The Reality of Reality Shows in Nigeria

The Reality of Reality Shows in Nigeria

If you are yet to attend any reality show in Nigeria, my 2 cents is that you should stay calm at home to hear about it or probably watch it on T.V than for you to go to the camouflaged venue of the event only to be exhausted and dehydrated by the so called elites. Have been fortunate to attend some of the top reality shows in the country and my experience has been made vague because all I could see were the negative sides of such event. The advert for the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (WWTBAM) rolled on both radio and TV medias for months making the public too anxious to be part of it. But by the time the show started, it was turned out to be a bunch of rubbish to the audience. I used N10,000 in sending text to 132 so that I will be a participating audience or one of the contestants but all these to no avail. 3 months into the show, prospective audience were told to come to the Ultima studio in Ojodu to participate by 10.00am on a Saturday Morning. Because of my flair for reality shows I half slept through the night and immediately it was 6:00am I woke up, did my prayer, bath, ate, dressed up and got out for the dazzling event of the day. Getting to the studio around 7:am for a 10:am show, I was shocked at the sight of 300 young men and ladies who came to a studio that could not accommodate more than 120 people at once. By 9:45am, we had about 360-400 able bodied men and women all running towards the same studio. The scene became gory as we all look like troops of soldiers advancing towards an enemy’s’ camp. Since the floor manager told me I could not go in for the show because of my white shirt, I didn't bother to join the crowd instead I hung my head behind a tree while I observed the situation.

The painful part of the WWTBAM is that after the struggling that lasted minutes, the personnel came out to address us that only 120 people with a WWTBAM feedback text will be allowed to participate. Then what will happen to the remaining 280 people that you used trade puff in inviting to the studio? we all became nuisance shouting on top of our voices until the studio entrance was locked and everybody disappeared to his home unconsciously. Ever since then, I vowed never to go back to WWTBAM until Frank Edoho picks up the phone and invite me specially or better still sends his car to pick me up.


As if that was not enough, I saw the advert of the Gulder Ultimate Search IV on the T.V. I registered for the show and fortunately i was invited for screening at Bode Thomas Surulere. In order to perform well, I got a coach to take me through the hurdles of jogging, running and swimming, I spent 2 weeks going for swimming in the Onikan National stadium.

On the d-day of the screening, which was a Tuesday, I was at the centre by 7:30 am while a representative of GUS team addressed us to go make photocopies of our credentials which they never collected.
By 9:30am, the scene turned out to another swam of bees with thousands of bachelor and master degree holders in attendance as if they were in for a job interview. The screening we all thought would be logical turned out to be a test that lack reliability, validity and usability. Instead of a one on one or personal thing, people were grouped in hundreds and sent into a muddy football pitch out of which 10 will be selected. I was unlucky as i was number 13 in my group which led to my eviction without even getting to the swimming stage.

The most annoying part of the event was that the GUS team could not even provide a means of cleaning ourselves after the rigorous jogging which spoiled our joggers and tennis shoes. instead we were ushered out in thousands by the ever militant Mobile Police. Later, the result of the Lagos screening centre could not really be justified as they turned everything to who knows who. No wonder Anthony lost his life during the final preparation in Jos.

I never knew that my promise not to attend any reality show in the country will be short lived as i was invited to Deal or no Deal Nigeria (DOND) by a dear friend. We got to the venue at Ojodu on a Saturday morning by bus that conveyed us from Newest Hall Unilag to be welcomed by 26 most beautiful Nigerian Models out of which we have our own Nairaland little girl (Jane) and my friend Lizzy. The show was intelligently and professionally anchored by John Fashanu a football legend. At the end of the days' show, we were served rice and chicken supplied by Chickens Republic. We were even fortunate to take a lucky deep where I won a long Starcomms umbrella. My urge for reality shows was restored and I promised never to miss any of the DOND series.
At the arrival of the next Saturday, I left my crib early in order to be a front seater. Alas, after the show, nothing order than thank you was said. Though man must not live by bread alone but there should be a reason for a change in plan. It was then that Don Flexi, the audience coordinator addressed us that they have changed their plan from given food to given N1,000 to the first 100 people to arrive. For crying out loud, do they think we Nigerians are money freaked? I was even unlucky to get the N1000 since I was number 115. People departed the studio in a divide and rule platform. While others smiled to the bank, others left with hardened faces.


