DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Endurance or Survival?

Fresh from another session of consolation for my friend who is currently fighting for her life in her marriage, I began to ponder on the roles played by the victims themselves in encouraging violence in such marriages. I try always not to be a “modaru” (intruder) in anyone’s marriage whenever such conflicts are being discussed, but then, the truth should be told.

I don’t know about you, but I think one of the reasons why some women continue to suffer domestic abuse is because they cover up for their husbands. Many were taught to protect their marriage, especially by “marriage counselors” who plant this stereotyped brand of matrimonial secrecy in them. They’ve been warned that the only way a marriage could work is when you avoid third parties and you settle all conflict internally. That’s very good, but... Ok.

I’m not against privacy in marriage, in fact, I don’t joke with my privacy and you dare not invade it. But my point is; there’s a limit to such secrecy. What are you really bothered about when you cover up for a man who bashes you at every little provocation? Most times the answer is “what people will say”. We all have a couple of those bad-mouthed family or friends who will jeer at us when we fail, but isn’t it better to get mocked while you’re alive than getting blamed for your own death after you’re gone?

Besides, no matter how well you try to be upright, people will still talk about you anyway, so why not just do what is best for your life and move on? Speak out! Seek help and stop hiding behind those stupid, fake loved-up pictures you post on social media. Who are you fooling? You keep hoping and praying he will change. When exactly? After you’re dead? It’s even worse when they blame the devil! Smh!

I know a lot of men endure victimization in some ways too. You protect your wife creating the impression that she’s a diva, she’s your queen. You don’t want the wifey-inlaw drama so you make everyone believe you’re married to the best woman in the world. Nobody knows she’s a monster back home until she pushes you to the wall, when you reach your boiling point, you hit her…

Guess what... There’s no better way to announce yourself to the world as the biggest monster than to beat up the “best woman in the world”. So your years of keeping the secrets of her behaviours and enduring them have won you nothing but stigma... That’s if she’s not courageous enough to stab you in your sleep.

So people, why don’t you think beyond those counsels that teach you how to endure but never teach you how to survive? They promise you how bright the future is if you endure but never reminding you how dark the graveyard is in case you die. Think about it, only the living can hope and endure.

To all the real men out there who have stayed strong and mature, never beaten their wives or any woman for that matter, I salute you including my humble self and I pray “may you walk and never stumble”.

To my enduring lady friend, hmmm… I pray God heals your recent wounds, clean your old scars and above all, I pray you survive. You will survive!

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP Part 4: Basic Steps to Building Relationships in Marketing.

This is perhaps the most instructive of the series and hopefully the last one. Having treated the concepts of relationship marketing as a practice, its benefits to firms and its benefits to customers, it is important to discuss how it can be practiced in order to relish its many benefits. This will particularly be very useful to entrepreneurs and small scale businesses.

Almost all companies can make a start with relationship marketing by identifying the ‘key customers’. But the one thing that must be remembered is that most customers want a single interface with the company; they don’t like to deal with several departments to put together all that they want from the company. So the relationship manager or the account manager, whatever the designation, should have access to enough resources and backup to resolve any problem the client needs tackled. The account manager also needs to be tuned into the client’s organization.

A number of companies are today trying to create structures that allow proper relationship building with their valued clients. The account manager or the relationship manager is one of the keys to relationship marketing. He acts as much as an internal consultant to the customer as the representative of the company he is employed with. The account manager is the main contact point for the customer with the supplying organization and he makes sure that the customer’s needs are taken care of in the most efficient manner possible.

Relationship marketing may be regarded a process which requires basic steps to carrying it out and it would benefit account managers or relationship managers if they consider using the following recommended steps:

- Creating a database

- Gathering more information about enlisted persons

- Identifying key customers

- Creating customer profile

- Getting closer to the customer

- Maintaining relations

CREATING A DATABASE

In relationship marketing, firms are required to gather intimate information about the customer and then use that knowledge to sharpen the marketing focus. The database, therefore, is at the heart of this new marketing methodology. Many firms acquire the data from database companies like Datamatics or card issuers like American Express, for a fee per name depending on the list quality.

