5 January 2009
analysis
With the year 2008 ending and another one just began, it is important to look at one very significant moment that altered the lives of some very young people. Although such moments may exist in different fields a particular instance in the telecommunications industry, in the mobile sector has refused to go away.
And this perhaps is one of the reasons quite a number of people are restrained in using some low moments in the industry to condemn and judge the entire achievement of the sector. Because when they judge and cast aspersions, they fail to realise the plethora of advantages coming directly from the sector and the other far-reaching end that has touched the lives of so many people in the country.
So it is safer to look at an industry that has done very well in the past eight years. However it is not the industry that is being discussed here but a major spin-off from the sector which for long will remain very memorable in the life of TV viewers and for those involved in the process themselves.
MTN Project Fame West Africa will remain one of the key points of 2008 because through that programme something very positive happened to some young people and in the finals; they shone like some like "some diamonds in the sky," if you permit that kindergarten cliché.
The talent hunt programme by its sheer nature of production challenges looked nearly impossible. But through an act of doggedness and tenacity, Femi Ayeni, who has already made a name as the producer of Who Wants to be a Millionaire pulled it off and gave a dream life to young men and women who triumphed at the end.
Ten hectic weeks was all it took for the young fellows gathered from different parts of West Africa to be turned into real stars that can reach out to the skies. That December 6, 2008 will ever remain memorable. Although their greatest performance took place the previous day, nobody was in doubt that the final four - Praise Adejo, Annette Cookey, Nii Ankra and Inyanyan Mbuk deserved what they got - lots of gift and encomiums and a heavy shove to stardom. Even the parting packages were designed in such a way that everybody got something.
Looking at these young fellows standing before the audience in sparkling new personalities, former NTA Programmes Director, Mr. Peter Igho, who was part of the show from the beginning said: "I was here the night all of you came into the Academy. Tonight I saw what came out of it."
In an environment like ours where people are fast losing self esteem, everybody had something to say about a process that could transform life so instantaneously. Within weeks a life in limbo had been replaced with a life in the limelight. Keeping their own part of the bargain, to remain focused and disciplined, most of those young fellows who were in the academy will no longer return to the backwaters any more but remain under the klieg lights.
More than most reality shows that are springing up on the various television stations Project Fame has lived up to billing in not only bringing the young minds to limelight but to also prove the talent pool that is available across the West Africa Sub-Region. MTN has spent money well in trying to give something back to society and this is the reason people are pleading that the show shouldn't come to an end.
As one Academy official put it, "just looking at you now is enough to know that whatever money has been put into this show is well spent on you."
But just as a number of people are saying this is great show should be encouraged, the final four are the frontline proponents of the show that must go on. Looking at what had happened to their lives in so short a time, Iyanya, after assessing the Academy staff for their immense contributions, spared a word for the show. "I am trying to coin a new word to say how wonderful MTN is. Just three months ago, I was an ordinary guy but today, I have people loving me, I am so grateful to them and Ultima Communications and Endemol," he said.
"I just want to say a big thank you to everybody. It is easy to have a dream but it is difficult to put it into reality. What MTN,Ultima and Endemol have done is to make our dreams reality for us," Nii said of the programme that has brought him so much fun and fame.
The only girl Annette in the final four saw the impact of the show on her life differently. "I did not necessarily come to win the competition but to build a career." But moving forward she had an advice for the next edition. "Work hard and start saving your voices now for audition because the work starts now, don't think you are too much," she told potential candidates.
"The whole team made my dreams come through. May their business grow," Praise said of the Academy and especially Ultima Communications and MTN. However, he told the next set of students "to work hard, its gonna be tough, but don't give up, and always keep God first."
It was the first time the global talent hunt programme, Project Fame was coming to West Africa through MTN and Ultima Communications, courtesy of Endemol. With such life-transforming result there is little doubt that it has come to stay. The advice from most of the participants - the Academy staff and the students as well - is for preparations for the next edition to begin early.
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