Some big names in the Nigerian movie industry have concluded plans to launch a new national talent hunt and reality TV show known as Campus Talents Naija (CTN), which would focus on talent hunt among tertiary institution students, staff and alumni.
The talent show, which is targeting over 80 million Nigerian youths and adults as both participants and viewers, would be giving out cash prizes of about N90 million and SUV cars to the winners and the institutions they represent.
Sola Fosudo, a professor of Performance Studies and Arts Administration, told newsmen in Lagos recently that the show would boost the entertainment industry in Nigeria by showcasing the best talents from Nigerian tertiary institutions which include universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, institutes and schools of higher education.
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According to him, Campus Talents Naija is not merely a music or dance competition but would be broad-based in content by involving presentations in all the genres of the arts including dance, comedy, music, mimetic dramatisation, poetry, acrobatics and magic.
“Campus Talents Naija will make all the contestants, official representatives of their institutions such that their given names will include the names of their campuses like Obafemi Oladeji (Unibadan), Chukwuma Ebulue (Unizik) or Ahmed Babayaro (Uniabuja),” he said.
Fosudo further said that the strategy would make the institutions, their staff, students and alumni, critical stakeholders in the show such that they would become interested in the performances of their representatives and the outcome of the entire competition.
He disclosed that the winners of the reality show would not only win prizes for themselves but also for their institutions because the cash prizes to the winning contestants’ campus shall be used to support the school development in the areas of equipment and infrastructure.
“Eligible contestants for the show must be between the ages of 16 and 35, and these shall be either students, staff or alumni of any tertiary institutions who graduated within the last five years. Also, group registrations and presentations shall be allowed, but the participants in a group act shall not be more than eight,” he explained.
Participants are expected to fill an online form, upload a one-minute video of their talent on Instagram using the hashtag campustalentsnaija and tag @campustalentsnaija show before regional auditions would be conducted for shortlisted contestants and successful contestants would proceed to the CTN House for the reality show.
The CTN project management team include Tade Ogidan, a veteran in the Nigerian Film Industry; Emmanuel Uduma, a media content consultant and social behaviour change communication developer; Cornel Best Onyekaba, a theatre and film studies scholar; Oni-Buraimoh Olawunmi, a senior lecturer in the Department of English, LASU; Olutoke Eyitayo, a public writer, content creator and a social crusader, and Sola Fosudo, an actor.
