BBNAIJA: TIME TO BAN THE REALITY SHOW

Sonnie Ekwowusi writes that BBNaija is an assault on our cultural heritage

It is high time the federal government banned the airing of the ongoing TV Reality Show Big Brother Nigeria (BBNaija) in Nigeria. Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed, Ohaneze Youths, Arewa Youths, Foundation for African Cultural Heritage (FACH), National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), Muslim Rights Concern (MRC), Project for Human Development (PHD), Association of Concerned Mothers, Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) Mr. Segun Runsewe continue to lead the pack of men and women and institutions clamouring for the immediate ban of the BBNaija The BBNaija is nothing but sexual barbarism. It is eroticism and nudity. Put succinctly, BBNaija is a pornography.

For example, last Sunday, one of the BBNaija inmates brought out his erected penis and started flaunting it in front of the female inmates and to the whole world. One wonders the point the young man was trying to make. You can imagine how disappointed his parents were watching their son disgracing his family on TV. Any human being who does not appreciate his or her intrinsic worth or human dignity is unaware of the deepest truth about his or her existence. Flaunting of one’s private parts in public is animalism per excellence. It is a slur on human civilization. Anyway, this disgraceful behavior is nothing compared to other BBNaija sexual escapes being displayed online. If you want to look at them, just google: “BBNaija photos” and you will be shocked by the BBNaija porn photos.

Our tragedy in Nigeria is that we are not only being destroyed politically: we are presently being destroyed on all fronts- politically, socially, culturally, intellectually and morally. For example, most of our public institutions are now being damaged by the new sexual identity politics. Sad. At the risk of constant repetition, if constitutional democracy must lead to true human flourishing it must transcend political experiment. This is because democracy is more than a political experiment: it is also a moral enterprise which largely depends on the shared beliefs, shared values and liberating principles of the citizenry for its success. But unfortunately one of the most remarkable new features of our society, writes Hans Boersma in his essay, “Therapeutic Revolution,” is its blithe dismissal of shared beliefs, shared values and liberating principles which have long shaped our social and political life. Time-tested religious and philosophical convictions that guarded generations before us such as marriage as a life-long commitment, spousal fidelity, sexual union as a sacred reflection of the relationship between God and his people, child rearing, honouring our mothers and fathers, duties of truth-telling, public shame, hard work and so forth are being discountenanced as archaic and anachronistic.

In the past in Nigeria the aforesaid time-tested convictions were treated as foundational to our common life. Today they have all been toppled- not by a narrow conspiracy, but by a broad, bipartisan process. A society that topples time-tested convictions and repudiates shared values and transcendental as undergirding people’s basic political convictions and practices is an anti-cultural society. A fundamentally anti-traditional and or anti-historical attitude pervades today’s anti-cultural society. And that was why in the midst of an American culture that had become so debased and disoriented Richard John Neuhaus invited his admirers to join him on the high adventure of being countercultural. Similarly we in Nigeria should learn to counter today’s pervading anti-culture. How? By refusing to collaborate in the disintegration of our cultural heritage by endorsing BBNaija. In short, BBNaija is an assault on our cultural heritage.

Besides, the airing of BBNaija to the Nigerian public is illegal and unconstitutional. It is a violation of public morality as enshrined in sections 17(3)(f) (g), 21 (a),23, 37, 38,42, 45(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Articles 2, 8, 17, 18, 28, 29 of the African Charter on Human & Peoples’ Rights (Ratification Enforcement) Act, CAP 10 and sections 0.2.2.2 (a), 0,2,3 (a) 3.6.1, 3.6.2, 3.7.5. 3.7.10, 3.8.1. 4.2.1, 4.2.2 (a) (b) (j), 14.0.1 of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Code (5TH Edition). Many do not know public morality can be enforced under the Nigerian law. The right to freedom of expression and the press including right to watch BBNaija guaranteed under section 39 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are invalidated to the extent to which they are in violation with public morality and public decency under section 45(1) of the same Constitution. Most important, section 29 of the African Charter on Human and People Rights (which Nigeria has ratified and domesticated as part and parcel of the Nigerian law) provides that the rights and freedom of each individual shall be exercised “with due regard to the rights of others, collective security, morality and common interest”. The section also provides that the government shall preserve and strengthen positive African cultural values in its relations with other members of the society, in the spirit of tolerance, dialogue and consultation and, in general, to contribute to the promotion of the moral wellbeing of society.

But in their defence, Multi-choice, DSTV, NBC and other proponents of the BBNaija argue that no viewer is forced to watch BBNaija; that the porn is privately subscribed only on DsTV and, besides, viewers who feel offended by the BBNaija should refrain from watching it. This is fundamentally flawed. To start with, BBNaija is aired virtually on all TV stations in Nigeria. So even those who do not subscribe to it are now exposed to watching it. The other day a lawyer friend stumbled across the reality show and came out fuming and screaming to high heaven that the porn should be banned. BBNaija is aired at a time children are awake. You can imagine its damaging effects on our children who are always glued to the TV. Child pornography is a crime. There is nothing like private subscription to crime. In any case, the NBC is empowered by the Nigerian law to control and monitor all broadcastings and programs within the Nigerian air space including the DSTV’s BBNaija. Why? To ensure that no foreign movie or program that compromises Nigerian cultural heritage is aired in Nigeria.