out like shooting stars.
The phenomenon of dying young has
been so analysed that someone came
up with the 27 Club – a constellation of
famous people who died at the age of 27
from drug overdose, alcohol addiction,
car or plane crashes as well as suicide or
homicide.
Most of them are white (Hendrix and
Basquiat no), most of them American
but has death ever boosted the career of
an African celebrity? The answer is yes
and the most famous must be Fela
Anikulapo Kuti, the iconic musician,
jazz aficionado and fiery activist who
was a thorn in the flesh of successive
military regimes.
Fela died 22 years ago at age 59. He
was nowhere near 27 and by that time
had adult children – Yeni, Femi, and
Shola, who died young. He was worldrenowned,
celebrated and hounded at
home. His residence, famously known
as Kalakuta Republic (named after the
prison cell he occupied while
incarcerated at Kirikiri prisons. His cell
was called Calcutta but Fela corrupted
it to Kalakuta) was raided on February
18, 1977, by what reports say were over
1,000 soldiers.
Denizens of the commune including
some of his wives were beaten and raped
By By Judith Ann-Walker
or the fifth year in succession,
Fthe health sector has been
relegated to a less significant sector
in terms of Nigeria’s national
priorities in the annual budget.
Both the 2014 Budget for Jobs
and Inclusive Growth and the 2015
Budget of Transition allocated only
5.78 percent to the health sector.
The 2016 Budget of Change was
no better with only a four percent
allocation.
This was also the case for the 2017
Budget of Economic Recovery and
Growth. The 2018 Budget of
Consolidation and the 2019 Budget
of Continuity allocated four percent,
4.4 percent, and 4.75 percent
respectively. With a gloomy 2020
global economic forecast and an
annual population growth rate of
2.6%, it is easy to be persuaded by
the government’s disproportionate
By Ezra Mabadeje
omewhat curiously, there
Sappears to be a belief that
illegal transmission of pay television
signal is no crime. And if at all it is,
perpetrators seem to believe that it a
less severe form of theft than piracy
of CDs, DVDs, and books for which,
understandably, there is a larger
market. My conviction that illegal
transmission television signal is
deemed harmless grew stronger last
week, following media reports of a
crackdown by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) on three Port Harcourtbased
cable television operators-
CANTV, Metro Digital TV and
Communication Trends Limited
(CTL)-all of which have been
redistributing content exclusive to
MultiChoice, StarTimes and Bein
Media, the Qatar-based broadcast
giants, among others, without
authorisation.
The three firms are members of
the Association of Cable Operators
of Nigeria (ACON), which claims to
have the right to steal content and
redistribute commercially.
To be clear, the alleged crime is no
novelty. As a matter of fact, the trio
has been at the game for years,
according to their lawyers. CTL, for
example, had its licence suspended
in 2010 for pirating the signal of the
defunct Hitv.
What, however, is new is the
audacity to claim that their illegal
activities benefit Nigerians in the
low-income brackets, who they claim
cannot afford the tariff of
MultiChoice, leading pay television
service provider, and StarTimes.
Death and the legacy of Fela Kuti
and the building burnt down but not
before his aged mother was thrown out
of the window. She died from her
injuries.
But the loss of his mother and his
republic did not diminish Fela’s
stridency. He remained militant to the
very end dying from complications
arising from HIV/AIDs just four months
after he left prison.
He was as well known for his music
as he was for his activism and today
when a musician or celebrity of
whatever stripe is conscious people
liken him or her to Fela.
But how did death boost Fela’s
career? Alive, Fela was mercurial and
tempestuous. His music albums were
mostly one song albums that sometimes
lasted for over 20 minutes. His intros
were famous for featuring call and
response choruses and then long jazz
pieces that seemed to go along for
interminable moments. Radio
stations found him a nightmare and
attempts by music labels to remaster
and cut short his songs for the new
CD technology were rebuffed. The
only close examples in contemporary
western music would be Bohemian
Rhapsody, the Queen song from the
1975 album “A Night at the Opera”
which clocks in at 6 minutes and then
Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield’s 1973
studio album which extends to 49
minutes. Fela was, therefore, a
peculiar kind of musical artist with
an oeuvre that was as potent
musically as it was politically. For
Fela, music was a weapon and one
he wielded in many ways as if it was
the lasso of truth with which he
whipped the military and autocrats
and kleptocrats into line.
His music was critical of soldiers
whom he called zombies but soldiers
prioritisation of the economy. Not
surprisingly, the 2020 budget,
dubbed Budget of Sustaining
Growth and Job Creation, similar
to the 2014 budget, focuses squarely
on economic development.
However, to balance off the
disproportionate focus on
infrastructure, transportation and
the economy the government of the
day has paid some limited attention
to the social sector by allocating
billions to social investment
programmes, education and SDG
5 - Achieving gender equality and
empowering all women and girls
which received more than half of
the 40billion allocated to SDG
funds.
