Corruption Is A Product Of The Kind Of Educational System We Have – Bigger Jonathan Ibekwe

A Nigerian, Mr. Bigger Jonathan Ibekwe, Music Evangelist, a Chinese language interpreter and translator and an entrepreneur, who runs a factory where he produces consumables spoke with P.M.EXPRESS’ Cyriacus Izuekwe on the economy and other burning national issues.

Question: Recently you released an album which is gradually coming into the market. Can you tell us your motivation?

Answer: I said that I am a Music Evangelist; I use music to spread the gospel. The motivation is that I want people to hear the gospel and to discuss God, the end time and heaven. I want people to know that our staying here is quite short and very transient and also to promote the work of God.
Question: Sir, before we continue, are you an apostle or minister?

Answer: I worship with the Watchman Catholic Charismatic Movement and by His grace I am a prospective pastor. But for now, I am a moderator wishing that when it pleases the Lord He will call me into discipleship.
Question: Sir, as an entrepreneur and a gospel artist how do you bring the two of them together because we know that you are very busy?

Answer: Everyday is made up of 24 hours and in a day you may work for highest maybe 12 hours. Then in the night what happens to your night? What do you do with your night? At my age, I recently clocked 52; I don’t do 8 hours sleep this time around as I try to divide my night. I may be asleep but I still give two hours to creativity for the fulfillment of self, because if you do not fulfill yourself it will choke you and one day it will choke you to death. So, I do most of my music work and creative works at night.
Question: Sir, when I listened to your music one thing struck my mind; the passion with which the music was produced because one will feel it once one listens to the music. How did it come about? Is it in you or you just learned it in the process?

Answer: In the first place, I am Theatre Artist. I read Theatre Arts at the University of Benin, Kewan Campus. So, you know Theatre Arts was of the Department of Creative Arts then and one of those courses 101 talked about music and God of creation. And when that God of creation favours you, you will discover yourself busting into some creativity. It might be poetry, it might be music and it might be artwork. Also my mother sings for the people; she is a strong local musician she composes music so much. So I believe that I inherited that creativity from her then coupled with my training in the arts. You can see the combination now brings out all these.
Question: You also read Mass Communications and it must have assisted you in both your music and other activities you embarked on

Answer: Yes, I studied Mass Communications at the Nigeria Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos.
Question: What do you think about those artists who produce and do not benefit?

Answer:  My take is that, you see the Nollywood, music industry; they are gradually passing through a process. As time goes on, I am very confident that the process will evolve and bring out an arrangement that will allow Nollywood to benefit from their creative works. The issue of piracy is there, the issue of marketing patterns is there; people produce some very good music but because they don’t have the means to showcase it to the public they die down. Now the ones who have actually come to limelight, because they have the resources to produce works, you see them selling works that are not beautiful, selling words that are rude to the ears, you see them selling those works because they are established and they still have audience. But I am very confident that the process we are passing through right now will come to a situation where the proper arrangements will be put in place and good works will be appreciated and this piracy of a thing will subside and people will begin to reap from their creative works and their intellectual output.
Question: Sir, with this music as a performer, to what extent do you want to go?

Answer:  I keep telling my wife and anyone who wants to hear that Mr. Bigger is into music and will continue to be into music as long as I am alive. I really hope to retire into music; I hope to have studios as time goes on, I hope to promote young artists in a world standard studio. And to let you know, we are presently incorporating an outfit we called Promo Functions and Services Limited.
Question: I was about to ask you; tell us about the Promo Functions and Services Limited.

Answer: The Promo Functions and Services Limited is an outfit we are putting up to cater for the promotion of intellectual properties. A lot of young men in the society who are very creative who are not having the opportunity of being aired, lot of them have approached me asking what can we do, what can I do for them? And when I listened to what they have I am motivated and inspired. I prayed over it and the Lord asked me that I should bring up an outfit that should begin to cater for these young men and women so that the society will be giving them their ears.
Question: How do you intend to carry out your mission?

Answer:  As the name implies promotional functionality, it will be totally involved in anything promotable such as musical works, artistic works, creative works, books, and anything that requires promotion even products promotion. We want to make it an all encompassing outfit that will be involved in promotion. We want to make something that has not happened here before and I am trying to involve some foreigners; some expatriates are working with me so that is how we plan to do it.
Question: How do you now bring your music and the Promo Functions together?

Answer: Music is about promotion, so two of them work together. Do you get? The music I do requires promotion, the music these young men do requires promotion too. So it is to create a platform that will be involved in promotion, reach agreements with some private radio stations, some newspapers organisations, and some information communication technology operators and let the public know about what we are promoting and map out our strategy.
Question: But the target is the youth?

Answer: No, the target is not only the youth; the target is every creative person.
Question: How do intend to achieve much because many people especially the youths need this assistance?