For example, a popular magazine called Reader’s Digest uses its primary source to generate the database. It asks its subscribers to suggest names of 14 people who they think will want to subscribe to the magazine. In return the subscriber gets a small gift, usually a book. On an average, the magazine gets a million names every year to make a pitch for fresh subscription.

Most companies use a combination of commercially available and self-generated database because generally, no single database can cover the full range of customer profile. Established firms can also use their own sales records, bills, invoices and warranty cards to prepare a list of the existing customers.

GATHERING MORE INFORMATION

Firms may try to gather more information about the individuals listed in their computer records through direct mail or cross-references. Refining and updating the database may be necessary if it doesn’t have the requisite segmentation parameter built into it. When the Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) collected the database for its brand Classic cigarettes, the much-needed information on whether the person was a smoker and whether he preferred Classic was not available.

So the firm had to actually conduct a search through telephoning the prospect’s office or club. Once it was established that the person smoked they sent hostesses to his office and offered him a handsome leather case with a box of classics as a gift. In the course of the conversation the hostess would find out the complete smoking pattern of the person. ITC finally ended up with a database of 15,000 executives in Delhi and Bombay.

IDENTIFYING KEY CUSTOMERS

Relationship marketing takes off only after identification of the key customers by the firm. The revenue pattern of most firms follows the 80/20 rule, i.e., 20 percent customers brings in 80 percent revenue. Modi Xerox, a leading practitioner of relationship marketing, gets more than 30 percent of its business from just 900 corporate clients. In case of HCL-HP, 750 clients cover about 80 percent of its business. The firm may segment these key customers into certain distinct groups to identify distinct purchase patterns. DHL, for example, segments its key customers into three groups: Banks, MNCs and large corporations, and Exporters. Obviously these customers have different needs and they are to be treated differently.

CREATING CUSTOMER PROFILE

The more you know about the customer, the easier it is for you to build a relationship with him. In case of institutional clients, personal particulars of the decision maker, such as birthday, marital status, anniversaries, children and special interests are very important for the firm. Customers actually appreciate knowing that you are concerned about who they are and are also aware of their needs and interests. Like any other professionals they admire any effort that results in more benefits to them.

Getting a detailed profile of the customer is essential for service organizations such as banks, travel agencies, hotels, airlines and courier firms, because personal factors count the most in a service business. Specific needs can be fulfilled and likes and dislikes taken care of only if the company has a complete profile of the client.

GETTING CLOSER TO THE CUSTOMER

Department store magnate J C. Penney once said, ‘All great business is built on friendship ‘(Fraber and Wycoff 1993). The process of getting to know your customer and letting him get to know you may mark the beginning of a relationship that may turn into a sort of friendship in due course of time. You can’t get closer to your customer if you don’t know what he or she is all about, what problems he/she is facing and how can you help him/her. Getting into some account research and gathering useful information about the needs, purchase pattern and problems of the customer, often proves fruitful to firms.

Many firms have now evolved formalized methods of listening to the customer. They invite two or three people who can give the kind of information the firm is looking for. Such meetings usually take place in a relaxed and informal environment. If a customer meeting is viewed by the firm as an opportunity to learn what it takes to improve performance, strong bonds of relationship and understanding may be created with the customer

The in-house customer meetings provide a powerful forum for finding out how your customer feels about your company, its products, services and support.

MAINTAINING RELATIONS

Maintaining relationships is more difficult than cultivating relations. Sending a ‘Thank you’ card after a meeting or a sale provides a little extra as a token of appreciation for the customer’s business. Wayne Block, President of Block Business Systems, sold a new piece of business equipment to a firm. He immediately delivered to the chief executive a cake with the company’s logo on it.

Subsequently this token gift became so famous that if the company people were late for some reason, customers would call back and ask for the cake.

Even in India, if you ever buy a pair of spectacles from Lawrence and Mayo, be it a simple reading glass or one of the Ray-Ban types, be assured that you will receive a birthday card for the rest of your life. A thought that keeps the brand alive in your mind and carefully, albeit in an understated manner, builds the relationship value intrinsically.

