Entertainment

Stevie Wonder: becoming Ghanaian on my birthday is amazing

Published

6 months ago

May 15, 2024

Naijablitz

Legendary singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder is officially Ghanaian.

On Monday – the US musical icon’s 74th birthday – he was granted citizenship of Ghana by the nation’s president.

“This is it, congratulations!” Nana Akufo-Addo told a beaming Wonder, handing the Grammy winner a certificate at a ceremony in the presidential palace where he was also presented with a birthday cake with a Ghanaian flag iced on top.

Wonder told the BBC that gaining Ghanaian nationality on his birthday was an “amazing thing”.

The superstar was born and bred in the US state of Michigan but has long had an affinity for Ghana – a West African nation thousands of miles from home.

In 1975, with a string of hit albums behind him, Wonder openly expressed a desire to quit music and move to Ghana. He believed his ancestral lineage could be traced there, reports say.

Wonder stuck with singing and stayed stateside, but after headlining a Ghanaian music festival in the 1990s, he again expressed a desire to set up home there.

On a later trip to Ghana, Wonder wrote the entirety of his album Conversation Peace and in an interview just three years ago the star said he was moving to Ghana in order to escape racial injustice in the US.

Wonder’s love affair with the country was ignited by the people he met whilst there.

He told the BBC that one of these encounters was with late Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings, who in the 1990s hosted him at the presidential residence.

“I remember the late President Rawlings, who allowed me to be a co-pilot on a flight,” Wonder said.

“I was able to fly with him from one end of Ghana to the other end. The north to the south, and it was amazing.”

Stevie Wonder gains citizenship in Ghana
Flanked by his family and donning a scarf made of traditional kente cloth, Wonder was visibly delighted to have finally become Ghanaian.

Ghana has long prided itself on being a bastion of pan-Africanism – its founding leader, Kwame Nkrumah, called the West African state a “Black Mecca”.

Wonder is just the latest African-American icon to celebrate this message – writer W E B Du Bois moved to Ghana and was buried there in 1963, while Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali all paid high-profile visits to the country to reconnect with their African roots.

In 2001, Ghana became the first nation on the continent to give the descendants of Africans the right to stay.

Since then, Africans in the diaspora have been able to live and work in Ghana without renewing their visas or work permits.

And in 2019 the Ghanaian government launched the “year of return” initiative to encourage Africans in the diaspora to relocate there.

More than 300 Africans in diaspora have been granted Ghanaian citizenship since.

In a statement, Ghana’s interior ministry said Wonder becoming a citizen “marks a significant milestone in the country’s efforts to attract diasporan Africans and recognise outstanding contributions to the African diaspora”.

The man himself said he now plans to engage in initiatives that will create great job opportunities for Ghana’s youth, who make up roughly 38% of the population.

“The youngest generation is in Africa. We need to begin to think about how their greatness can shine,” he said.

Entertainment

MultiChoice Nigeria Loses 243,000 DStv, Gotv, Subscribers In Six Months Over Increase In Price

Published

6 days ago

November 13, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The South African pay-TV operator MultiChoice Group disclosed that its Nigerian unit, MultiChoice Nigeria, lost 243,000 subscribers on its Digital Satellite Television (DStv) and General Entertainment on Television (GOtv) services from April to September this year.

The company revealed these figures in its Interim Financial Results for the period ending 30 September 2024, which were released on Tuesday.

MultiChoice attributed this decline to Nigeria’s high inflation rate, which exceeds 30%, driven by the rising costs of food, electricity, and fuel, causing many customers to disconnect.

In its financial report for March 2024, MultiChoice had earlier reported an 18% subscriber loss in Nigeria.

The company further reported a 566,000-subscriber loss in the Rest of Africa operations over the past six months, with Zambia and Nigeria contributing the largest shares to this decline.

“With the Rest of Africa business having seen a decline of 803k subscribers in 2H FY24, this rate of decline slowed to 566k in 1H FY25,” stated MultiChoice.

The loss included 298,000 in Zambia and 243,000 in Nigeria, while other markets experienced a minor decline.

Extreme inflation and currency instability have negatively impacted the group’s profits, with MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela commenting, “We are making good progress in addressing the technical insolvency that resulted from non-cash accounting entries at the end of the last financial year.”

Mawela noted that the group’s net equity position is expected to recover by November.
With regard to Zambia’s losses, the company attributed them to extensive power outages caused by drought, leaving some regions with up to 23 hours of daily outages.

The company also cited competition from streaming services and changes in viewer preferences as pressures on its traditional pay-TV model.

To adapt, MultiChoice invested an additional ZAR1.6 billion in its streaming service Showmax, which reported 50% year-over-year growth.
Mawela added, “Showmax strategically positions the business to actively participate in the streaming revolution as it gains momentum across Africa.”

Entertainment

My ex made me a gold digger — Actress Sarah Martins

Published

6 days ago

November 12, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Nollywood actress Sarah Martins has narrated how she became a gold digger.

The actress made this known while reacting to Veekee James’ story of abuse and financial exploitation by her ex-lover.

In a trending post on her Instagram page, Sarah explained that she turned gold digger after her former lover established another woman with her money.

She wrote: “After listening to Veekee James experience in her former relationship, all I can say is, stop overplaying your role in a relationship!

“There was a time I gave my ex 50% of my salary for 6 months and he was giving the money to another woman. He even funded her business from my sweat and the lady got married to someone else months after he funds her business.

“I’m a lover girl and I go hard for people I love but ever since them show me shege on top my kind heart, I no dey give man shishi! With my full chest, I am currently a gold digger!”

Entertainment

Wizkid creates dance challenge for his song ‘Dance’, fans react

Published

7 days ago

November 12, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

With some exciting news, Nigerian Grammy Award-winning singer Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, better known as Wizkid, has caused a stir among music lovers.

The singer is set to release a new song from his Morayo album titled “Dance” on Friday, November 15, 2024. Recall that the singer previously released a song with Brent Faiyaz titled “Piece of My Heart.”

Despite not having been released yet, “Dance” is already popular on social media, particularly on video sites, where fans are performing amazing dance moves for the song.

Wizkid has demonstrated his global talent by transitioning from his superstar and Ayo albums to the Made in Lagos and MLLE period. His next song “Dance,” a timeless Afrobeats song that has fans buzzing even before its release, suggests that he has listened to his followers.

His official DJ, DJ Tunez, has previously hinted about the song during a London party.

See videos of the dance move below