Music, entertainment industry, remain hope for Nigeria’s economic mainstay – reggae star

…Jos-born Jah Device shows how he fights terrorism with music

The Federal Government and state governments may have ignored the nation’s biggest economic sector; music and entertainment including sports, drama, film, broadcasting, live performing arts, video gaming, interactive digital media, and location-based amusement.

Jah Device, a reggae star of many years with over 80 songs who has large following in Jamaica, told BusinessDay in Port Harcourt the earlier government returns to promotion and investing in music and entertainment industry, the faster the Nigerian economy would shoot up fast.

Jah Device is a celebrated songwriter, producer, performer, and producer. He was one of the biggest guest performance at the recently concluded 45th Bob Marley festival in Port Harcourt. He also embarked on media tour of the Garden city thereafter.

Jah Device, who was born Vincent Kaweng Nyam, said music has big roles in the economy of Nigeria and the states. He also said Rivers State could be Nigeria’s reggae hub and compete with Jamaica. “Music cannot be overemphasized in the buildup of economy or in the mainstay of any economy.”

He said there is no way Nigeria could hope to build an economy without music as the plank. “The FG and even the states seem to have forgotten what the music industry can do to the economy. The ecosystem of employment keeps going up. Some people look down on music industry not knowing how it’s a job booster. The truth about it is that we are one of the biggest employers that people don’t really know. Let’s look at Lagos or Port Harcourt.

“The biggest name in music in Port Harcourt would be employing many people. Somebody like Buchi even has an office. I have been to his office in Lagos, and I have seen the number of staff that work in that office. And when he goes on stage, I’ve seen the number of people that go with him. He has an event center somewhere in town in Ikeja where people go around every month and have a good time.

“Fela Anikulapo was almost an industry. So, there is no way we can run a country or an economy without music. So, the government can use this as a tool, as an avenue to boost a sector of the economy and create jobs.”

Jah Device made it clear that Government can actually zero in on the music and entertainment industry like Jamaica. “Government can no longer fold its hands and watch. If they promote music and entertainment, they will watch the economy grow exponentially. Look at Jamaica. They have no mineral resources but they sell music. And go and see Jamaica today. Everybody wants to go to Jamaica. If you’re going to Jamaica and you do not book a hotel a month ahead of time, you are not going to have accommodation.”

He said Jamaica has moved from music to sports entertainment. They invested in the short races and now they compete or even overtake the US. Some of Jamaica’s best include Usain Bolt (regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time); Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce the “Pocket Rocket,” Elaine Thompson-Herah, the first woman in history to win the 100m and 200m sprint double; Asafa Powell, a former 100m world record holder; Yohan Blake, one of the youngest 100m World Champions in history; Veronica Campbell-Brown, a seven-time World Champion; and Merlene Ottey, first woman to win medals in six consecutive Olympic Games.

So, you can use music to build and raise funds to expand to other sectors like Jamaica did, he stated.

Pillars of Nigeria’s music industry:

He said; “Music in Nigeria survives on private efforts and pillars of the industry such as the Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China. He happens to be a brother close to the heart. He also was my classmate, my schoolmate, my friend, in fact a bosom friend. We were in the same dormitory back in the days. Also in same music group. We formed a music group afterwards.

“I can see that his philosophies have never changed. He believes everyone can become bigger and greater, and you can always grow. That’s his philosophy and he has never changed. I can see how attached he is to the growth of the entertainment industry and housing. He’s passionate about housing, he’s equally passionate about the entertainment industry.

“So I just want to thank him for holding strong to the baton, and running the race without looking back. He’s holding the plough and he’s going ahead. He actually is the reason why I’m able to make it to Port Harcourt because when the organizers of this 45th Bob Marley’s celebration in Port Harcourt approached me, I introduced them to the Mayor of Housing for support. Kudos to him. I just pray that people realize the potential in such a person, and key into his business which is real estate. I’m so happy with what he’s doing with Alesa Highland Sustainable Green Smart City project and pray that everything goes well with the whole venture.”

PH huge on music and entertainment:

Jah Device said the Bob Marley remembrance show was a huge success. “This is because those invited showed up and the crowd was something else.

“Secondly, I saw enthusiasm and consummate interest in the crowd. I thought people would run away but they stayed back to enjoy the whole thing and you can imagine an event going all the way from 6pm all the way to about 5am. Wow. It’s been a while since I saw anything like that.

