Creator of the Yoruba Movie Awards, Tunde Oshinibosi, shares his big dreams for the entertainment industry with Ashiwaju.org.
The large turn-out of popular Yoruba acts such as, Fathia Balogun, Hafiz Oyetoro akaSaka, Odunlade Adekola and Mercy Aigbe and many others, no doubt, added colour to the second edition of the Yoruba Movie Awards event held in Ibadan, Oyo State, over the weekend.
But, unknown to many, including the stars present at the occasion, the glamorous ceremony almost existed only in the imagination of the initiator, seasoned Nigerian showbiz promoter, Tunde Oshinibosi, aka Laface.
This was as a result of the near-insurmountable challenges that trailed the planning process. Reliving his experience during the build-up to the awards, Laface said his efforts were nearly marred by bureaucracy.
“The major challenge I encountered was funding. It was so alarming and heart breaking experience for me. We had to beg for sponsorship, I had to sell my property (an uncompleted building) at a give-away price of N30m to fund the awards event. We spoke to the government and it took a lot of talking back and forth. I don’t know why we have to sell Yoruba content to a Yoruba speaking state.
“The Oyo State culture and tourism officials didn’t even key into my vision. Yet, they are supposed to be promoting culture and tourism. We were talking to them for close to a year. But, because of their indifferent attitude, we felt that if we didn’t take a stand and move on, the whole project would flop,” he says.
Now armed with sufficient funds, Laface, who studied business management at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, is on the verge of fulfilling his dream.
Laface’s passion for the Yoruba film industry is clearly too real to be ignored. He admits that after facilitating trips by international pop stars, such as Wyclef, Shaka Demus and Pliers, the late Lucky Dube and Naughty by Nature to Nigeria in the past, he felt an itch to give back to his roots-the Yoruba race.
“The idea was basically to generate an ‘Oscar’ for the Yoruba movie industry. If I have done everything across the world and not touched my root, I had this burning urge to help my people and the Yoruba movie industry. People like late Hubert Ogunde, Baba Sala, actually started what we now know as Nollywood, but the Yoruba movie industry fell by the way side because of branding issues.
“It is high time they came back to their rightful place, a clarion call to defend what is right and make it a major economy booster,” he notes.
With the hosting of the second edition of Yoruba Movie Awards, Laface has his eyes already fixed on Osun State, which will host the event later in the year. Not one to dream little, he already has lofty ideas for the ceremony.
He says, “It is a regional thing. We don’t want to keep it in one place. It will have to be hosted across the Yoruba states. I want to work with Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission because my award is in their purview. I want to expand the scope to include people who sincerely have the interest of the Yoruba movie industry at heart.
“The industry is not where it used to be many years ago, but a lot can still be done to salvage it. It is a movement. The perception is growing bigger. We want to go round the Yoruba states first and then spread into Yoruba affiliated cultures across the world, especially in countries like Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago. Then it will become a major tourist attraction.”
Laface, who says he derives fulfilment from earning the love of the ordinary Yoruba movie fan on the streets, will stop at nothing to improve on his past efforts.
“I am not by any chance a Father Christmas, but I am building for the future. I am trying to build a legacy-one that people will be proud of- in the form of an ‘Oscar’ for the Yoruba race. I worked with Jamaican dancehall star, Shaka Demus, during the Port-Harcourt carnival about a year ago. During that period, his girlfriend, who is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, requested to see some Nigerian movies. I initially thought she meant Nollywood, but she insisted on having subtitled Yoruba movies. That singular action further opened my eyes to better appreciate the highly commercial and exportable value of the Yoruba movie industry,” he says.