You may read up the previous posts in this series in order to learn more on the concepts of relationship marketing.

Reference: National Institute of Business Management – Marketing Management – Module II

@TywoAkintoye

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CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP Part 2: Benefits of Relationship Marketing to Firms

We started this topic about two month ago when I posted CUSTOMERRELATIONSHIP Part 1: The Concept of Relationship Marketing. In that post, we analyzed Relationship Marketing as it is being practiced by various organizations around the world, while we also tried to introduce the concept to those who may not have been familiar with it before now. Here, we have the second part of the series where we are able to begin examining the benefits of Relationship Marketing.

Relationship marketing yields several benefits to the firms that practice it, as also to the targeted customers, but we will examine both of these groups separately starting now with the firms. It is advisable for firms not to expect the full benefits of Relationship marketing immediately; rather it is a practice you imbibe in your organizational culture such that the benefits begin to come to fruition in the long run. These benefits which we will discuss are summarized into four, namely:

• Repeat business
• Enhanced brand loyalty
• Increased long-term profitability
• Brand building

REPEAT BUSINESS

There are several excellent examples of firms using relationship-marketing programmes to gain the repeat business. The Air Taxi Operators (now given the status of an airline) started in India in 1992. Other private airlines like Damania Airways, Jet Airways and Modiluft were also for the first time allowed to compete with the Indian state Airlines. The target segment chosen by these ATOs (Air Taxi Operators) for example was the business and upper class traveller. Their in-flight service was tailored to attract this segment. So, in order to counter the threat to its business, Indian Airlines went in for a new promotional scheme termed as frequent-flier scheme. The scheme was to focus through direct marketing on the class of buyers who were defecting to private airlines. Both Air India and Indian Airlines had a database of regular fliers. They also used secondary sources like Diners Club to start a marketing campaign targeting about 15,000 such prospects all over the country.

The campaign was that as fliers start accumulating points either on IA (Indian Airlines) or AI (Air India) or both, they become eligible for free trips. The threshold was 3 000 points after which free trips could be claimed. There was an entry fee of 1,000Rupees (NGN5,500; U$D15) to join the programme. This was necessary to avoid people who don’t travel by air all that often. The time limit for accumulating the required number of points was three years. From about 1,000 members initially, the membership increased to 20,000 by April 1995.

The move was initiated as a promotional tactic to save the fledgling market share of the airline, but inadvertently this also marked the beginning of a new era of relationship marketing for the airline. The scheme continues to expand till date because the members themselves suggest the names of friends and colleagues who could be involved in the programme.

In case of business-to-business marketing, where firms scramble for new recipes to retain existing customers, relationship marketing can help in reducing the number of lost customers by enhancing customer satisfaction.

The marketing function in any organization is expected to perform the job of turning an unaware person into a satisfied user through the following successive steps.

Unaware

Aware but not knowledgeable

Knowledgeable

Occasional user

Satisfied regular user

Relationship marketing goes one step beyond this and converts satisfied users into life-time customers by sustaining their interest in the product and satisfying their needs more effectively. Little wonder that DHL Worldwide gets its 90 percent business from relationship marketing alone.

ENHANCED BRAND LOYALTY

Marketing programmes of firms are often aimed at identifying prospects and turning them into customers. In order to expand business and achieve growth, firms are required to perpetually design and launch new marketing programmes. This involves a huge cost. However, if a firm is able to retain a certain percentage of customers, the efforts as well as cost of marketing can be reduced substantially.

Relationship marketing takes over from where conventional marketing leaves a customer. Maintaining direct contact with the customer and taking care of his problems to deliver satisfaction may turn an occasional customer into a regular client, and a client to a strong admirer of the firm. Finally it may turn an admirer into an advocate and opinion leader giving positive word-of-mouth to the firm and its products. A positive word-of-mouth from a satisfied customer often works better than the best advertisement, especially in case of high-involvement products and services.

