Nigeria Content Online

Bi-monthly
magazine, E24-7- is positioning itself to be an oracle on entertainment
information. Published by Biodun Kupoluyi, a seasoned entertainment
journalist, E24-7 has in a number of editions explored the hitherto
unexplored; celebrating the deserving and criticising the unremarkable.

The 70-page
publication spans the entertainment scene from the thespian to the
musical; and the intellectual to the inexplicably popular. It is safe
to say that after about two years of its circulation, E24-7 has
featured a good percentage of Nigeria’s seemingly inexhaustible showbiz
personalities.

With glossy pages,
attractive cover designs and headlines that tug at your penchant to
feed your curiosity on the elusive details on the lives of the
lionised, E24-7 features regular sections like: Frontrow – a panegyric
about celebrities who have in some way or the other developed their
immediate or remote environments; Spotted – quirky pictures of our
dearest celebrities showing them in less than pristine situations; News
– a double spread of short snippets of recent entertainment
developments, nationally and globally; and Movie/ Music Review, which
appraises the Nollywood and music industry offerings which have
inspired us or failed to do so.

E24-7 as expected
has metamorphosed severally in the quest to find its identity amongst
the proliferation of entertainment publications in Nigeria. However,
while reviewing issues Six and Nine, it was found that the former
edition possessed a better structure than the latter. While E24-7 does
not shy from mixing things up, there is something to be said for
sticking with a good template and making a signature of it.

The initiative that
inspired the publication, ‘30 People of the Year’, as the December 2009
edition must be lauded; as well as the selection criteria which ensured
that though a majority of the personalities who made up the list were
mainstream entertainment personalities, a few others – like pastor Paul
Adefarasin, leader of House on the Rock Church; and the trio of Adebola
Williams, Chude Jideonwo and Emilia Asim Ita, the initiators of The
Future Awards – who had contributed to social development in their own
remarkable ways, were recognised as well. Too little, too much.

But for all its
production quality, E24-7 has a number of shortcomings, which hopefully
are being addressed. Many of the celebrity reviews offer nothing new. A
reader, who has expended 500 naira to enjoy an edition of the magazine,
usually does this for the extra snippet of insight that the magazine
headlines suggest. I read a profile piece on Chocolate City in Issue
Nine, and I could not help but feel cheated. The profiles clued me in,
no more than I already was, about the lives and passions of the
foursome; especially MI, who admit it or not, is the most important
ambassador of the record label.

I moved on to issue
Six and was confronted with 23 pages on the Kuti clan. Reading piece
after glowing piece of copy on Femi Kuti and his family began to come
across like reading a paid advertisement. I’ll hasten to add, however,
that the piece did give a remarkable insight to, and kindle a fondness
for, the high achieving and seemingly misunderstood musician son of
Fela Kuti.

The most
fundamental problem that plagues the publication however is bad
editing. It rears its ugly head every so often when my eyes have to
skip back to the beginning of a sentence in a bid to decipher its
meaning. Errors in spelling, tenses and syntax; tautological
expressions, and overly effusive descriptions pepper the narratives.

Also columns need
to be ratified. While it is a prevalent media practice to treat
contributors’ pieces as ‘untouchables’, the editorial team should
reserve the right to set the intellectual standard of editorial
materials. And well below, what one would assume E24-7’s standard, was
Enitan Agbabiaka Ayeni’s piece, ‘The Lady in African Woman’, which
displayed a paucity of ideas and expression.

I read an
interesting article, in the ‘Flashback’ section of issue six. It was a
profile-cum-interview piece on The Lijadu Sisters, who had dominated
the Nigerian music scene in the 60s. Written about 30 years ago, the
short article gave wonderful insight on the bonds shared by the twins;
and the environment that contributed to their musical passion. It was
too dated to have been written by any E24-7 editorial staff. Alas, no
credit was given to the writer. Is this worthy of a plagiarism charge,
or am I just spoiling for a lawsuit?

