African legend and Juju music maestro, King Sunny Ade (KSA) has been appointed as an ambassador of the Federal Government’s re-orientation programme “Change Begins With Me”.
Minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, made the appointment on Monday when he received the music maestro who paid a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja.
Mohammed, while announcing the appointment described Sunny Ade as an icon and a trailblazer, who has reigned in the music industry for over 50 years without blemish.
We are looking for people like you (King Sunny Ade) that the younger ones can look up to. It’s not just that you have been around for fifty years but you have been around for fifty years without any single stain on your part and that is very hard.
Most people like you would have had one issue or the other that today their integrity would be at stake. Your integrity is as strong if not stronger than when you started. So it would be a pleasure if you can accept to be our Ambassador of the ‘Change Begins With Me’.
I want the younger ones to look at you and see that you can actually get to the top without cutting corners. That is exactly what you have done. You have never cut corners and you have gotten to the top,” he said.
The minister said this administration is paying more attention to the development of the entertainment industry because of its vast potential in generating employment and creating wealth.
He further decried the systemic weakness in the music industry, especially the inability of government to adequately protect the intellectual property of the nation’s artists, an issue he said is tackling stakeholders.
He hailed the musician for promoting the juju music genre to an enviable height and hailed him for performing for fifty years with same energy, dexterity and passion which has been a source of inspiration to the younger artists.
KSA pledged to partner with the ministry to move the nation forward while accepting the offer to serve as an ambassador of the “Change Begins With Me” Campaign.
“You don’t need to say much. This is what I love to do and it has been in me. We are ready to do that officially throughout the whole world,” he said.
He thanked the minister for the uncommon passion he has shown to the entertainment industry.