INCREASED LONG-TERM PROFITABILITY

Firms may increase their long-term profitability by extending the concept of relationship marketing to their suppliers, channel members and influence groups. Vendor relationship may help in reducing the number of suppliers and in bringing down the level of inventories. It may save the firm in terms of inventory and warehousing costs as also transportation and material handling costs. The cost of placing orders and paperwork may also get reduced substantially. This is why firms like Xerox, Motorola, General Electric and Ford are reducing their supplier bases and looking for a few select vendors to help them achieve a stronger competitive position.

Research studies in the USA indicate that apart from being able to harness the strengths and skills of suppliers to their advantage, manufacturers in long-term relationships with them may also benefit from improved quality, process performance and continuous cost reductions

Long-term relationship with channel members may ensure better channel support, higher volumes of business and reduced cost of marketing. Strong channel support may also act as hedging against competitors’ marketing efforts. Long-term relationships with various stakeholders and interest groups such as financing institutes, public representatives, trade unions, press or media people, consumer protection groups and environmental groups may help in improving the public image of the firm. This may indirectly contribute to higher volumes of business, improved productivity and profitability of the firm.

BRAND BUILDING

In a competitive environment relationship marketing may be used as an effective tool for brand building. Till the early 1990s, cement was largely regarded as a commodity. Availability and price dictated the purchase decision more often than any other factor. Several players had an equally good quality image and few customers insisted on buying only from a particular company. The customer base for cement is also not homogeneous. There are different categories of cement-buyers in the market—the mason, civil engineer, contractor and institutional or large-scale buyers. In mid-1993, Indian Rayon, makers of Birla brand cement, decided to upgrade certain dealers to become “Birla supershoppes” because the company wanted to change the way it interacted with the customer. The ‘supershoppes’ were to become a hub of relationship with the customer.

The company wanted to guide and educate buyers for using a specific product for specific application. Based on the type of construction, the aim was to recommend the right type of cement to the customer. Each ‘shoppe’ thus employed a civil engineer and a task force to assist him. If necessary, the team visits the sites to demonstrate or to solve the construction-related problems. Advice is also given on the size of the beam to be used or the kind of steel reinforcement needed in the column.

To consolidate the relationship further, each ‘shoppe’ organizes a regular customer meet, where the actual users are invited and given technical advice and practical solutions. Results of this relationship approach have been spectacular. Each ‘shoppe’ is doing on an average; double the business a normal dealer does anywhere. As at 1995, Indian Rayon had 50 shoppes and 20 more were to be set up by the end of 1996.

Multinational brands such as Reebok, Seagram, Citibank, DHL Worldwide Express, and Indian firms such as Mafatlal, Ceat tyres, Lakme are now taking the relationship route to strengthen their brand equities

Reference: National Institute of Business Management – Marketing Management – Module II

@TywoAkintoye

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CARRY YOUR CROSS My Friend.

The reason many people can’t seem to find peace is because they’ve mistaken the cross they should carry as a problem they should solve.

Some of our worries are problems which require solutions, while some are crosses which we must carry and follow our maker. But right now, many of us are still running around looking for solutions to perceived problems when actually, all we require is wisdom and strength to carry the cross.

As we round up and enter a new year, I want to encourage everyone to start making efforts at identifying what issues of his/her life require seeking solutions and which ones require handling with courage in 2018. Even when the problems are well identified, we shouldn’t complicate things and seek solutions in the wrong places.

We have equal rights to God, so let no “spiritualist” feed on your gullibility. Some of them give you visions and prophesies, you dedicate your resources to the recommended solutions, then they blame you for lack of faith when their ideas don’t come to pass, and then you start cursing your luck, especially when you see others receiving miracles and victories for similar challenges!

Perhaps, for that man/woman who got his miracle, it was a problem, while for you it is a cross. Perhaps it is even also a problem for you, but the appointed time for solution had not come or your own solution is not “spirituality” but common sense strategies. Think deep for the New Year, identify your solutions, find yourself some peace of mind and let new ideas be birthed in you.