That said, E24-7 fulfils the entertainment and enlightenment
objectives many publications of its ilk do not have the wherewithal to
achieve. It takes the serious and the humorous and delivers them in an
attractive package to its increasing reader-base. One can be quite
certain that as soon as the magazine rises above these (teething?)
problems – nothing that excellent editing won’t fix, E24-7 will emerge
the next height in entertainment reporting.

Bi-monthly
magazine, E24-7- is positioning itself to be an oracle on entertainment
information. Published by Biodun Kupoluyi, a seasoned entertainment
journalist, E24-7 has in a number of editions explored the hitherto
unexplored; celebrating the deserving and criticising the unremarkable.

The 70-page
publication spans the entertainment scene from the thespian to the
musical; and the intellectual to the inexplicably popular. It is safe
to say that after about two years of its circulation, E24-7 has
featured a good percentage of Nigeria’s seemingly inexhaustible showbiz
personalities.

With glossy pages,
attractive cover designs and headlines that tug at your penchant to
feed your curiosity on the elusive details on the lives of the
lionised, E24-7 features regular sections like: Frontrow – a panegyric
about celebrities who have in some way or the other developed their
immediate or remote environments; Spotted – quirky pictures of our
dearest celebrities showing them in less than pristine situations; News
– a double spread of short snippets of recent entertainment
developments, nationally and globally; and Movie/ Music Review, which
appraises the Nollywood and music industry offerings which have
inspired us or failed to do so.

E24-7 as expected
has metamorphosed severally in the quest to find its identity amongst
the proliferation of entertainment publications in Nigeria. However,
while reviewing issues Six and Nine, it was found that the former
edition possessed a better structure than the latter. While E24-7 does
not shy from mixing things up, there is something to be said for
sticking with a good template and making a signature of it.

The initiative that
inspired the publication, ‘30 People of the Year’, as the December 2009
edition must be lauded; as well as the selection criteria which ensured
that though a majority of the personalities who made up the list were
mainstream entertainment personalities, a few others – like pastor Paul
Adefarasin, leader of House on the Rock Church; and the trio of Adebola
Williams, Chude Jideonwo and Emilia Asim Ita, the initiators of The
Future Awards – who had contributed to social development in their own
remarkable ways, were recognised as well. Too little, too much.

But for all its
production quality, E24-7 has a number of shortcomings, which hopefully
are being addressed. Many of the celebrity reviews offer nothing new. A
reader, who has expended 500 naira to enjoy an edition of the magazine,
usually does this for the extra snippet of insight that the magazine
headlines suggest. I read a profile piece on Chocolate City in Issue
Nine, and I could not help but feel cheated. The profiles clued me in,
no more than I already was, about the lives and passions of the
foursome; especially MI, who admit it or not, is the most important
ambassador of the record label.

I moved on to issue
Six and was confronted with 23 pages on the Kuti clan. Reading piece
after glowing piece of copy on Femi Kuti and his family began to come
across like reading a paid advertisement. I’ll hasten to add, however,
that the piece did give a remarkable insight to, and kindle a fondness
for, the high achieving and seemingly misunderstood musician son of
Fela Kuti.

The most
fundamental problem that plagues the publication however is bad
editing. It rears its ugly head every so often when my eyes have to
skip back to the beginning of a sentence in a bid to decipher its
meaning. Errors in spelling, tenses and syntax; tautological
expressions, and overly effusive descriptions pepper the narratives.

Also columns need
to be ratified. While it is a prevalent media practice to treat
contributors’ pieces as ‘untouchables’, the editorial team should
reserve the right to set the intellectual standard of editorial
materials. And well below, what one would assume E24-7’s standard, was
Enitan Agbabiaka Ayeni’s piece, ‘The Lady in African Woman’, which
displayed a paucity of ideas and expression.

