Former Big Brother Naija housemate Seyi Awolowo has revealed that the global reality franchise was originally designed as a psychological experiment meant to help societies evolve, but in Nigeria it has become pure entertainment focused on parties.
Speaking on the Conversations With Kenni podcast hosted by Kehinde Ajose, the actor and grandson of Chief Obafemi Awolowo shared his thoughts.
“The Big Brother show is factored behind an emulation of a particular psychological experiment. It’s called a Big Brother where you observe a group of people in a confined space where you can tweak the conditions as best to see their breaking point and all of that. It is an actual experiment,” Seyi explained.
He noted that the original intent was to understand the mindset of the general populace and use the insights to help people evolve.
According to him, that purpose has been lost in Nigeria.
“Unfortunately, it has gone past that here. For us, it’s just plain old entertainment. I think that’s part of the problem. I don’t see why, in the House, there are no weekly educative programs going on. They have some in their tasks, but the most celebrated and followed were the parties.”
When asked who is responsible, Seyi refused to point fingers at any individual. Instead, he challenged government officials to take proactive steps.
“I think that this is the part where our government officials can be proactive enough to want to include it in the show. If you know that this show gets to millions of Nigerians, I think that’s a perfect avenue to showcase or orient Nigerians as to what’s going on, instead of just leaving it to bare entertainment.”
He suggested that the federal or state government could sponsor a week or more on the show and introduce exams, tests or orientation content that would reach a massive youth audience.
“If the federal government or the state government pays for a week and set something like an exam or a test during the course of the show, it will actually get to a lot of Nigerians because a lot of people do watch the show. So why are they not doing it?”