Accepting to carry your cross is not the same as accepting defeat; neither should we give up without a fight. However, God has not promised us life without troubles and we should remember his thoughts for us are of peace and not of evil to give us an ‘expected’ end (Jeremiah 29: 11).

Many of us pray for “light at the end of the tunnel”, just like in the case of Joseph, Job, Sarah, Hannah in the bible. We covet fulfillment of great promises like in Abraham, David, Solomon, etc. But we hardly feel sorry for Judas Iscariot for having such a destiny of betraying our savior Jesus Christ. We should sometimes wonder too why Moses never saw the Promised Land? “His enemies prevailed on him”?

If Judas had the chance to change his destiny, I’m sure he would choose to be remembered as a saint. He dined with Jesus, had access to salvation, but Jesus Christ did not save him from such a shameful ending. Did you say it was written? Yes it was, just as some of our challenges in life were written too and we must seek the courage to handle them.

It is either we manage our challenges or we let them define our existence and how we end our lives. Bad times don’t last forever, even if they do, there will always be some few times when every human will find mercy in midst of storms. Let those periodic victories ignite sincere gratitude and praise to the almighty. Find yourself some peace in the word of God in John 16: 33 “…In the world ye shall have tribulations; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”.

Have a fruitful 2018. Amani juu yenu!

@Tywo Akintoye

http://tywoakintoye.blogspot.com.ng

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP Part 1: The Concept of Relationship Marketing

Customer Relationship is a common practice around the world, but we will try to discuss the concept of “Relationship Marketing” though similar, but not as popularly used. In this piece, you will come across some case studies of companies which cut across countries like India, Japan, France and USA. As I did during my MBA in Marketing Management, perhaps more people can, from this post, learn how to market their products through relationship building.

The term ‘relationship marketing’ entered the business lexicon during the 1980s. The concept is relatively new and still in the process of evolution Though the idea of building a relationship with customers is not entirely new, the way it is being extended to cover other relationships (with the suppliers, middlemen and influence groups) as also researched extensively, especially in the West, it is poised to revolutionize the overall pattern of marketing just as the theory of marketing concept did in the 1960s.

The idea is not new because the neighborhood grocery-store owner has always known the value of this approach. Likewise, all industrial-marketing firms know the 80/20 rule - 20 per cent of customers accounting for 80 per cent of revenue - and they try to keep these 20 per cent customers happy so as to retain them longer. Perhaps only the big companies practicing mass-marketing methods for decades have forgotten such basics.

THE CONCEPT

An early definition by Berry (1983) says, ‘Relationship marketing is the attraction, maintaining and enhancing of customer relationships.’ Attracting new customers is merely the first step in the process of relationship marketing According to Payne (1995), relationship marketing has three contemporary perspectives

1.) The way companies look at their customers is changing. The emphasis is moving from a transaction-based marketing to a relationship-centred marketing, meaning that companies are now striving harder to retain their customers for long.

2.) A broader view is emerging of the internal and external markets with which the company interacts. In addition to their relationships with customers, firms are also getting concerned about the development and enhancement of more enduring relationships with other external markets such as suppliers, middlemen, stakeholders and influence groups. The internal marketing focus emphasizes that every employee and every department in the organization is both an internal customer and a supplier. The optimal operation of the organization is ensured when every individual and department provide and receive excellent service.

3.) The relationship-marketing orientation focuses on bringing the three elements, namely quality, customer service and marketing activities, together so that the synergetic impact is felt by the customer.

Till recently most business firms in India had been concentrating only on individual transactions, hence the short-durational interaction ended with the ringing of the cash register announcing the close of a sale. The leather shoe market in India had been dominated by Bata India Limited for decades. But Bata failed to exploit its strength of contact with millions of customers. The company had not even made a provision for evaluating customer feedback from its own retail outlets. It is not that Bata was not aware of the basic principles of marketing, but neither the management nor the marketing people ever thought of building a relationship with customers. The result is obvious; Bata lost its number one position to new entrants in the market.