I read an
interesting article, in the ‘Flashback’ section of issue six. It was a
profile-cum-interview piece on The Lijadu Sisters, who had dominated
the Nigerian music scene in the 60s. Written about 30 years ago, the
short article gave wonderful insight on the bonds shared by the twins;
and the environment that contributed to their musical passion. It was
too dated to have been written by any E24-7 editorial staff. Alas, no
credit was given to the writer. Is this worthy of a plagiarism charge,
or am I just spoiling for a lawsuit?

That said, E24-7 fulfils the entertainment and enlightenment
objectives many publications of its ilk do not have the wherewithal to
achieve. It takes the serious and the humorous and delivers them in an
attractive package to its increasing reader-base. One can be quite
certain that as soon as the magazine rises above these (teething?)
problems – nothing that excellent editing won’t fix, E24-7 will emerge
the next height in entertainment reporting.

Now that I’ve written one book that you’ve probably never heard of, I’m going to tell you how to become a writer:

1. You must read.
Read widely, read voraciously, read intelligently. And before you say
“Aha, I already read!” . . . I mean books. Not the Arts and Culture
pages of Next newspaper, not the gossip column in Encomium, not the
latest post on MrNaijaTomTom.blogspot.com—I mean real, dog-ear-able,
paper books.

2. Read fiction.
Romance, historical, spy, fantasy, mystery, literary, Hints
magazine—all are fiction. Read nonfiction. “Breaking the Yoke of
Ancestral Curses” by Apostle Malachi Paul and “Why We Struck” by
Adewale Ademoyega are both works of non-fiction, but I recommend the
latter. Read drama. However, if you find plays hard to get into, which,
let’s face it, you probably do, don’t worry, there’s always
Theatre@Terra. As for poetry: only read it if you truly, genuinely love
your mother.

3. A final word on
reading: read books by African writers, too. Reading Stephen King is
fine, or Toni Morrison if you like that highfalutin stuff, but these
two writers are American, and one is white and the other black, one is
male and the other female, one has soft straight hair and the other
rocks natty dreads. My point is: how can you be a Gabonese writer if
you don’t read Gabonese writers? How you can be ordained the next great
African writer—by the New York Times, of course—if you don’t read
African writers?

4. I lied: this is
the final word on reading. To earn the right to be called a Nigerian
writer, one must have read Olaudah Equiano, Zulu Sofola, or Helen
Ovbiagele. If you haven’t read any of these writers, refer to the title
of this piece.

5. You still want
to be a writer? Ok. But first, some essentials. Grow dreadlocks, or at
least an afro. Move into Ajegunle, or Nembe Waterside, or any
shantytown where you can still find affordable housing. Get rid of your
car and commute by danfo, or better still, walk. Renounce religion,
give up your job, take up alcohol and cigarettes, and wear batik
shirts. Steal from family, lie like an honest politician, choose your
friends based on the criterion that they come from wealthy families,
and hob-nob with the literati, or cognoscenti, or whatever they call
themselves these days. I promise you, you cannot write a book unless
you first get a life.

6. Alternatively .
. . bag a PhD in Classics, or Anthropology, or Wildlife and Fisheries.
Then get a job as a university lecturer, publish your manuscripts with
roadside printers, foist your books on your students, beg or bully your
colleagues into writing longwinded dissertations on the significance of
your contribution to sub-Saharan literature, get a professorship, and
retire to the oh so happy life of ANA conventions.

7. Now, to the
craft of writing. My advice: go online. Wikipedia has gigabytes more
information on that hocus-pocus than one thousand and one clones of
Chinua Achebe can ever teach you. Since we’re on the subject of craft,
here’s something to remember after you’ve written your book: never,
ever, ever read what the newspaper reviewers write about your work. The
dearth of critical insight and the utter lack of writing ability
exhibited by this claque of shysters might blind you to your own
shortcomings.