“The only time I saw this was in Jamaica. And I’m seeing it here in Port Harcourt, which means Port Harcourt really has the potential of becoming a big music city and investment hub. It will mean that people from all over the world can come to Port Harcourt and celebrate themselves and have a good time.”

Rest of the interview:

I was born Vincent Kaweng Nyam, but my stage name is ‘I Am Device’, aka, Jah Device. Well, ‘I Am’ is the name of God. Finally, I go by Jah Device, meaning the device in Jah’s hand.

I hail from Jos, Plateau State. I am Berom by tribe, the largest tribe in Plateau State, spreading over the Middle Belt as well.

My primary and secondary education was all there in Jos, Plateau State. And, that was where I met My-ACE China, the Mayor of Housing. We were schoolmates and went through the school together all the way to secondary school. It was there he left Jos for the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and I went to ABU Zaria for about a year on a sports programme and later came to Jos and studied Accounting and Finance and graduated at the Plateau State Polytechnic as an accountant.

Afterwards, I held on to music with my education, and started recording soon after I graduated from school.

Even before then, I had done two singles (or so) using President Olusegun Obasanjo’s speech about ‘The Hope of Nigeria’. He said he saw hope. The song didn’t do well but it gave birth to an album, Hope.

So I kind of released a 13-track album, which was locally released in Nigeria. So the “Hope Reloaded” project went out, and I continued recording singles like that until 2015 into 2016.

How I went international: Zige Dub:

In 2015 to about 2016, I met a man called Zige Dub, who was a very good friend to Sinclair Kumboye, now of Silverbird television.

And it was Sinclair that had played one of my singles to Zige Dub, who is in the UK. And Zige Dub picked up interest, took my song, and played it to one of the biggest record labels or reggae selling and producing companies in Europe, which was Stingray Records.

They took interest right there and then. That was how Zige Dub introduced me to Stingray Records in the UK, and we got into conversations and we got into work straight up.

They started recording my singles. I think the first time I showed up on their project was something they call; ‘This is Reggae’. It was a collection of artists around the world. They later put our songs on a CD to show the world their growth or the antecedents of people they are working with and to make a statement.

So it kind of showcased me to the world, even as the name implied, “Showcase CD.”

From then, the interest grew until they eventually narrowed it down to me. This led to release of an Extended Play (EP) in 2018. At this point, a tour was arranged to promote that album. It was for me to travel around the world to promote that album.

How COVID cut short my world tour:

But you know, at the close of 2019, there was COVID. We were in Panama at that point, haven gone to Jamaica and Brazil. It was in Panama that the crackdown on travelers began, which disrupted travel and events and all of that.

So they hurried us back to our countries, and I had to go back to Nigeria. Afterwards, in 2020, we did Nigerian tour as continuation.

So I went to cities in Nigeria: Abuja, Bauchi, Port Harcourt, Lagos, then Jos.

Music, love, despite adversity:

Music and love are the only things keeping Jos together. Jos tour was something else because I am a homeboy. It was like homecoming for me. I truly was grateful and I find myself truly fortunate to have my people in Jos loving me the way they do and actually promoting the music even in the face of adversity.

Despite adversity, we still come out and show love and support for our own. They might not be financially there to push the project, but they show you love with their presence, and in the way they speak about you and recommend you to people. We emotionally love our own; that’s Jos for you. So that was how it was for us.

Adversity: Constant killings

By adversity, we mean the instability in Jos in security and all of that. I have been supportive of my people with my music, my everything. I’m still doing it. If you listen to my music, it’s all about waking up the people to the realities on ground. We are under attack; under a siege right now.

And the more our people come to the light of the realities on ground, the better for us. Actually, we know what is happening; we face it every day. Killings, kidnappings, maiming, total evacuation of a whole town by herders, by northern armies.

Its God that permitted killers to kill our people for a purpose:

And to be specific, a particular tribe has been spearheading these atrocities. It can only be understood through scriptures. So, I understand where our persecution is coming from.

The book of Jeremiah chapters 5 and 6 explain why; who God is going to send to persecute us, why He is sending them, and how He will liberate us from them.

The reason is simple and I want our people to actually know this. I’ve been preaching this, even at the event that happened here in Port Harcourt. Even my music says it. In the book I mentioned, God said, because our people are wicked, wicked towards Him and towards our very selves—no love for Him, no love for our people, He is going to avenge this.

He didn’t create us to hate each other but to love each other and look after each other, and because we have failed in that, He is going to send people to punish us.

He actually mentioned the people by name, and I don’t know why we are blind to this, and pastors are not teaching these things.

