To the impressive Eko Convention Centre and its grand banquet hall this past Sunday evening for the annual Nigeria Comedy Awards hosted by Wap Television and its boss, a childhood crony and cherished acolyte of the columnist.Production an octopoidal empire which includes a regular television station, a film school, a drama group and franchised satirical revues. By matrimonial extension, it also boasts of a thriving educational complex which includes both primary and secondary schools.
On this morning of our sixty third anniversary when it is important to wish the nation well and pray for a new beginning with the new administration, it is important to stress that if ever Nigeria is going to get out of its political misery and developmental trauma, we must face squarely the problem of how to harness and harvest the major resource that this country has going for it.
The explosion of talents was very much in evidence in that commodious hall last Sunday as Adenuga, resplendent in native apparel of a snow white hue, together with his beloved wife, welcomed guests and cultural workers of various shades. Only the calm, paternalistic mien of the ace producer prevented the more excitable of the lot from mobbing him. The reason would soon become apparent.
Almost every homestead could boast of at least one or two professors. Even the last two sovereigns were notable academics and professors in their own right. It remains an intensely competitive environment where the hunger for learning and western education burns in every household with an incandescent glare. Unless you are comfortable with excommunication at a certain social level, academic failure was not an option.
Adenuga caused quite a regional stir by recording the best result in the entire Ibadan district in the 1967 WASCE. From the unfancied Ibadan City Academy, he made Aggregate 8, four A1s and two A2s to trump students from the more famous secondary schools in Ibadan.