Bata is not the only example of missed opportunities. In the late 1980s, Eureka Forbes pioneered the concept of direct marketing in consumer durables in the country. With the help of its highly trained and motivated salesmen, the company was soon in a position to contact millions of households and turn many of them into buyers of vacuum cleaners. However, despite its apparent success, the company missed an opportunity to leverage its database and its personalized relation with customers to multiply its business through similar products and services. Even for its existing products, the company could have profiled at least the usage pattern in different places and then motivated buyers to use the product more frequently. This could have generated some additional business, at least for the accessories and spares.

In transactional marketing, customer service and commitment to quality are often ignored, whereas in relationship marketing, the focus is on retaining the customer and getting the repeat business. Hence, the quality of products, service and direct contact with customers receive a high priority. Retaining the customer is considered to be the responsibility of the entire organization and not of the marketing department alone. A sales deal is viewed as a beginning rather than an end of a company’s interaction with the customer.

The scope of building relationships is not restricted to only customers. In a competitive market it is equally important to establish enduring relationships with the vendors, intermediaries and influence groups. The relationship between an organization and its suppliers has undergone dramatic changes during the last 10 years or so mainly due to the influence of Japanese management practices. At AT&T they call it ‘Vendorship partnership’ and at Philips in Europe they term it as ‘Co-makership’. Whatever the term, the aim is to promote close cooperation between the firm and its suppliers from a very early stage and mutual concentration on quality, customer service and long-term relationships.

In the automobile industry, it is now largely believed that establishing long-term relationships with vendors can lead to substantial reduction in inventory holding and control costs. Toyota has persuaded all its suppliers to set up exclusive warehousing facilities close to its production plants. Instead of buying from a large number of indifferent suppliers, firms now prefer to buy from a few committed and quality-conscious vendors who have the capacity to supply the desired quality and quantity at short notice. Firms are also helping vendors in upgradation of technologies and quality. In Japan, it is not uncommon for firms to go in for equity participation in a couple of ancillary units.

Back in India, Marutti Udyog has followed the same policy. They have reduced the number of suppliers drastically and developed a strong and dependable network of about 400 vendors, capable of supplying the desired quality and quantity any time. Maruti Udyog has equity partnership in about 12 supplier firms.

Developing close relationship with channel members is very essential to strengthen the distribution network. Every small and big firm in the business of consumer goods is now trying to reinforce its relationship with dealers and distributors to maintain its grip on the market.

Influence groups such as public representatives, policy makers, press, trade unions, consumer organizations, opinion leaders and financing institutions are gaining more and more importance due to the rise in awareness as well as competition in the market. Firms are more conscious of the fact today that to grow and prosper it is necessary to have good relations with the various influence groups.

The scope of relationship marketing is therefore not restricted only to the customers of the firm. The web of relationship is expanding to include all those who are directly or indirectly related to the firm or matter to its business.

The third aspect is to bring quality, customer service and marketing activities together A US-based research and consultancy firm Bain & Co. studied in 1989 the correlation between customer retention and company profitability. They found that even a 1 per cent improvement in the retention rate of customers in the credit card business in the USA can yield a 15 per cent rise in the volume of business. Keeping customers is therefore a key strategic issue for all business firms.

In order to retain customers firms are required to keep them interested through better (perceived) quality of products, satisfactory service and innovative marketing programmes. For example, in France, people take off in their cars for a long vacation in the summer. But if a family is travelling with a baby still in diapers, it could get uncomfortable for the baby as well as the parents to travel long distances. Nestle, therefore, came out with a way to dramatically improve the life of both the baby and the parents on the road.

Nestle now provides rest-stop structures along the highway where parents can feed and change their babies in eight locations along the main travel route. A sparkling clean ’Le Relais Bebe’ awaits and welcomes the family. Each summer, 64 hostesses at these rest stops welcome about 120,000 baby visits and dispense 600,000 samples of baby food. There are free disposable diapers, a changing table and high chairs for the babies to sit in while dining. Nestle, through its hostesses, keeps itself in direct contact with the mothers. Moving into the lives and activities of prospects and customers Nestle has successfully built a strong bond of emotional relationship with them. A market research survey of 1,000 mothers in 1992 showed a 94 percent approval rating for Le Relais Bebe.