Answer: Let me tell you presently, the organisation I head has up to 428 workers. When Promo Functions starts, it will employ a lot of hands; a lot of experts and presently we are trying to make it a regional thing. In each of the six regions of the country, we place an office where works can be submitted. We will look into them; we listen to them and see if they are qualified to earn our commitment and that’s it.
Question: Which means all the geopolitical zones will be affected?

Answer: Yes, we talked about six locations that we are working on but we want to first of all start with South East, South South, South West and Abuja. They will be the first places that we will establish our outlets.
Question: Sir, before I move to the next question can you perform on stage?
Answer: Oh! I am a Theatre Artist! I perform so much on stage and already I have two occasions this Christmas that I will be performing on stage. I love performing on stage; I am a Theatre Artist. I do better when I am on stage and I told you that I am a moderator in the church. The church stage is the stage where you see me best filled with Holy Spirit singing to the Lord. When I sing to the Lord on stage you will like me.
Question: Another issue I want you to talk on is that of entrepreneur. How are you coping with the current economic situation in the country?
Answer:  My brother, I believe in Nigeria. The government does not seem to understand what is required to keep the country moving; they have lots of short-sighted visions. They talk about unemployment here, China is having close to 1.8 billion citizens and China is feeding everybody perfectly. I remember sometime around 1993 /1994 when I went to Taiwan, the Chinese were migrating to Taiwan to seek for work and the Taiwanese were pursuing them; that was when the then President of Taiwan was there. And when the Chinese realised that, they decided to put on their thinking cap and lured companies in Taiwan and from all over the world to come and establish their plans in China factories. In Japan factories, in the United States factories, in Germany, they lured them to come and establish their plans in China because labour there was very cheap. They provided them with lands and everything to convince them. They gave them tax free years and before you know it people from mainland China were no longer coming to Taiwan. Many of the Chinese factories were moving to mainland China, so they were able to employ their citizens. For the ones that could not get employment, they then mechanised agriculture and ensured that everybody was doing something. That’s the result we are seeing today but in Nigeria nothing seems to be working
Question: Where did we go wrong?

Answer: Leadership. When we were in secondary school, there was a little book written by Chinua Achebe “The Struggle of Nigeria”. He said that the struggle of Nigeria is nothing but leadership. The truth of the matter is that people who are not confirmed to lead are leading.
Question: What is the solution?

Answer: The solution is that the youth should rise up. The youth should be tired of this analogue leadership and take over their destiny. The youth of this country is being destroyed. I remember the book called Wasted Generation written by Wole Soyinka. The youth of this present age are creating another wasted generation; they are given little money and they jump into wagons campaigning for a man that has been in power and has been receiving N85 million and he comes to give them peanuts. If we are to start this change here, the youth in the university, the youth in the Army, the youth in the Navy, the youth in the Police, the youth everywhere should rise up and challenge the status quo.
Question: But the Youths seem to be the problem because they are not organized?

Answer: The leaders have so weaponized poverty that they now deprive the youth of the opportunity of working and because of that they have to struggle to survive. The youths have to survive and that is why you can now go somewhere and say we have lazy youth. What effort have the government made to employ these youths and they refused to work?  How many factories have we created for jobs? As they have weaponized poverty on the youths, that is why it seemed like the youths do not want to work.
Question: Talk about education, it is said that majority of the graduates are unemployable. Can you dispute or comment on that?

Answer: The standard of education is very low. For example, you want to conduct an interview and you give forms to prospective employees and you discover that the elementary things that they are supposed to put there are not there and I begin to wonder which university did you go to?  What course did you study? And they are like, I read this and that. I think they have to restructure the educational system. Sweden has the best educational system in the whole world and in Sweden you start going to school when you are almost 10-12 years. But in Nigeria someone of 3 years starts school and at the age of 16 they are in the university. Our educational system is so theoretical; in Taiwan and China they do not focus on certificates but prefer what one knows. In Taiwan or China, they emphasize on practicals. A plumber, an electrician or carpenter knows the work but here after university you tell your son to go fix the plug of the car, he does not even know how to open the bonnet of the car. But in Japan or China, a young boy will bring a tool box. Actually there is a Japanese shop – it is a multi-departmental store; all they sell are tools. And if you are in a particular school and you have not started going to the shop to buy tools to do some little works, you have not started going to school. When you come out, you do not even look for job.
Question: Now, this issue of corruption; how does corruption come into all the things you are saying?
Answer: You see corruption which is one of the major problems we have in this country is a product of the kind of educational system we have. When the society you belong to gives so much accolades to achievements or material wealth, the person who is a clerk in a place will want to own one of the best houses in the village but his salary is not enough to build a 4 bedroom flat. Look at a Local Government Chairman, who before he became a Chairman never had a car but because of one godfather he became a Local Government Chairman, he will still go and buy a new SUV and build a house within a space of three years. And nobody asks how and where did you get this? And people are telling me the government is fighting corruption? Fighting corruption my foot! When we allow the society itself to value material wealth over everything?