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Nollywood Stars, Dakore Egbuson-Akande and Ini Edo Share Their Encounters with Drug Abuse

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Nollywood Stars, Ini Edo and Dakore-Egbuson Akande shared their personal encounters with drug abuse at the recently concluded Drug Convos, a virtual event hosted by MTN Foundation in partnership with Businessday, MTV Base and Nigerian Entertainment Today (Netng) in commemoration of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking marked annually on June 26. The discussion was moderated by author and popular social commentator, Japheth J. Omojuwa and the stars came ready to spill!
Dakore Egbuson-Akande during the Drug Convos
When asked about the role of family and parents in curbing substance abuse among youths, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, mother of twin-girls shared her brush with drug traffickers while she was an undergraduate in the University, “I remember when things were difficult. I was in the university and I could travel abroad at that time. Someone came up to me and said ‘oh, would you want to carry some drugs when you travel and you’ll get paid when you get there?’ I was only 21 at the time!”

She added that parenting plays a major role in shaping the decisions that young people make about drugs and substance abuse as she could have made a decision that will ruin her entire life.”Due to upbringing and the discipline my parents had instilled in me, I didn’t have to run home to ask my parents what to say to the guy. I just knew that omo dat one no go happen!”

She advised Nigerian parents to unlearn some of the parenting and communication styles that they experienced with their own parents because the present-day situation requires an open relationship that will enable children speak to their parents before they make irreversible mistakes.
Ini Edo during the Drug Convos
When J. J. Omojuwa, asked Ini Edo what the Nollywood industry was doing to curb the menace of substance abuse among the impressionable youth, the actress admitted there was a general glorification of substance use in entertainment and there was a need to use movies to show the adverse effect, according to her “the Censors Board [National Film and Video Censors Board] has a huge role to play in this. If you are telling a drug-related success story, there has to be a certain result that shows that if you get into this type of lifestyle, this is what you are likely to get at the end of the day.”

She disclosed that what young people see is the glamourous part of the whole process, “they may be thinking, ‘oh, I need to be high to perform which is probably what they see on TV and on social media but they don’t get to see the adverse effect of abusing drugs and how damaging it can be on young people.”

She insisted that there was a need for drug-abuse education while sharing her experience at a party, “I went to a party some time ago where Cannabis was being served on trays like food and young people not older than 25 were consuming it like it was normal!”
J.J. Omojuwa during the Drug Convos
J. J. Omojuwa, excited by the positive response from the celebrities said, “I am delighted by what we have heard from the celebrities who are also cultural influencers because there is an assumption that once you are a famous person in the entertainment community, you just need some form of drugs to spice it up.”
Other panellists at the event included Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya; Country Manager, ViacomCBS Networks Africa, Bada Akintunde-Johnson; Country Representative, United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Oliver Stolpe; Senior Lecturer and Consultant Psychiatrist, Yewande Oshodi; Director-General, Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministries, Adedokun Adedeji and the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, among others.
Panelists at MTN ASAP’s Drug Convos
The Drug Convos is part of MTN Foundation’s Anti-Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP), a multi-sectoral intervention targeted at eradicating drug abuse among young Nigerians from ages 10 to 25. 
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“Wizkid Is Not The Guy Social Media Keeps Trying To Make Y’all Believe He Is” – Basket Mouth

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Comedian Basket Mouth had this to say about Wizkid

“All these talks about Wizkid being proud will always be funny to me. 2014 I had my show in Lagos and I really needed Wizkid to perform and I was willing to pay him anything.

I contacted him and he told not to bother about paying him. He promised to come as a surprise guest & put up a show for free.

3 days to the event, Wizkid called me that he won’t be able to show up coz a very important family emergency had happened. I was really heartbroken but I just had to accept the reality.

35 minutes after that call, Wizkid asked me to contact any Nigerian artiste I will like to book for the event and get back to him with the bills.

I quickly contacted Lil Kesh, Kcee, Yemi Alade and Phyno. The bill was about 40 Million Naira and Wizkid cleared it all. Mannn! I thought I was dreaming.

Wizkid is not the guy social media keeps trying to make y’all believe he is”

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“My First EP With Sony Music Was A Failure” – Davido

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The singer said;

“My first EP with Sony Music was a failure. I packed my bags and returned to Lagos, gathered all of my producers and said, “We need to teach these people how to make music.”

In their minds, they’ve given me millions of dollars, and they expect me to make the music they want me to make so they can profit.

I said, Let me go home and come back.
They didn’t think my kind of music would work.
When I returned, I released ‘IF’ and it was an instant hit.”

Weldon Davido!

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Olamide Asked Me To Leave The Girlfriend I Had When I Became A Star” – Singer Asake Tells Story

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The YBNL artist said;

“When I made my first big pay check from music, I was so happy that I shared the news with my girlfriend. I gave her full details of how much I made and the next day, I gave her 2 million naira as a gift.

To my surprise, she turned it down saying 2 Million was too small compared to how much I had made. I was abit worried coz this girl is from a humble background and I never imagined her to be like that.

I explained the situation to Olamide and he advised me to leave the girl, he also instructed me to send the 2 Million Naira to my mom.

I’m glad I did coz my mom was able to make good use of the money and open a big provision store. My mom doesn’t call me for financial issues anymore coz she’s doing just fine…”

Wow, Olamide is really a good boss and a good guide too.

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