0:01

Tell Your Papa. It's an Afrobreed

0:04

song in Nigeria that lots of

0:06

people are talking about. Idris

0:08

Abdelkari released the song recently, but

0:10

authorities quickly banned it, saying it

0:12

was inappropriate and violated the country's

0:15

broadcast code. So, in this episode,

0:17

we'll tell you all about the

0:19

song that's caused a storm and

0:21

what it says about Nigeria's political

0:23

situation. I'm Mimi Swaby and this

0:25

is What in the World from the BBC

0:27

World Service. Makawachi

0:31

Okafor is our reporter in Lagos.

0:33

Hi Makawachi, thank you so much for

0:36

coming on the podcast. Thank you,

0:38

thank you for having me here. Firstly,

0:40

please could you just tell me a little

0:42

bit about Idris Abdul Karim. How big is

0:44

he in Nigeria? Okay, so Idris

0:46

Abdul Karim is one of the...

0:49

you know, few musicians who

0:51

started the current day big

0:53

wave of Afrobeats in

0:55

Nigeria. He's pretty big, he's

0:57

respected, and he's quite

0:59

popular, particularly because of the

1:01

role he played in

1:03

advancing Afrobeats in Nigeria. And he

1:05

recently released a tune called Tell Your

1:07

Papa. Can you tell us about it and

1:09

give us an idea of some of

1:11

the lyrics? Okay, so Tell Your

1:13

Papa... speech in English. It

1:15

means tell your father or tell

1:17

your dad. And he said

1:19

he was inspired to do the

1:21

song after he saw a

1:24

video by Shei Tinibu, that's the

1:26

son of the president, where

1:28

he said repeatedly that his dad

1:30

was the best president ever.

1:32

And he felt it was necessary

1:34

to address that claim, according

1:36

to him, through a song. In

1:38

the song, he talked about

1:40

how the state of the country

1:42

is, the cost of living crisis,

1:44

how insecure Nigeria has been. Nigeria has

1:46

been dealing with lots of insecurity,

1:49

you know, over the years. And there

1:51

seem to have been a rise of

1:53

these attacks lately in the country. And

1:55

he also talked about how, you know,

1:57

there's corruption in the country. He

1:59

alleged those. So the lyrics of the

2:01

song did tell Shei Tinibut, as the

2:03

son of the president, to tell his

2:05

dad how you know, things are on

2:08

ground that he feels is so distant,

2:10

you know, talked about he doesn't have

2:12

to, if he feels that Nigeria is

2:14

safe or good, he should try taking

2:16

public transport as opposed to flying private

2:18

jets just to see how the states

2:20

of the roads are and how unsafe

2:23

it is to travel by road. So

2:25

those were sort of the lines that

2:27

he mentioned or that he sang about

2:29

in the song. But that song is

2:31

now banned. Who banned it and why?

2:33

The Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, popularly called the

2:35

NBC. did ban the song, and they

2:37

banned it because they said it's inappropriate. So

2:40

the role of this agency,

2:42

that's the NBC, is regulating

2:44

contents that go out on

2:46

Nigerian airwaves, that's TV and

2:48

radio, any broadcasting or local

2:51

broadcasting station in the country.

2:53

So they see the contents

2:55

are clean, they are appropriate,

2:57

they uphold what they've called

2:59

the code of conduct. They

3:01

abide by ethics, they are

3:03

moral, and practically just... the

3:05

quality of content that go out to

3:07

the Nigerian public through the broadcasting lines,

3:10

be it TV or radio. But now

3:12

this song has been banned, particularly because

3:14

the NBC says it is quite inappropriate.

3:16

That was the line they used and

3:18

that was the reason for banning the

3:20

song. And who appoints the NBC? What

3:22

is it made of? Is it a

3:24

government -appointed body or is it completely

3:27

independent? They are under the

3:29

federal government. So that means that their

3:31

decisions are just as good as

3:33

the decision of the federal government because

3:35

they were appointed by the federal

3:37

government and their role is just to

3:39

oversee the content that go out.

3:41

It's important to note that this is

3:43

not the first time a song

3:45

is being banned in Nigeria. There have

3:47

been many reasons for songs or

3:49

content to be banned. It could be

3:51

banned based on profanity, vulgarity. It

3:53

could be said that some of the

3:55

songs may be... problematic to national

3:58

interest. So there have been many reasons

4:00

why songs have been banned and

4:02

this is not the first time this

4:04

is happening, but this is the

4:06

most recent and it quite hasn't happened

4:08

in a long time. And most

4:10

of the songs that have been banned

4:12

in the past have been mostly

4:14

off the basis of vulgarity or profanity

4:16

or things around that. Okay, so

4:18

the NBC aren't happy with Tell Your

4:20

Papa. However, does this reflect day -to

4:22

-day life for Nigerians at the moment?

4:24

You mentioned insecurity, you mentioned high

4:27

prices. Is this a reality for Nigerians?

