THE CATASTROPHIC DEBACLE THAT WAS THE 'NIGERIAN GOSPEL MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS' (NGMVA)!!!

It was a cool Saturday evening on the 30th of November 2013 at the Afe Babalola Hall of the University of Lagos, Akoka. Nigeria's finest Gospel Artistes were on ground for what was supposed to be a redefining moment in the Nigerian Gospel Music Industry, a Revolution they called it, the first ever edition of the Nigerian Gospel Music Video Awards. Christian media house X2D were on ground to cover the event, as well as other gospel media outlets.

However, as it turns out, that was all that was good about the event! The stage was poorly decorated, with a small banner of the event, which hung at the centre of the stage, drawing comparisons with decorations at student campus fellowships. The event was meant to start at 4pm, but didn't start until about 7pm. Artistes were made to sit on the students desks that make up the sitting arrangements in the hall, some lucky A-list artistes got to sit on coloured cushioned chairs very close to the stage, which made it difficult for anyone trying to get on stage to pass by, without stepping on their toes.

The MC for the night was the very funny Sakho. He gave a good account of himself, but even his jokes couldn't save the show from imminent disaster. The room was practically empty and the response from the few that gathered was moot.

The National Anthem was rendered, the theme song mimed by Mrs Obodo and the organizer of the event Mr. Segunfunmi gave his opening speech. He encouraged artistes to produce videos that touch lives and change the world, he also said that the event had taken him 7 months to organize!!

Axios Chorale performed their hit song I bu Ngbalaba and then it all went downhill! It was time for the presentation of the Awards at the Music VIDEO Awards. There was no screen showing the videos of the nominees and there were NO PLAQUES presented to the winners!!! The award nominees were called out and the winner was expected to wave his or her hands in the air in appreciation and had nothing to show they had won, save for some tweets from some enthusiastic cronies of the NGMVA.

There were nominations for over TWENTY (20) categories and only about SEVEN (7) winners were announced...begging the question, What happened to the rest??? The remaining artistes waiting for their categories to be announced were left gasping in utter amazement and disbelief as the MC (a staff of X2D) who had taken over from Sakho (who obviously decided he had better things to do) turned round and began to pull down the roll-up banners on the stage, while the last presenter was attempting to announce the last few winners of the night, signalling the end of an appalling night of shame. 

We here at Naija's Biggest Hits believe that, what ever is worth doing, is worth doing well. There is no point organizing an event and not doing what needs to be done before hand. What is the point of having an award ceremony without any plaques or award statuettes for the winners? These are basic things that need to be in place. And why have such a "prestigious" award ceremony in a semi-classroom in Unilag? All of these were just a recipe for disaster. It is a crying shame that it took the organizers 7 months to come up with such a disastrous result, we hope that in the next 12 months they would have learnt from this year's event...How not to organize an Award Ceremony ...E.D. Tuale