God said ‘herdsmen’ will come from the north and take over your land. And he described exactly how they will take over.

First of all, they will surround you, surround your country, surround your cities, and they will feed at the hinterlands. And if you observe, that’s what the herdsmen have been doing over the years.

The Lord warned the people and said what He would do to them if they did not harken to His warning. We can now find that nobody is able to help Nigeria in the kind of trouble we are into.

They will come as if they want to help Nigeria, and then they see resources, and their mission will change. Look at Donald Trump who came blazing. Now, he sees he can make money out of healthcare. He now says, “If you give me your healthcare, I will help you.” Now, look at what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did on April 10, 2026. They signed the memorandum. Nigeria’s healthcare seemed to be given to America. It was expected to be in exchange for security. Up till now, nothing (except the killing of a top commander of ISIS).

This is going to continue until we truly, truly learn our lesson. I’m not a prophet of doom, but I speak as an Oracle of God. That is why I only speak what His word has said.

So this whole knowledge that I have about what God wants of us and our people to do is from deep studies in the scripture into the history of our people and where we seem to be heading. It doesn’t look pretty.

Fighting terror with music:

So, music is my own tool, and its value cannot be overemphasized. The need for music cannot be overemphasized in the economy of any country or any group, even in Mecca, music is building that economy. So when I talk about music and Plateau State particularly, we just finished having what they call ‘Count Down to New Year’. It is one of the biggest events they had. There were lots of sponsors and corporate organizations that came up to be part of it. Hotels were fully booked because people came from all over neighboring cities to witness it. Some homes accommodated visitors; tourism business boomed. Most businesses recorded high patronize and volumes. Restaurants boomed.

I performed there, so I saw the mammoth crowd extending. So, when more musicians come up, it opens up doors for more employments, investments, etc. For instance, Jah Device as a business employs 13 people in the band. That’s job creation. In management, I have seven persons, that is 20. That’s just one brand or one band. When I do a concert, you talk about many employees that do many things.

I cannot sing anything else:

This is the reason I cannot sing anything else than what I am singing right now, repentance so God can answer us faster. I cannot sing anything else, forgive me. And I beg our people to forgive me if I don’t sing about pretty ladies and about fancy lifestyle and all of that. Forgive me. I am constrained to sing about the sufferings our people are in, including the lack of housing. That’s why my friend (Mayor of Housing) likes me. We’re living in ghettos and we own the whole of Nigeria.

Back in the day, our forefathers, when a man is of age and about to marry, he builds a house. His age mates and brothers and friends come around, they all put their hands together and help him to build that house. When another wants to build his own house, he who has built will come around too and help, and they build that house. It was communal building system.

So, when I saw my friend, Mayor of Housing, doing the same thing (he started doing it in Abuja, putting the heads of Nigerians together.) If only Nigerians can see what that man is doing! He turned the communal building concept into cooperative building scheme where people with little amounts such as N2m or N3m come together, build for one at a time, until it would go round. Before you know it, everybody has a house. He was doing that successfully in Abuja, and he saw that, okay, he can actually do this at a larger scale, which is why you can see that God has blessed him with the project of Alesa highlands.

I’m with him in prayer and submission. I pray—my prayer is for our people to live well. In the course of trying to live well, I also pray that our people will realize that there is power in unity and submission to the will of God.

Our people are dying:

Our people are dying; women are dying with children. This morning I was opening a page, I saw a newlywed couple in Barkin Ladi. I’m sure the woman is pregnant. They killed the two of them in the attack that happened yesterday in Barkin Ladi. The governor went to visit there. I know it’s not just two of them; they killed a lot of youth too. Just look at this. Which one do we choose?

Why I sing with tears:

That is why people say it appears that when I sing, that I sing with tears. They say I don’t look like someone who can sing with joy. They are right. If anybody cares to go through my concerts and videos, they will see me ending in wailing and in tears. This is because somebody who vividly is recalling these things and wants to express it in song cannot be a happy man. What could I be possibly happy about?

I sang a song in my dialect so that I could communicate to my people. The song says: “Oh Father, if we have failed and we realize it, do not turn your back on us. We are just realizing these things. Our elders have not told us the story of how it all happened. Our women don’t know where to go to because men are supposed to lead them. Our children are a product of our ignorance.” The name of the song is ‘Have mercy on us.’ But show us the way.

I kept singing, Have mercy on us, have mercy on us. Oh Father, have mercy on us. Oh Father, from there to tears. It happens to me in every concert. Even at the Bob Marley celebration in PH, I was talking to the people and I became emotional.