I never relented in my effort to attend the show the next Saturday. It was then that I saw the true and big picture of reality shows in this country. I got to the venue 6:30am and it could be saddening that as at that time, they have already got there 100 to be paid participants. How come? Did they sleep overnight there? The story became obvious when we could see 60 people that were physically present and 40 ghost participants. That simply means both participants and DOND workers wrote more than one name. Either for there friends or family members, this scenario shows the greediness in us. we are not really concerned about people doing things rightly instead we prefer to circumvent the law. Though the DOND team said it was a 50/50 thing for male and female. how come guys that came late around 10:00am still got their names written on the 1st 100 list while those that came 6:30am were given number 100 and something.

Or should we talk about the MTN VJ search? I cannot really recount how many times I sent VJ to 4000 without getting any feedback though they never forgot to charge me for the text.

This really shows the level of decadence in our society. The planners of reality shows are more interested in their mouths than the thousands of youth they tend to empower. I think its high time we Nigerian youths got empowered and rise to the call that we need to name our prices, get educated, be self reliant and even work smart so that no one will deceive us with a chicken change.

As for me, I have known the truth and it has set me free.

HOW TO SOURCE INFORMATION FOR EBUSINESS VIA THE INTERNET

HOW TO GET INFORMATION FOR E-BUSINESS THROUGH THE INTERNET


WHAT IS E-BUSINESS/ E-COMMERCE?

This a method of buying and selling products and services electronically through the internet and the World Wide Web
Tremendous money is been made online everyday. Over half of the top 40 richest Americans are involved in one form of Internet Business or the other. And in Nigeria there are hundreds of people now gainfully self employed online and I don't mean Yahoo Yahoo.

Online business is now becoming the order of the day as every Info Tech oriented fellow is engaged in one online business or the other. The greatest opportunity the internet business has over offline business is the fact that there is no closing hour and you are also doing business with over 3 billion internet users at once which is not possible physically.

Getting information from the internet is often difficult as there are many vague sites that offer mouth watering benefits only to defraud any one that looks up to such. To get the right information for your business online, the following points should be put into consideration:
You can only make money by solving problems except you want to steal or look for money people have thrown on the street. If you get involved in any Internet Business and you cannot clearly identify the problems it will solve for some people or all the people in society-then you are wasting your time. You could offer web development services, online payment solutions, sales of books online.

No one just makes it overnight; it's only that people may not have seen or noticed when they were making attempts or struggling. Indeed society rewards success with attention. You won't make money suddenly from the Internet.

You can take what you are presently doing to the internet An Akara and bread seller can decide to use the Internet to offer her services and products to people living beyond her immediate surroundings.

If you are not ready to take your personal business to the internet, you can join existing business online that are monitored by other people.

Online Business that you can joined as a potential e-businessman/ woman is divided into bits:

a) HYIPS (High Yield Investment Programme Scheme)
This is often referred to as High risk! High reward! because the higher the risk, the higher the reward. The reward offered by HYIPS are too good to be true, so if you don't really believe in risk, I would say you should avoid it. An example is the Megawealth Team that promised $10,000 after paying just N5,000. others are club freedom, diamond team and majority of online wonder banks. Even if you don't have a good manager for your FOREX, you might not be very sure of the fluctuations of the currency market which means you gain and loose money any time.

b) AFFILIATE PROGRAMMES
This programme is rewarding only if you are ready to work because your commission will be calculated on the number of visitors you introduce to the site you are working for. Examples of sites you can introduce people to and get paid are google, amazon, yahoo, walmart , egold etc.

c) WRITING JOBS
This is the most common job you can do online because almost everybody needs the service of a writer. From students, to webmasters and even to religious groups. We always have one thing or the other to write on. This is the major reason why we have many Essay writing companies online that help undergraduates to solve their assignments. If you know you are gifted, you better sign up.

Due to time constraint, we might not be able to continue our discussion on online business. Till we meet again, the following websites will be helpful to kick start your e-business as an undergraduate or a working class.
 HYPERLINK "http://www.nairaland.com"
www.nairaland.com
 HYPERLINK "http://www.essaywriters.net"
www.essaywriters.net
 HYPERLINK "http://www.babypips.com"
www.babypips.com
 HYPERLINK "http://www.marketiva.com"
www.marketiva.com
 HYPERLINK "http://www.google.com/adsense"
www.google.com/adsense
 HYPERLINK "http://www.academia-research.com"
www.academia-research.com

For more information contact: infotech_success@fastermail.com
08024666799,
www.midejacob.blogspot.com