Tosin Akingboye: Big Brother Naija is Not The Problem! Checking Nigerians & Misplaced Priorities

I read the news of an NGO calling for Nigerians’ signatures on a petition to stop BBNaija with irritation.

For the life of me, I couldn’t (still cannot) understand how in a country filled with varying degrees of moral decadence in different forms, ending a TV programme is the NGO’s topmost priority. Let’s look at the reasons they gave for calling for the petition (and my criticism of the “reasons”):

• Mockery of Nigerian culture & tradition – the same Nigerian culture & tradition that allows a child get married in some parts of the country? Okay.
• Their children are glued to the TV watching the show – (now I’m screaming in my Cookie Lyon’s voice) there is a reason parental guidance is there! In fact, you can block the station from being viewed by your children! How on earth are you blaming a show for your own parental inadequacies?

And to think that the same children “they” are worried about have internet-enabled phones (given to them by the same parents) that they can use to browse things worse than BBNaija!

It is such a shame that in a country that Domestic Violence, Sexual Harassment, Child Molestation, Inhumane treatment of Children (due to religious reasons), are rampant, what concerns an NGO is what people decide to pay for & watch in their homes.

Politicians are robbing the coffers of the country like there is no tomorrow, and this NGO didn’t think to call for a petition to put in place a very stiff punitive measure for guilty politicians.

They didn’t call for a petition to ask our legislative arm to reduce their outrageous allowances!

Parents are giving out their underaged children as brides, I assume that’s not as important as the immorality BBNaija is passing on, right?

Someone “mismanaged” the funds meant for feeding the IDP camps & no single petition went out from this NGO.

It is getting worrisome that we place higher priority on unimportant things. Maybe BBNaija is immoral, maybe it’s not, but I believe we have not gotten to the level in which clamoring for its discontinuance is our most important cause.

So let’s say, they stop airing it…will that make a pedophile not rape their brother’s child…when they know they’d probably be let go at the end of the day?

Maybe that wife that has been beating her husband (before BBNaija started) & the Police has done nothing about, will suddenly stop being violent the minute BBNaija is banned.

Like Yorubas would say, you don’t leave leprosy & say you want to focus on a small patch of skin that has rash.

I think it’s time we put all our focus on things that matter & let parents who are worried about their kids watching BBNaija be better parents!

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