Singer, administrator and one time President of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Bolaji Rosiji, is a tested and trusted hand in the Nigerian entertainment industry. There isn’t contesting his immense contribution to the growth of the industry.In this interview with our Snr. Reporter, Ovwe Medeme, he speaks on his latest baby, Heart of Gold Video and as well as other issues affecting the Nigerian entertainment industry.

What essentially inspired your passion for music?

I would say that love for music is an essential human attribute. If scientists can prove, to my satisfaction, that plants and animals respond to music, then why not humans? The unfortunate thing, however is, a lot of Nigerians are unable to express love for music. This is because the Nigerian educational system, to a large extent, has no provision for them to do so.

Would you agree that your growing up had anything to do with your passion for the music?

I cannot neglect the fact that my father was host of the Musical Society Of Nigeria (MUSON) in the past. Starting from when I was just about six years old, he was hosting local and foreign artistes at the time. My mother is the ultimate inspiration of the songs. When I was very young she wouldn’t allow any visitor to go home empty handed, she made sure each visitor goes home with a gift, my job was to go get these items. There were times that I will purposely find a place to go when we have visitors. It took many years of learning for me to appreciate the value of her lessons to us.

As a former PMAN president, what would you point at as your major achievement?

Personally, I am not concerned about my achievements. What is most important to me is how to marry the momentum of that time with the future endeavours we intend to embark on in the industry. For instance, the Heart of Gold is a huge project in terms of concept. It covers not only providing good health care for children but also for adults. It also involves our long time ambition to establish a post-production studio facility in Nigeria for the simple reasons that many Nigerians are forced to go abroad to shoot their videos.

What is your take on your colleagues who sang for politicians recently?

Some people are experts in politics in Nigeria but that is not my field. I am not a partisan musician. My vision is to be a watchdog on everybody irrespective of party affiliation. But I want those involved to be careful and beware of unscrupulous politicians especially those who have nothing to offer in terms of leadership quality.

But there are those who argue that it is their own contribution to national development. What would you say to that?

You will agree with me that today, there are flaws in entertainment industry. These artistes should be thinking of how to get infrastructures, studios, international affiliations and secretariat. Nigeria is going into obscurity, what is more scarce is the creative ability to make something out of nothing, to make other countries yearn for Nigerian music and videos to such an extent that they would want to speak our own language like we have been doing to theirs. You don’t get to see these politicians until elections are around the corner and then they throw money at you, why don’t they use such money to fight piracy conclusively?

Personally what would you want to inject in the entertainment industry?

I want to build a massive studio. A lot of these film and studio owners are not helping us. My vision is for us to come together and create a united artistes forum that can compete with the likes of MGN, the Warner Brothers and other big studios in the world, use our celebrity power to support the corporate environment, go to professional consultancy firms and establish ourselves.

How well would you say that action against piracy is working in Nigeria?

We have had several of these actions at every level either by corporate or individual stakeholders and we keep going back to the beginning. It is like that because there is a lack of sustenance and political will. At a point, in the streets of London there was a fight against piracy. Here, the armed forces have not been adequately mobilised by the government. There is no sustenance. I remember discussing this issue with Nuhu Ribadu about three years ago when he was the Chairman of EFCC and he promptly opened a department for it but the pirates are not the boys on the street. The real godfathers are those ranked as the untouchables.

In your opinion, can piracy really be controlled?

In truth, it might not be curtailed totally, but to a very large extent the scourge can be reduced. This way, artistes can go home with shelter and food. I believe artistes’ involvement with politicians is because they are not getting enough from their sold CDs.

You recently did collaboration with actors and other musicians in the Heart of Gold video. What inspired that?

I refer to them as my own, based on the sacrifice we have all made on the day we shot the video. There was a strike and many of them were kept in the sun for hours just waiting to get into the committee of shooting. The video production is an intense experience. Another reason we have artistes in our video is because we are making a public outreach to Nigerians through the entertainment industry.

In that video, you demonstrated love for children. Do you have anything planned for them?

Our NGO, Guaranga Foundation, has some collaboration with some newspapers. Presently, we are looking at the possibility of them having low cost education. Also, we have a programme, which we call the ‘home grown’ school feeding and health programme. Through the programme, we provide schools with computers, re-training of teachers, free meals as well as health care everyday in government schools and few private schools. We have been doing this in areas like Yaba, Surulere, Akoka, Apapa, Ajegunle, and a host of other vicinities.

Would you say that music has in any way affected the Nigerian audience?

The video is more of a human rights and children rights thing. Everyone in Nigeria has a right to express their feelings over things that are not going well. I would say that Nigerians are responding well. I get a lot of calls from Nigeria and Dubai. So, this is very inspiring. In fact, a well to do Nigerian called me to say when she comes to Nigeria she would like to start charity works because she was deeply touched and motivated by the video.

How many tracks are in the album?

It is a six-tracker album, but we have just one now. The rest will be released soon. Now, we have a busy schedule. We are putting together a new building, which is Gauraga Research Foundation. We are very busy with the project now, and the school feeding programme, which is going on now. Also, we are embarking on the 2011 Education Summit with the Lagos State Government.

What is your charge to the new government?

Now that most of the politicians have been elected into office, we are not going to sit down and watch our politicians embezzle billions of public funds and get away with it as if nothing has happened. I want these artistes as they have expressed in our video to personally pass this message to fellow Nigerians to wake up from their slumber and fight against shady politicians by bringing them to book.”