Relationship marketing does not stop at merely meeting the present needs of the customer, but extends to also anticipating and servicing the future requirements. In subsequent posts, we shall be looking at the benefits of Relationship Marketing to firms, then we will look at it benefits to customers before we go into the basic steps required to set up an effective Relationship Marketing system.

Reference: National Institute of Business Management – Marketing Management

@TywoAkintoye

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NIGERIAN MUSIC: MY 21 YEARS AND ITS MANY GENERATIONS

The past 21 years have redefined what should be recognized as the typical Nigerian music. Before then, genres like fuji, juju, highlife, reggae were most popular with great artistes like Kollington Ayinla, Ayinde Barrister, Sir Shina Peters, Ras Kimono, Majek Fashek, Oliver de Coque, Bright Chimezie holding sway.

Afrobeat was a genre which had Fela Anikulapo-kuti as its main life line and it wasn’t until Abami Eda passed away that we started seeing the likes of Dede Mabiaku who was already an established and fantastic concert performer coming on TV alongside many other one-off artistes that sprang up in the late 90s, majority of whom tried to sound like Fela, but it didn’t work out for most of them simply because “ko le werk”.

Even Femi Kuti despite being Fela’s son was able to earn a unique identity which stood him out internationally and that was at the period when Nigeria was experiencing some kind of metamorphosis in our music industry.

Looking from 1995, while the likes of Femi Kuti and some few others were gradually getting noticed in Europe for staying glued to their African identity with the infusion of Pop/Hip-hop tones and sounds, Nigeria was struggling with our pop culture back home and we couldn’t even define properly what our hip-hop music should sound like.

Although we have had the likes of Junior and Pretty, Mike Okri, Blacky, Esse Agesse, Alex O, Alex Zitto etc. who bridged the gap between Highlife, Pop and Hip-hop, we still wanted more, thinking we should actually rap like Busta Rhymes. Then came my generation, the mid/late 90s generation, the generation of “say what, say what”! “Hey yo, DJ, track 2”! We claim to have introduced “real” hip-hop to Nigerian music and in all fairness and with due respect to those great guys whom we rocked some stages together then, especially around 1998 to 2001, they paved the way for today’s industry.

There’s a nostalgic feeling I get whenever I remember the likes of Ruff, Rugged & Raw, Def O’Clan from which Azadus emerged, the North based SWAT Root where we had great rappers like 6-foot-plus, X-Appeal made up of Jazzman and Lexy-Doo, then of course the Trybesmen and my brothers, Maintain to mention a few. Those days, nobody knew Nigerians could sound so good on R&B until we heard Plantashun Boiz “Knock me off” and “Don’t U Know”. Remedies made Yoruba language sweet to the ears with great hits like “Shakomo” and “Judile” and they were the first group to make it big in that era. They remained big even after the breakout of Tony Tetuila who went on to make his own equally big hits.

One problem however remained with us for a long time and this was the inability of most of our hip-hop artistes of that time to compose 100% original tunes of their own. Ghanaian music was getting recognized for identifying their own style which they called Hip-life but we just wanted a bit of everything, sometimes contradicting ourselves on if there should be anything called Afro hip-hop.

Most Nigerian artistes then rather depended on placing their songs on foreign beats especially popular American hits; they also thrived on writing indigenous lyrics using the tunes of these popular foreign superstars. It seemed the faster route to public acceptability or commercial success so almost everyone was guilty, except myself and my twinbrother (then known as Twinax) and few others. The group Maintain seemed the most criticized of all, perhaps because they failed to embrace originality even till mid 2000s when others were already doing outstanding productions out of self-belief and pressure from the media and of course as demanded by a more aware music audience who were quick to compare our standards with that of Ghana and South-Africa.  Thanks partly to the efforts of great music producers and record labels of that time, like the late OJB, Nelson Brown, Paul Dairo, Cobhams and so on, we gradually started to sound original.

