by Dorcas Omotayo
Weekends in Nigeria starts for different people on different days. For some, it starts on Thursday; Friday and climaxes on Saturday. My people, what is a Saturday without an Owanbe, and what is Owanbe without the much-contested Nigeria bottom-pot tasty jollof rice? The reason some people attend events has little or nothing to do with the celebrant but largely about the food, glitz and glamour associated with the event depending on the social class involved. You see, what makes it more unique spans from the feeling it evokes to the tedious planning for invited and uninvited guests, opportunity to network, plus the competitiveness to be the best dressed and of course, not leaving out the hustle for Ofada rice. Did I forget photos too? For the “I was there too” peeps.
Everything is usually celebrated, ranging from child’s naming, birthdays, graduation, wedding, promotion, acquisition of luxury items, anniversary and deaths. According to a report published in the Vanguard newspaper in 2013, the former Governor of Lagos, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, said, Lagosians alone spend N36 billion on Owanbe annually. Hence, the Nigeria event industry due to the chunk of cash flow from the various form of celebrations, contributes greatly to the economy of the country.
An average event in Nigeria planned by the Middle-class would cost between three to five million naira while the Elites spend between 20-100million naira and in fact, some events runs into billions of naira. This covers cost of food, make-up, clothing, drinks, venue, photography, decoration, technical crew, media and other miscellaneous. But all these was recently paused due to COVID-19!
It now looks like a new world order where physical and social distancing are trending and the emergence of virtual meeting, partying, traveling, gaming and definitely the virtual weddings and other Owanbes like we all love to call it. It then brings to fore the dispensable role of certain key players that added juice and sauce to Owanbe before the dawn of coronomics. Should our virtual reality continue, these key players might need to re-adjust their scope and mode of service delivery, if possible, venture into other industries. However, certain players are taking the heat first.
The fashion industry:
This industry is very much reliant on patronage of those directly concerned with the event such as the parents of the bride and groom; the groom and bride; the children of the person been interred; birthday celebrant amongst others. They are usually known to start the traditional wedding with Aso-Oke, a cloth woven in South-West Nigeria and they still have a line-up of clothes to change into as the event continues.
Similarly, the support of the slay kings and queens, the pepper-dem gang and baby boys association brings out the glamour in the event. Majority of them spend as much as a hundred thousand naira or more on aso-ebi and accessories. Of course, fashion designers, tailors, illustrators, stylists are usually on standby to milk those who intend to be extra. The makeup artists are also not left out as they have been cashing out big in recent times. An owanbe face-beat ranges from 10,000 to 20,000 naira for low end Make Up Artist (MUA); 50,000 to 100,000 naira for middle- level MUA while some spend from 250,000 naira upwards or more for the a-list MUA.
Event Planners:
Now, these players including those who work tirelessly all nights, planning and setting up to ensure that the event is up to par would be terribly impacted. Planning is the forte of any professional event manager but guess what? They did not plan for the pandemic. No one envisaged the enormous effect the virus would have, hence sending them back to the drawing board. Speaking to Funmi Pedro, CEO of Phunpedy Events & More, she said; “Initially I thought that in a few weeks, everything would be fine but I never knew it would take this long. To ensure that my business survives through this period, I had to communicate effectively with some of my clients who had already made an upfront payment to bear with me.” Funmi also disclosed that she is now venturing into catering service and virtual training for prospective event planners.
Bakers/Chefs:
A lot of guests look forward to the cutting of cake in most events, even if it appears unnecessary sometimes but there is usually an unwritten item seven in every event programme and it falls under that category. To be honest, it hits different when one tastes either the food or cake at an event, this could be because it was made by a skilled person or simply because it’s not homemade. Speaking to a Lagos based Baker who was caught unawares by the pandemic, he, however, could not render his service to a few customers during the lockdown due to the unavailability of materials and logistics.
“Before the pandemic started, it did not occur to me to store up my barn in case of rainy days. So, it was hard getting materials in the pandemic even when I had a few orders. I kept cancelling until I discovered a cake store that could deliver stuff. Logistics was another problem.”
Media/Photography:
The media as we have come to know it, thrives on events and happenings that revolve around humans. Several news companies, blogs and magazines get the latest news, gist and gossips from Owanbes. It also avails the media person an opportunity to get an up close and personal chat or interview with popular and successful people. What about those who capture the happy moments? Photographers and videographers capture both guests and celebrants; I do not see them capturing anything at this time. What then would happen to those lenses and skills? Except they take up the duty of capturing nature for now.
Musicians and MCs:
The entertainment of many Owanbes is dependent on the class of Musician and the MC that sets the pace for the event. An A-list musician with quality equipment will make the aura of the event electrified while the comedy from the MC will make everyone boisterous. Unfortunately, their services will be on hold till COVID-19 leaves the public space and life returns to norm.
While some business owners in the industry are now taking several survival initiatives, it is now time to begin planning for post-COVID-19. Will they get it right this time? The only way to determine that is by trying and failing forward, as this period holds many lessons for the Owanbe lovers. Amongst the lessons would be that, planning never stops and it so happens that a lot of projections are now being made for the world after the pandemic, some good and some not entirely bad. The onus is on various players in the industry to come up with strategic ideas on not just reviving the industry but also sustaining it when another similar or worse crisis hits the world. We are all uncertain as to how long the virus would linger for but for sure it cannot be forever because humans would always prevail in all circumstances.
Enjoy this song by Simi titled Owanbe for your weekend pleasure-