8. Self-promotion.
An essential skill for any self-appointed writer. Possession of this
knack is an Abuja road to success. Self-promotion is more important
than number 1, more important than number 7, and most certainly more
important than numbers 5 or 6. As a writer who has any intention of
grabbing her share of attention in these clamorous days of
every-blogger-is-a-writer, you must first and foremost promote
yourself. There are ninety-nine ways to achieve this goal, but here’s
one that’s sure-fire: have your girlfriend take a photo of you, a
headshot preferably, with your chin resting in your hand and a faraway
look in your eyes; then create a Facebook fan page and set this photo
as your profile image; then “friend” any Tom, Dick or Harry who has
4999 friends and beg him, beseech him, implore him to invite all his
friends to “like” your page. Voila, bwana—instant celebrity.

9. Now that you’ve
rediscovered reading, and increased your chances of dying from cancer,
and acquired some knowledge of the awfulness of those pesky –ly
adverbs, and claimed your spot on Google Search; now, fellow writer,
now you must write that book. And you will, we know you will, because
everybody and their little sisters expect you to.

10. A final word on
everything: if after applying these tips you still find that you’re
unable to produce a book, then forget it, get a job, or kill yourself:
you’re not a writer.

A. Igoni Barrett is the author of ‘From Caves of Rotten Teeth’.

Now that I’ve written one book that you’ve probably never heard of, I’m going to tell you how to become a writer:

1. You must read.
Read widely, read voraciously, read intelligently. And before you say
“Aha, I already read!” . . . I mean books. Not the Arts and Culture
pages of Next newspaper, not the gossip column in Encomium, not the
latest post on MrNaijaTomTom.blogspot.com—I mean real, dog-ear-able,
paper books.

2. Read fiction.
Romance, historical, spy, fantasy, mystery, literary, Hints
magazine—all are fiction. Read nonfiction. “Breaking the Yoke of
Ancestral Curses” by Apostle Malachi Paul and “Why We Struck” by
Adewale Ademoyega are both works of non-fiction, but I recommend the
latter. Read drama. However, if you find plays hard to get into, which,
let’s face it, you probably do, don’t worry, there’s always
Theatre@Terra. As for poetry: only read it if you truly, genuinely love
your mother.

3. A final word on
reading: read books by African writers, too. Reading Stephen King is
fine, or Toni Morrison if you like that highfalutin stuff, but these
two writers are American, and one is white and the other black, one is
male and the other female, one has soft straight hair and the other
rocks natty dreads. My point is: how can you be a Gabonese writer if
you don’t read Gabonese writers? How you can be ordained the next great
African writer—by the New York Times, of course—if you don’t read
African writers?

4. I lied: this is
the final word on reading. To earn the right to be called a Nigerian
writer, one must have read Olaudah Equiano, Zulu Sofola, or Helen
Ovbiagele. If you haven’t read any of these writers, refer to the title
of this piece.

5. You still want
to be a writer? Ok. But first, some essentials. Grow dreadlocks, or at
least an afro. Move into Ajegunle, or Nembe Waterside, or any
shantytown where you can still find affordable housing. Get rid of your
car and commute by danfo, or better still, walk. Renounce religion,
give up your job, take up alcohol and cigarettes, and wear batik
shirts. Steal from family, lie like an honest politician, choose your
friends based on the criterion that they come from wealthy families,
and hob-nob with the literati, or cognoscenti, or whatever they call
themselves these days. I promise you, you cannot write a book unless
you first get a life.

6. Alternatively .
. . bag a PhD in Classics, or Anthropology, or Wildlife and Fisheries.
Then get a job as a university lecturer, publish your manuscripts with
roadside printers, foist your books on your students, beg or bully your
colleagues into writing longwinded dissertations on the significance of
your contribution to sub-Saharan literature, get a professorship, and
retire to the oh so happy life of ANA conventions.

7. Now, to the
craft of writing. My advice: go online. Wikipedia has gigabytes more
information on that hocus-pocus than one thousand and one clones of
Chinua Achebe can ever teach you. Since we’re on the subject of craft,
here’s something to remember after you’ve written your book: never,
ever, ever read what the newspaper reviewers write about your work. The
dearth of critical insight and the utter lack of writing ability
exhibited by this claque of shysters might blind you to your own
shortcomings.

