What exactly do the Big Brother Naija auditions mean?

The audition comes in the thick of a collision of Nigerian problems while a viral hashtag soars to up the lists of Twitter trends. 

It’s again swell season for Nigeria; it’s time for Multichoice to make a killing, it’s time for the polarizing allegiances that degenerate into downright toxicity.

It’s another time for Nigeria to arouse global attention with the battling heads who paste us across continental media with three months of madness for eight figures of Naira.

It’s Big Brother Naija or BBN or #BigBrotherNaija where modern capitalism wins through modern communication giants. More importantly, it’s time for discussions on the numerous Nigerian lacks, because if rumours are true, this edition will hold in Nigeria.

Earlier today, as news of Big Brother Auditions filtered unto social media, #BBNaija been second on the list of Twitter trends, with only a sponsored post, #ShareLoveWithTecno the only trend preventing it from an inevitable top spot. The anticipation has begun and social media is swell.

Coincidentally, this comes on the cusp of the ever-viral discussions around the Nigerian Presidential Elections, in the thick of the disgraceful ASUU strike than remains unresolved and has stilled the lives of numerous Nigerian teens and youths whose only offence was being born into families that couldn’t send them to private Universities or abroad for one reason or the other.

On the one part, the silence around the ASUU strike that has definitely set certain lives back for 3 months in favour of #BBNaija hashtag mongering reeks of a worrying dose of misplaced priorities. It’s definitely fathomable that the bulk of contributors to that hashtag are not heavy grinders in Lagos or Abuja heat; neither are they merely social media influencers. Most likely, they are youths, away from school, misplacing their priorities.

On the other part, it’s just a return of an annual media sensation that drives traffic and capitalism with a slaver’s command. ASUU strike or not, it is reasonable that #BBNaija was always going to thrive, heavily driven by the bulk of Nigerian youth.

Another note, it could also be that Nigerian youths, home from ASUU strike, in a matter desperately out of their hands or resigned to how their say matters so little in the Presidential race with the severe dearth of promising candidates that actually have a chance at winning, or even without the resources or good partners to even think of valentine's day are seeking solace in a bit of youthful entertainment, certain to birth drama and sensations worthy of celebration.

From whatever perspective you perceive #BBNaija from, you will most likely find points to back up your cause with aggressive persuasion. #BBNaija is like an Arachne that births layers upon layers of organic issues and persuasive points.


But then, could we have used this moment better?

Everything can be done better – even good things could have been better; perfection is a mirage.

No matter how adaptable a concept is, on a scale of importance, certain things will definitely rank higher than others. Thus, this could have been a time to not stay silent with the power in our unified voice, which we continue to use in aiding a culture of silence when speaking up would do a greater good.

In November 2018, Pulse spoke with Damilola Marcus the founder of #MarketMarch, a few weeks before the landmark march on Yaba market and she mentioned something, “We lack a protest culture in this country, and that’s why we continue to lack the things we should have.”

She was right and in this context, those words again ring true. While it’s hard to trade blames as frustration sometimes needs worthy distraction, after those distractions are gone, we will be back to facing these problems again.

Thus, this could have been a moment to use pop culture relevance to start a necessary conversation, to impact the issues plaguing our country long-term. Have we missed it? I guess time will tell.

While #BBNaija in itself is not a bad thing, it just came in the thick of a collision of Nigerian problems. Also noteworthy, while carrying placards get major attention to get needy voices heard, sometimes, an aggregate of channeled social media posts creates trends and thatcan be sufficient protest.

Remember, it happened in the case of #EndSARS.



In This Story: #BigBrotherNaija #Auditions

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