Budgeting is a difficult task and
no government can satisfy all
sectoral interests. However, in
budgeting for the people, the
TV Signal Piracy: Dressing theft up as patriotism
To attract support for a clear
economic crime dressed up as propeople
activity, the operators sought
to invoke nationalistic fervor,
serving the public a mishmash of lies
such as the well-worn allegation that
MultiChoice seeks to crush
competition (by frowning at the theft
of its content) and claiming that they
are licensed by the National
Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
to redistribute content without the
owner’s authorisation. More
crudely, they sought refuge in the
recent anti-foreigner attacks in
South Africa, hoping it would reboot
local anger, thereby deflecting
attention from their crime.
Last Wednesday, one of the items
on the order paper of the House of
loved to listen to his music because it
was also critical of the government
and often plumbed the depths of the
pervasive social malaise and
political morass. Fela’s music was a
leveler and had an uncanny ability
for transcending class and gender,
moving fluidly between the
mainland and island and breaching
class strictures. Visitors to the Africa
Shrine in what is now Computer
Village in Ikeja, where Fela played
live sets every Friday when he was
not on tour would find bank CEOs
and messengers dancing and
smoking as they listened to Fela’s
music. The shrine was a democratic
locale where music was a unifying
factor. It is also important to note
how Fela’s music is at home in the
mouths of the rich as well as the poor
with men from different sides of the
track laying equal claim to the man,
musician, and prophet.
government must be consistent with
its own policy pronouncements on
the centrality of health in its human
development programme. The
2020 budget has done justice to
government guidelines on education
and social inclusion. But where is
health? The proposed 2020 budget
of the Federal Ministry of Health is
N427.30 billion, which amounts to
just 4.14 percent of the budget as
against the 4.75% of the 2019
approved budget. This means that
instead of moving forward we have
moved backward, losing the match
before the whistle is blown.
More worrisome is that the
statutory transfer of the one percent
Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)
has been cut by half. The federal
government has proposed N44.50
billion for the Basic Health Care
Fund in the 2020 budget. This does
Representatives was a motion by
Hon. Abdulganiyu Olododo. Titled
“Increasing Trend of Copyright
Piracy in Nigeria”, the motion
invited attention to the relentless
infringement of intellectual property
rights thereby rendering creativity
unattractive and impacting
negatively on the socio-economic
lives of Nigerians.
Olododo’s motion noted that
copyright piracy is defying the efforts
of government agencies, including
the Nigerian Copyright
Commission (NCC), and threatening
the country’s economic well-being.
This point has been studiously
ignored by the operators who,
according to reports, were billing
subscribers between N3, 000 and
N5,000 monthly for content
exclusively owned by others. Their
template seemed to have appealed
to the now-defunct TStv, which briefly
came to the market last year, falsely
claiming to have rights to premium
sporting, news/general
entertainment content and offering
such as impossibly low rates. But
before it rolled out, CNN, FOX
Entertainment and Bein wrote to the
NCC to state that there were no
content redistribution agreements
between them and TStv. Bein, in a
recent letter to the NCC, restated that
it has no content rights to operate in
Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Kenya
among other countries in sub-
Saharan Africa.
But ACON members, claimed they
have been paying licence fees as well
two percent turnover to the NBC,
whose code, they further claimed,
Fela’s death was devastating but in
dying, he seemed to step across the
threshold from legend into myth. His
death many say made his children
instant millionaires and then his
music re-mastered and available
widely on CD spawned a whole new
generation of fans, many of them not
yet born or mere toddlers when Fela
transited from this realm.
Today, Afrobeats, the musical genre
he pioneered is played across the
world from Portugal to the UK, the
US to Spain. Books have been
written about him, documentaries
shot and a Broadway show has
travelled the world presenting Fela
as maverick musician, activist, and
prophet.
But Fela’s reputation has been
cemented and augmented more by a
hybrid sound, a derivative christened
afrobeat and made popular by young
African musical artists who have
evolved a whole new sound described
by the poet and music Dami Ajayi as
having begun with the Kennis music
group, D Remedies.
According to Dr. Ajayi – “Afrobeats
is perhaps the biggest cultural export
from West Africa to the rest of Africa
and the world. There is little doubt
that this music of both Nigerian and
Ghanaian origins will continue to
enjoy mainstream global
prominence.
Afrobeats went mainstream in
Nigeria about two decades ago when
D Remedies, released their hit
song, Shako Mo, under Kennis
Music label. The song sampled
instrumentals from MC Lyte’s Keep
On Keeping On, which also,
interestingly, sampled Michael
Jackson’s Liberian Girl. With that
connection, one can easily link
2020 Health Budget: An appeal to NASS
The alleged crime is no
novelty; as a matter of
fact, the trio has been at
the game for years,
according to their
lawyers; CTL, for
example, had its licence
suspended in 2010 for
pirating the signal of the
defunct Hitv
not appear to be in accordance with
the National Health Act (2014). In
the Act, the federal government
ought to allocate at least one percent
of the Consolidated Revenue Fund
(CRF) for BHCF, which should be
about N81.55 billion.
