Big Brother Naija exposes how hard it is to do business in Nigeria

A report by The Economist with focus on the ongoing reality show ‘’Big Brother Naija’’ has      revealed how difficult it is to run a business in Nigeria.

Nigeria's minister of information. Alhaji Lai Mohammed had ordered for the probe of Big Brother Naija

There was uproar in the country when Nigerians discovered that the programme was being filmed in South Africa.

Two weeks ago, Nigeria’s minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed ordered the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission to determine whether the production company, Multi-Choice had breached Nigerian Broadcasting Code in any way by choosing to host the show in South Africa.

Responding, MultiChoice noted that it was easier and more cost-effective to stage the show in its existing house in Johannesburg.

Contestants of Big Brother Naija

During the only previous Nigerian edition a sponsor had removed the fuses from the house’s generators in a dispute over advertising, taking the programme off air for eight hours, says Remi Ogunpitan, a producer at the time.

Eleven years later Nigeria’s power supply is still erratic, and the price of diesel for generators has more than doubled in the last six months due to supply constraints.

The show been filmed in South Africa has no doubt put a dent on the image of Nigeria especially as regards the constant continental economic supremacy between both countries.

In 2014 Nigeria leapfrogged its rival to the position of Africa’s largest economy, when its GDP was re-calculated by the government and found to be almost double the previous estimate.

But Nigeria, whose population is more than three times South Africa’s, was overtaken again last year because of falling oil prices and the subsequent devaluation of the naira.

Many Nigerians simply see the bother over “Big Brother” as a wake-up call to their government—and further proof, if any were needed, that their country is a tough place to do business.