September 4, (THEWILL) – Divine Ikubor, better known as Rema, has called on his colleagues in the Nigeria music industry to support and protect the institution that put them on the global map.
The singer made this passionate call at the just concluded Headies award, which was held on Sunday, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Atlanta, USA.
The award ceremony, which was a celebration of Afrobeats and African culture, had its 16th edition on Sunday.
Rema won in three categories, the ‘Best Male Artiste’, ‘Digital Artiste Of The Year’ and ‘African Artiste of the Year’.
While receiving his awards, he gave a thought-provoking speech in Atlanta, where he made it known that artistes should not look down on the institution that gave them fame and name.
“I must say it is very important that I must let everyone know that I am not here because of the award. I am here because it is important to support our institutions. When I say institutions, I mean you know the body that supports you to be able to have these major successes. The media houses, the awards”, he said.
“I feel like we are in a very sensitive period that if we do not give attention to our institutions, with this chance that we have, if we miss this chance, we will never have this chance again.
“You can see, even in Lagos or in Nigeria, the fans do not even trust the artistes anymore. They don’t buy tickets anymore. We own Afrobeats. Until this year, Afro Nation is coming to Nigeria. Afro Nation has been doing Portugal. Afro Nation has been doing Ghana. I mean our institutions are failing slowly and slowly.
“And it will affect us big time. And that is the reason why I am here. Be it Afro rave, Afro this, Afro that, last last we go jam for Afrobeats award. This is our chance. We are not the first African giant that will make it big. Reggae has done its own. There is a reason why we are doing what we are doing right now. We are bigger. This is our chance to protect what we have.”
Rema’s speech came a few days after Burna Boy looked down on one of Nigeria’s popular music genre, Afrobeats.
The singer revealed that the genre lacks substance.
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