In the face of this deprioritisation
and disinvestment in the health
sector, professional health
associations and Nigerian citizens
are calling upon the legislature to
reposition health as a catalytic sector
for national development. Civil
society organisations under the
Partnership for Advocacy in Child
and Family Health at Scale
(PACFaH@Scale) coalition, call on
legislatures not to be confused by
the argument that funds released to
the health sector are returned to the
treasury on an annual basis. This is
not an indication that the health
bars a single operator from having
exclusive rights to major sports
content.
In a letter to the EFCC by their
lawyers, the pirates claimed the antigraft
commission has no business in
the matter, as the crime alleged is not
financial in nature. But Abdulrasheed
Bawa, head of EFCC’s Port Harcourt
Zonal Office, said the EFCC is
empowered to deal with crimes that
are financial and economic in nature.
Section 40 of the EFCC Act defines
“economic crime” as “non-violent
criminal and illicit activity
committed with the objectives of
earning wealth illegally”. According
to the act, it includes any form of
fraud, narcotic drug trafficking,
money laundering, embezzlement,
bribery, looting and theft of
intellectual property and piracy
among others.
The NCC also has a dim view of
piracy. Section 51(1) of the Copyright
Act defines broadcast piracy as the
rebroadcast commercial scale,
without authorisation, of content
protected by copyright.
In September 2018, the NCC
threatened two Kaduna-based cable
television operators, ABG and QTV,
with suspension for unlicensed
broadcasting.
Augustine Amodu, NCC’s
Enforcement Director in Kaduna,
said the Commission received letters
from Aljazeera, Bein and Canal Plus
among other international
broadcasters that their content was
being redistributed illegally.
In its letter summoning the two
operators to its headquarters in
Afrobeat auspiciously to the late King
of Pop.
Today, Afrobeats, a fusion of Hip-
Hop and African rhythms, has since
eschewed overt Western influences in
favour of African idioms and musical
traditions. Highlife, Juju, Fuji, Apala,
Makossa, Sokous, and Afrobeats
have become cannon fodder for this
music and the benefits are
multidirectional. Ultimately, one can
argue that Afrobeats is making the
old new.”
But what has become clear is that
many of the biggest Afrobeats stars
have adopted FelaKuti as both muse
and creative forge. This year again as
we celebrate the life and times and
legacy of Fela Kuti during the
weeklong Felabration at Freedom
Park and beyond, we will be reminded
that his death has made him more
relevant than he ever was alive and a
bigger musical brand to boot.
The list is long but Uzoma Ihejirika
writing in the Lagos review attempts
to put it all in perspective - “Founded
21 years ago by Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti,
Felabration presents an opportunity
to acknowledge Fela Kuti’s
contribution through Afrobeats, the
genre of music he pioneered. His jazzinspired,
robust sound continues to
spark a creative flame in the hearts of
Nigerians—both admirers and
detractors who no matter what cannot
ignore Fela, the man and the musical
icon.
‘’That creative flame continues to
burn in contemporary Nigeria even
amongst artistes who were not born
or were mere children when Fela
became an ancestor. These artistes
have made the Afrobeats genre a
foundation upon which to speak
about their fears, their frustrations,
and their joys.”
•Toni Kan, an author, writes from
Lagos
sector is adequately funded. Rather,
this is evidence that late releases and
poor fiscal discipline lead to costs
overruns a host of incomplete health
sector capital projects. Happily, the
2020 budget lays emphasis on
completing ongoing projects
“rather than commencing new
ones.”
So as the 9th NASS studies,
reviews and analyses the 2020
budget, citizens of Nigeria call upon
the legislators to score a goal for
health. A goal for health is a goal
for every other sector- education,
infrastructure, transport and other
sectors. A healthy population is a
productive population.
*Ann-Walker is the Executive
Director, Development Research
and Projects Centre, anchors of the
Partnership for Advocacy in child
and family Health At Scale,
PACFaH@Scale.
Abuja, the NCC wrote: “After doing
vigilant surveillance and
investigation, we have found out that
the original and rightful owner of
the content you are transmitting is
MultiChoice. But ABG has gone
behind without getting due licensing
from MultiChoice to continue to
operate on the cable of MultiChoice.
The only people with the exclusive
license to broadcast English Premier
League, UEFA Champions League,
LaLiga among others is
MultiChoice Nigeria. So, we are
here to issue a very stern warning to
you to desist from this illegal act or
run the risk of been shut down.”
Also in Warri and Ughelli in Delta
State, the NCC seized illegal
broadcast equipment worth
N36.1million in anti-piracy
operations carried out between 13
and 16 March 2018. Similar
operations, leading to arrests and
prosecution, are routinely carried
out by the NCC-relying on extant
legislation. Bizarrely, the operators
busted in Port Harcourt believe that
their clearly criminal enterprise
deserves the support of Nigerians,
who they hope would get red-eyed
with rage at the reference to
MultiChoice’s South African
origins, hence the disingenuous use
of the recent xenophobic attacks,
cheap talk of monopoly and legless
pro-people stance.
In any language, stealing, even
with the desire to give to the less
privileged, spells crime in bold letters.
Cheap appeal to nationalism or
patriotism cannot deodorise a fetid
activity.
* Mabadeje, a public affairs
commentator, writes from Benin