Young people in Nigeria are starting to re-energize themselves towards the coming election as you will find in their music, art, trends, style, fashion, making bold statements. This moved our organization Kininso Koncepts, a cultural/creative hub in Lagos established with the aim of inspiring greatness to continue to champion the cause of social change as we have done in previous productions using storytelling, design innovation, performance art, film, documentaries and research to create daring pieces.
Nigeria is at its election season and there are lots of questions about the honesty of candidates. ‘Who are those candidates who will be accountable to us’?
In anticipation of Kininso’s new work ‘FIX POLITICS’, an original poem by a member of the Fix Politics Initiative; Dike Chukwumerije performed at the Fix Politics Conference launched in 2019 as part of the Fix Politics Movement/SPPG (School of Politics, Policy, and governance) program whose mission is to teach young people to become good leaders and build a massive base and pipeline of a new and progressively disruptive –thinking political class. We found ‘Fix politics’ during the End Sars protest in 2020 but all efforts to film was marred by lack of funds but we remained persistent on filming this piece because we believed it has embedded within it the different facets of our societal misconstruction and it uncovers the
truth with a daring tone.
The ‘dirtiness’ of politics in Nigeria has overtime deterred young people from getting involved for this reason, we featured seasoned actors and veterans like Bimbo Manuel, Jude Chukwuka, Efe Paul Azino, Francis Owochei, Segun Adefila, not leaving out Nollywoods fresh and finest cinema faces such as Sambasa Nzeribe who featured in blockbuster cinema movies such as Wedding party, Slow country, etc Tope Olowoniyan featured in King of Boys2, Caroline Igben popularly known for her instagram skits with Mr Macaroni and Nasboi, Emmanuel Anya, Olasunkanmi Adebayo, Nnamdi Agbo, Precious Eminue and popular Instagram comedian Eriakha Edgar. The actors brought the project to life with their solemn but intense interpretation reminding us that the young and old have a part to play in Fixing that POLITICS.
Joshua Alabi is a phenomenal director who through his works and art is rejuvenating the idea of theatre, of what theatre should be, what artists are and what they should be like. He believes that Young people especially theatre artists should be able to use theatre/art/music to speak out. We have the likes of Late Sound Sultan, Burna Boy, Falz, Eedris Abdulkareem who use their music to speak out, lampoon against bad governance and corruption. These entertainers can be said to have created a niche for themselves using their style of music as weapons for mass orientation because they desire transparency, accountability and good governance from those in power.
This can be likened to what Joshua Alabi through Kininso Koncepts has been doing with theatre and social campaign. He is building an industry of bold creative strategists and writers, researchers, theatre graduates, stage actors, singers, dancers who are also passionate about using storytelling as a tool for social engineering – questioning the norm, asking relevant questions, and awakening people into doing what is right such as getting their PVC and voting in the right candidates.
FIX POLITICS centers on issues of deteriorating system of governance, election, education, poverty, corruption, tribalism and a host of other issues. These are issues that Kininso has addressed in plays over time. Fix Politics sensitizes and creates awareness to the citizens particularly the youth and the government on their role as stakeholders in curbing these issues.
The production was achieved through the support of the Centre for Information Technology (CITAD) and MacArthur foundation Nigeria. As part of this project, partnerships became more essential with Television Stations such as Plus TV, Arise TV, Pop Central TV and Channels TV as we plan to have an online screening with notable press and media houses, stakeholders, local and international partners etc.
The screening aims to drive a conversation in the social space, secure further partnerships, inviting organizations whose work reflects a call for change and will be interested in a collaboration. Kininso was able to produce Fix Politics as a social campaign hoping to achieve the desired goal of opening up the conversation as we approach 2023. It is our way of speaking out, lending our voice, and demanding what is right. There is no right time to begin, the time is NOW!
Kindly join us at the online screening on Friday 25th February, 2022 at 11am and be part of the social media campaign with the hashtags #FIXPOLITICS #FixthePolitics #KininsoKoncepts and @kininsokoncepts on all social media platforms.
Chinenye Chukwudi
Admin and Communications Manager
09075856462
[email protected]
