Yesterday, Stephanie Coker was at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, leaving the country and out of our interest for the next career move of the young Presenter, we were asking where was she going? Now we know – to South Africa to shoot the live episode for “The Voice Nigeria”.

She affirmed the above fact on her social media, and all the other participants are there now. This now gives credence to speculation that has been kept under wraps for a while that The voice Nigeria is being shot in South Africa. That is a major slap in the face by Mnet to the Nigerian public don’t you think?

With all the revenue garnered from hard working subscribers, they cannot weather the challenges we face as a country to earn our money and shoot our supposed version of the voice here. I am not in for analyzing the reasons they are giving for flying all our contestants, coaches and trainers to South Africa to shoot a show for Nigerians.

If you don’t know what this means, we lost an opportunity to create jobs and income for individuals and the government. Lost an opportunity to practically train and expose our aspiring film makers and set specialists. This can be seen as a crack in the wall. If we fold our hands, the exploitation of our talent by South Africa through Mnet and DSTV, would become worse than colonialism, as it is clear to even the blind that Entertainment is quickly becoming our cash cow.

What is your take on this?

By Sammi Sikpojie