My approach and that of my people may not be the same. My people would like to fight back, and few of us would say let’s follow this scripture.

We have had to call our friends together to say, let’s talk about this thing. See it in the scriptures. God is opening our eyes to our history. There was a historian named Sen Luka Gwom. He was a book writer and a historian. Before he died in 2020, he opened his mouth and said he has studied our history and followed diligently our people. He said he has now found out that we are descended from the lost tribes of Israel. And that is all he has got to say. That was his last public speech. And he said it at the BECO headquarters. BECO means the Berom Educational and Cultural Organization office or something like that. He stood up, he said that speech and presented a book he has written; a week later or so, he died.

The question many should ask is why God was allowing him to say these things before he died. And we are seeing more evidence—not just me. We have a group of brothers who have come together, we’ve been studying these things. We see that, okay, there’s no other way out for us if we don’t follow these steps. Many times, our people go to the fields and hills to protect farmers but get killed. You see that it’s one or two that come back home, and then the herdsmen hack down the farm.

When and how God will rescue Plateau State:

I keep singing to bring the true knowledge of God to my people and that way, God will answer us. Evidence is there that our people will continue to suffer until God intervenes. There is no hope in man or government. It’s only God that can bring us out of the situation. Let me just put it that way. I’m not mixing up words. Only God can save us. And unless we fall under the programme of God, it will not stop.

If we remember our God, our history, where we come from, and come down to ourselves in loving ourselves, humbling ourselves under the arm of God, then God will look at us and say, “These people are beginning to think well. Okay, let me send them help.” He has said how He will do it! And if we do that, everybody you’ll remember this conversation.

Let me summarize it. He said if we do what He says, this is how He will finish the whole war. It will be quick. The northern army will group themselves and leave. Next, while they are going, He will deal with them because they have done great things. They all, their cattle, their families will die in transit out of our land. And from a distance, He says that their hinder (their back) shall face the utmost sea, which is in the south, the Atlantic Ocean. So God knows who He’s talking to and the code is there for us to see. That’s the reason why I pity my people because they cannot see these things.

If you stand in Israel, you cannot see these things the way they are, but in the land in which we are suffering now (middle-belt), we are seeing it the way it is written. So He said their hind will face the utmost sea and they shall face the desert. It is written. Joel chapter 2 verse 12 to 20 said they shall face the desert and my people shall smell the stench of their carcasses.

Which means God is going to send angels Himself to finish them. Okay? So which one do we choose? For God to do it Himself, or for us to go out and war with them and go and die? Our people better make up their minds now. And the earlier the better.

Warning to PH and the south:

That’s why I told Port Harcourt people and the south to guard what they have; guard it with love. It’s because we did not love each other, that’s why these things have befallen us. That’s the command: Love each other and love God. That’s all, and god will take care of you.

You may think that what is happening in Jos or Borno is very far from you. It took me 45 minutes to fly down to Port Harcourt. Let that sit in your mind a bit.

These people are heavily protected, guarded, and sponsored by the high and mighty in Nigeria who also come down here to Port Harcourt to mine your fuel, to mine your resources. They can as well bring in foot soldiers: one flight of 45 minutes can ship 200 terrorists down here. They can do what they want to do and go when they want to go.

Port Harcourt must guard what they have. Port Harcourt is now like a gateway to the southern part of Nigeria. So the sooner the better. Port Harcourt better guard what they have; they can start by loving each other first of all, please. And then remember the Lord their God. They must remember God in everything they do and give Him homage. They must cut out religious practices of fanaticism which is killing us. People are killing themselves just to get a good tithe and go and give.

There are better ways to be wealthy. The scripture shows how you can make wealth and how to be the head, not the tail. You don’t have to marvel why the whole world is against Nigeria—not just Nigeria, West Africa. If Africa moves to do something good, the West counters it. Look at the medicine they’re giving us; it’s to kill us. Their vaccines rather weaken or kill us. There is a hidden conspiracy against us. So, let’s stop calling for help from outside. No, let’s call out help from above. And He has given us conditions to go to. God said if we do not do it, that we shall be borrowers, we will be the tail, not the head. Christ didn’t abolish the commandments, He said He came to fulfill them.

That’s why he said those who teach and do them shall be called great, and those who teach not and do not do them shall be called least.

Our clerics are not teaching us that. Instead, they’re teaching neocolonialism and neo-centric Christianity.