MY NEW ALBUM IS PRODUCED BY A TEN-TIME GRAMMY AWARDS WINNING PRODUCER

- SAMMIE OKPOSO

Call him the special one of the Nigerian gospel music genre and you won’t be making a mistake. Sammie Okposo is arguably the most successful gospel artiste from this part of the world in terms of general acceptance, awards and brand endorsements. He has been on the pay list of one of West Africa’s largest Telecoms Company, Glo, for years. He has won several awards in Nigeria and beyond. Sammie Okposo is Nigeria’s Kirk Franklin, he has pushed down walls to reach many people non Christians inclusive and that is his legacy. In this interview with PAS OBI, Sammie Okposo opens up on his forthcoming international album, the entertainment industry and the Boko Haram menace. Enjoy the excerpts:

Sammie Okposo where have you been

Where have I been? Well I have been working, getting my album ready and performing. I was also touring. I toured outside Nigeria twice last year, in October and December. My tours outside Africa are called Out Of Africa, it’s all about the redefinition of gospel music out of Africa, and the concept is geared towards exporting Nigerian gospel music outside Africa. So far I have done the concert in South Africa, London and America. Very soon we will take it to Canada and other parts of Europe. We came back and I have been working on my album, I have been working very hard because of the deal I have with TMG Records. TMG Records is based in Oklahoma, USA. There is a lot of pressure on me to make sure that the work comes out tight, I also had to employ the services of a ten-time Grammy Awards winning gospel producer based in America, Kelvin Bond. Kelvin Bond has produced everybody and anybody that has a name in American gospel music genre, Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond name it. Now the album is ready and we are ready to unveil it on the 3^rd of August 2012 at the Shell Hall of Muson Centre, the concert will feature multiple awards winning gospel artiste Deitrick Haddon and A list gospel artistes and Comedians; the album is coming six years after my last album, No More Drama. The album will offer 26 solid tracks. God is about to make a statement because this is the first time a Nigerian artiste is getting a proper distribution network in main stream American market. I mean proper distribution network, we have heard a lot about people saying they have record label abroad but they have nothing to show for it, TMG is taking care of the American/Caribbean market while my company, Zamar Entertainment is taking care of the African market. After God makes His statement, I will make my own statement. This is the redefinition of music out of Africa. This is what I have been called to do; I am ready to dole it out. My fans have been fantastic! I have been getting countless mails. I have been releasing some singles on radio and TV, they go out to get the album and they can’t find it, I want to apologize to them and also tell them to get ready, come this August, the album, The Statement, will be available.

Let’s talk about the contract, when the album is released are you going to be allowed to reside in Nigeria or are you relocating like others

Of course I am going to be here in Nigeria. It’s their headache to distribute; all I am to do am doing now by producing. I am about to send them the master and send them the credit then they package and distribute. After the album is out, there will be of course a promotional tour of the United States and I will be travelling to do that. Whenever I am needed I will travel but it doesn’t change my base, I am not about to relocate to America. I am still here.

Now that you are about to take gospel music to the next level with a contract that provides the best of distribution network in America and the Caribbean, how are you going to tackle piracy in Nigeria?

Piracy, I have said over and over again is not something the artistes are going to just over come over night by themselves. If you take a look at any country that has a proper distribution network for music and movies, you will see that the government of that country is strongly involved. The government of that country is making money from the industry because they play their part. We can agonize, cry all we want, we cannot stop the pirates unless the government comes in because we cannot fight the pirates but the government can, unless the government rises up and says enough is enough there  is nothing we can do about it. It is a pity that the government of Nigeria does not even know how much it can make from the Nigerian entertainment industry. If they can just come in, do feasibility study on the kind of money they can make, they will be shock to know that they can make more money in entertainment than from Crude Oil. They need to come in, bring in their professional hands, put in structures and we are good to go. This is what I was saying they should have done first before throwing in the money President Jonathan threw in. People were shouting, O they have given us money and I said listen, how do you give people money to go and work in an industry that does not have any structure, how are they going to pay back that money? I take N20 million and do a movie in an industry that I cannot even control the sales of the movie, everything will become bad loan! Everybody will be in debt! What they should have done is take a chunk of that money and put structures in place first. How can we achieve that? Look at the countries that have done it, ask questions, how did you people do it; come in and help us to put structures in place for our industry. When there is structure, when there is proper distribution then the industry can grow and it’s only the government that can do that.

You have been a staunch Jonathan supporter, I’m sure you knew about the money…

No I didn’t, it came as a surprise package. I am sure that the President is the first to conjure the kind of massive support from the entertainment industry that he got during his presidential campaign since the beginning of the industry; I think he was just trying to find a way to better the industry and the Nigerian youths by making the money available. Now he has made the money available, he is thinking of other things but people need to go to him and say, Oga, thank you for this money but the best thing we need to do with this money is to put structures in place in the entertainment industry. Advisers this is where they come in, people who talk to him about what is on ground. So I was quite surprised when the President made that pronouncement. I don’t think any other president has ever made such statement. That is stage one, stage two, good structures must be put in place before this industry can fly. He needs to be advised. The practitioners that we have that are at the top needs to talk to them because some of us are still in the middle. I mean I was part of the campaign but I only saw him when it comes to making speech, I don’t have direct access to him in terms of speaking to him but with this kind of interviews, the people who can talk to him will know what we feel and take it to him and that is where it should start from, structure.

As a strong voice in the Nigerian Christian community, do you think that Christians’ retaliation against the Boko Haram bombing in the North is the way to go?

I do not think that retaliating is the way to go, as painful as it is. Yes in the bible we read that it was an eye for an eye but coming into the New Testament, the idea of an eye for an eye was abolished. I do not think you can use another wrong to right a wrong. Now don’t get me wrong, I am pained that lives are being taken. Let’s not even say Christian lives alone are taken because the life of a Christian and that of a Muslim are all human lives. My message is sheath your sword and let peace reign. If we can avoid being killed by leaving the area that are target, which is better than fighting back. As Christians we must not retaliate, let God fight for us and one day the one killing us will say these people we have been killing and they don’t retaliate don’t deserve this.