One thing remained obvious though, our new found hip-hop industry had great potential and everyone could see that the future of Nigerian music depended on it, but the lack of originality in our music bred bigger challenges for our industry then, which included non-exportability; even the Nigerian media played more of American Hip-hop than Naija Hip-hop or Afro hip-hop for that matter.

Our videos were worse because, as much as we tried to match the foreign standard and pretended like we were “getting it” in our audio productions, there was no hiding place for visuals and we just couldn’t manage to get it right in terms of technical quality due to the level of skills and resources available those days. Compare Nigerian with South African and Ghanaian videos and we were way behind, but some things stood us out, we had the better talents, we were more flamboyant and we always had the biggest market.

So, even the South-African music station Channel-O had no choice but to find their way into our market by playing our musical videos, though they claimed to be very selective with our works which is partially true.

Fast forward to 2015/2016, and then look back again to 1995, you’ll realize those 21 years represent a period of total transformation of our music industry from the American wannabes to the leading light of the African industry. Thanks to the coming of media organizations that raised the standards especially MTV Base, not forgetting SoundCity, the first local music TV channels to refuse airing sub-standard music videos.

One tangible way of seeing how far we have come is through the quality of our musical videos which today rank among the best in Africa, so much that we now dominate continental music video awards. But within those 21 years, Nigerian artistes and video directors or producers have gone through thick and thin giving us some moments of excitement which I think deserve to be remembered for the impact they had in their various era.

The big bucks is here now, indigenous records labels now rent offices in Victoria Island and our artistes can afford to fly to any country in the world for suitable locations and casts. Almost everyone can rent a chopper or yacht and hire professional models for his music video, but are those props the main attraction for our videos?

In the era when we couldn’t afford all these luxuries, how did we keep Nigerians entertained through our videos? We shot on VHS, DV Cameras with just a few skilled personnel available, but we depended solely on CREATIVITY in order to compete.

Having experienced it all through the years, I decided to come up with a chart to pick out my top 21 videos of 1995-2016, putting into consideration that there existed many eras within those 21 years in view.

As a recording artiste who has competed in the same industry, some may want to doubt my objectivity or question my right to such an opinion which publicly criticizes the works of “my colleagues”, but that’s if you are not aware or ignore the fact that I’ve been privileged to experience the Nigerian entertainment industry both as a major player and as an observer who has spent the last 6-7 years of my career doing other businesses outside being a musician.

I may have been a stakeholder, we may have rubbed shoulders with the best in the business, but these recent years of focusing on my modest career in management consulting and living a quiet life as a family man have given me the opportunity to see things from the fans perspective and not as a competitor. The truth remains that I still qualify as a great fan of Nigerian music, I enjoy good music and I’ve got massive love for everyone and utmost respect especially for those artistes who have remained active and consistent all through those years.

While some have come and gone, it’s great achievement for the likes of Sound Sultan and Tu-face Idibia, who continue to wax stronger since the 90s, holding their own in a very competitive industry. The likes of P-Square, D’banj and the evergreen Don-Jazzy came afterwards and they’ve remained consistent as well. KC-Presh I remember won the maiden edition of Star Quest in 2002 and I think KC especially deserves some kudos for staying strong in the business.

Of course not without challenges of their own, these artistes are good examples of perseverance and persistence.

And the new school? I think the likes of Ruggedman, Mode-9, Eedris Abdulkareem should be proud of the next generation of rap artistes they were able to inspire, with MI, Ice-Prince and others currently leading the way. I hope Lord of Ajasa is also proud of Olamide, Lil-kesh and co. May Da-grin’s soul continue to rest in peace. I don’t speak Igbo but I imagine how Nigga Raw feels listening to Phyno, nothing but love I believe. Wizkid and Davido’s followership reminds me of the brief rivalry that existed between the fans of Faze and Tu-face shortly after the breakup of P-Boiz.

Interesting industry no doubt! Very fascinating and I’ve got fond memories too numerous to write about, but please go check out my chart in an article titled “My Top 21 Most Outstanding Naija Music Videos in 21 Years” (1995-2016).

I hope y’all will like it and agree with some, if not all of the views shared in it.