4:29

Over the months from last year

4:31

through just about last week in the

4:33

first week of April, we saw

4:35

people constantly pushing for... you know, just

4:37

trying to get their voices heard

4:39

about their discontent with how things have

4:41

been in Nigeria. There was a

4:43

protest that was staged, which the police

4:45

really cracked down with tear gas,

4:47

but it was staged on the first

4:49

week of April. And young people

4:51

were saying they weren't happy with the state

4:53

of things, the high cost of living. the

4:56

insecurity that was beginning to spike,

4:58

the corruption, and even the high level

5:00

of employment. So they had lots

5:02

of demands. So it seems like the

5:05

voices on the streets are quite

5:07

in line with what Idris Abdul Karim

5:09

is saying, saying that these protests

5:11

have lingered from last year. They keep

5:13

coming up. And even beyond the

5:15

protests on the streets, there has been...

5:17

and lots of hashtags, for example,

5:20

30 Days of Rage, which was spiking

5:22

through last month. Just people trying

5:24

to say, we're not happy with how

5:26

things are going. It's really

5:28

expensive for us to afford little things

5:30

like eggs or, you know, just

5:32

tomatoes or just a few things that

5:34

we need to live and survive.

5:36

So what you see online seems to

5:38

be very in line with what

5:40

Idris Sadokari has sung about. And it's

5:42

no surprise that the song has

5:44

been... trending online, even regardless of

5:46

the band. So how did people respond

5:48

to this song? Was it popular before

5:51

the band or has that band really

5:53

pushed its popularity and given it more

5:55

awareness, given it more airtime? I

5:57

think that the band actually brought

5:59

it more to the front lines, you

6:01

know, giving more awareness. Idris Hadoukari

6:03

is an older musician. Most young people...

6:06

may not even know his name.

6:08

People are more familiar with the newer

6:10

acts like Davido, Wizkid, Rema, Bronerboy.

6:12

So he's someone that most people have

6:14

forgotten about. So I was surprised

6:16

when I heard he had a song

6:18

and now the song has been

6:20

banned. So I think the ban brought

6:23

lots of attention to the song.

6:25

In fact, one of Nigeria's very respected

6:27

voices, which is also a Nobel

6:29

Prize winner, that's Wolo Shoinka, has criticized

6:31

the ban. And many other people

6:33

also have criticised the band, saying that

6:35

they feel it's a muscle on

6:37

free speech and freedom of expression, especially

6:40

for artists in the country. So

6:42

I feel like the band actually did

6:44

make it a lot more popular

6:46

than it would have been. But what

6:48

has the artist Idris Abdul Karim

6:50

said himself? In a recent interview, he

6:52

defended the song and he said

6:54

he felt he needed to respond to

6:57

the son of the president. clearly

6:59

stands by what he has said

7:01

and he knows, according to him,

7:04

that even regardless of the band,

7:06

the song would still exist online.

7:09

Streaming platforms and online platforms still

7:11

have the liberty to air the

7:13

songs, while they can't be played

7:15

in any Nigerian radio or TV

7:17

station. People are still free to

7:20

play in their homes and people

7:22

are still free to play it

7:24

online. The NBC doesn't have jurisdiction

7:26

over what happens online. It's particularly

7:28

on local stations, TV and radio.

7:30

So I think he feels OK because

7:32

he feels like his voice is being

7:34

heard. He has over the years used

7:36

his music and his voice for sort

7:38

of activism. This is not the first

7:41

time his song is being banned. In

7:43

2004, he did a song called Jaga

7:45

Jaga. The song was very critical of

7:47

the former president. Now,

7:52

the lyrics of the song, which

7:54

means Jaga Jaga, Nigeria Jaga Jaga,

7:56

was saying that Nigeria has spalled,

7:58

that things have degraded, and he

8:00

wasn't happy with the state of

8:02

things in the country. And you

8:04

mentioned earlier protests against the government.

8:06

The government has been facing growing

8:08

opposition, particularly discontent from younger people.

8:10

What are those current demands? What

8:12

are younger people asking for? Most

8:14

of the protests and their demands

8:17

have been listed to include the level

8:19

of economic difficulty happening in the

8:21

country. In fact, they have termed it

8:23

the hunger protests, which has

8:25

been difficult for most people to afford meals.

8:27

Lots of people have had to cut

8:29

back on how much they eat a day.

8:31

Even instead of eating maybe three times

8:34

a day, they now eat once a day.

8:36

Lots of people can't afford to eat.

8:38

And lots of young people have complained that

8:40

they feel like they need a sort

8:42

of cushion. To be fair, the government has,

8:44

you know, given allocation of funds, little

8:47

funds to people and families, especially

8:49

those who have been mostly affected, low

8:51

income homes. But people are saying

8:53

that that hasn't been enough because even

8:55

the middle class and even the

8:57

upper class are feeling the pains of

8:59

how things are or have been

9:01

in Nigeria since the new government took

9:03

seat. Thanks so much, Makawachi. Thank

9:05

you, Mimi. I'm

9:28

Mimi Swaybe. Bye.