8. Self-promotion.
An essential skill for any self-appointed writer. Possession of this
knack is an Abuja road to success. Self-promotion is more important
than number 1, more important than number 7, and most certainly more
important than numbers 5 or 6. As a writer who has any intention of
grabbing her share of attention in these clamorous days of
every-blogger-is-a-writer, you must first and foremost promote
yourself. There are ninety-nine ways to achieve this goal, but here’s
one that’s sure-fire: have your girlfriend take a photo of you, a
headshot preferably, with your chin resting in your hand and a faraway
look in your eyes; then create a Facebook fan page and set this photo
as your profile image; then “friend” any Tom, Dick or Harry who has
4999 friends and beg him, beseech him, implore him to invite all his
friends to “like” your page. Voila, bwana—instant celebrity.

9. Now that you’ve
rediscovered reading, and increased your chances of dying from cancer,
and acquired some knowledge of the awfulness of those pesky –ly
adverbs, and claimed your spot on Google Search; now, fellow writer,
now you must write that book. And you will, we know you will, because
everybody and their little sisters expect you to.

10. A final word on
everything: if after applying these tips you still find that you’re
unable to produce a book, then forget it, get a job, or kill yourself:
you’re not a writer.

A. Igoni Barrett is the author of ‘From Caves of Rotten Teeth’.

Thresholds: Salon
art exhibition by Treasure House Fine Arts Gallery, featuring various
artists – Protea Hotel, Ikoyi Westwood, 22 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
September 24 till October 3.

‘1979’: A Peep into
History and Culture by Tam Fiofori – – Thought Pyramid Art Gallery,
Parakou Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja. September 23 to October 7.

TuFace in Concert:
Hosted by Basket Mouth – The New Expo Hall, Eko Hotel & Suites,
Victoria Island, Lagos. 7pm. September 26.

Oluronbi: The
musical celebrates Naija @ 50. 3pm & 6pm. MUSON Centre. September
26 & October 2; National Theatre – October 3.

The Story of
Slavery: Excursion to Badagry – Departs Ikeja, Lagos @ 9am. Price: N5,
000. Info: 08039732757/ tariebanks@yahoo.com. October 1.

Fragments: Exhibition by Sam Ebohon. 5pm. Omenka Gallery, 24, Ikoyi Crescent, Ikoyi, Lagos. September 24 till October 8.

Langbodo: Stage drama by Late Wole Ogunyemi. 12 noon, 3 pm and 6 pm. Main Auditorium, University of Lagos. October 1 to 3.

Ayetoro live: Music performance directed by Funsho Ogundipe. 6pm. Lagos Oriental Hotel, Lekki. September 26. RSVP: 07029454443.

Lagos ancient to
modern, 1960 to 2010: Photo/Art exhibition. 7pm daily. Federal Palace
Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. Till October 1.

Eko for Show: Boat Regatta. 10am. The Boat Club, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. September 27. Invitation only.

Yeepa! Solarin Nbo: play by Tunde Kelani and Mufu Onifade. 5pm. MUSON centre, Onikan, Lagos
& National Theatre, Lagos. September 28 & 29.

Fere Bi Ekun (A callous and notorious brigand): play by Adebayo Faleti. 6pm. Glover Hall, Ikoyi, Lagos. September 28.

Ajantala: A
playwright’s interpretation of Nigeria over 49 years. 1pm & 8pm.
MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos & National Theatre, Lagos. October 9,
15 & 19. Invitation only.

Sound, Style and
Cuisine of Lagos: A celebration of Lagos culture. 6pm. Venues: Ikorodu
Town Hall; Epe Recreation Club; 10 Degrees Event Centre, Ikeja; Lagos
City Hall; Badagry French Village. September 29. Invitation only.

Eyo Festival: 9am. Lagos Island. October 2.

Anatomy of our
Independence: Art Exhibition by Society of Nigerian Artists. 11am.
Women Development Centre, Abuja. September 27 till October 1.

Please send details of art events 10 days in advance by SMS (07034086014) or email: culture@234next.com.