Nigeria is better than America -Ed Jatto

Jatto

Since the return of democracy to Nigeria, the craze to travel out in search of greener pastures reduced. Nevertheless, some people still believe their day in the sun can only be had in other countries in Europe and Asia, even Africa, and especially in the United States of America, particularly now that the economy is going down the drain and the government of the day seems to be confused.

But to those who desire to seek the Golden Fleece in America, Ed Jatto has a piece of advice for them: Nigeria is better than America, so stay in Nigeria.

Jatto’s advice is definitely weighty and surprising even. But who is he to give such advice? Has he been to the US and is therefore in a position to rate the two countries? Is he even aware it’s an open secret that America is better than Nigeria in virtually every regard?

If you don’t know who Jatto is, he’s a singer, songwriter, music producer, record label proprietor and all-round entertainment personality. He began his music career in Kano in the 70s by moving close to musicians, a learning period which makes him say “it’s much easier to practice music now. When I started in Kano, I was grateful whenever musicians would give me their guitar and allow me try and play it. Then they would give me all their clothes to wash and still send me on errands with my own money.”

Now, he has definitely come a long way. He has his own studios and has mentored many artists himself. But to become the entertainer-entrepreneur he is now, he had to relocate to Lagos in 1980 and become an audio engineer in EMI’s studio when Baby Kilode singer, Dizzy K Falola, advised him to delve into audio engineering as it was what was available for him as against the singing employment he was in search of.

Without much choice thereby, he took Falola’s advice. Consequently, he was one of the studio engineers who worked on the recording and mixing of Falola’s massive hit song, Baby Kilode, which was produced by Tony Okoroji.

He was very close to Okoroji and Okoroji it was therefore who produced Jatto’s own debut album, Love Explosion, which was released in 1984.

Looking back in time now, Jatto believes Okoroji was destined to play a major role in his life, as, in addition to producing Jatto’s album, thereby aiding Jatto in his reason for coming to Lagos, which was to be a singer, not an audio engineer, Okoroji it was as well that urged him to relocate abroad.

And his argument that convinced Jatto to take his counsel of plunging into the unknown in a strange land was “you can make it big in America, Ed. You have what it takes. I can tell.”

So Jatto packed his bags, tied up all the necessary loose ends, said his goodbyes to those that mattered, and boarded the plane that ferried him out of the country.

“On my first day in America,” he recalls, “a Nigerian friend and I just kept walking. We really had no place to go, but we didn’t need to have a place, because people were just coming and going. Even when night fell, we didn’t know because it was still like afternoon as everywhere was lit up.”

And from that first day in America, he ended up spending over a decade there before his eventual return to Nigeria in 2004. Now, he says it confidently that he’s an authority on America.

According to him, he takes on his I-know-America-very-well stance when he’s in discussion with Nigerians who have never been to America and yet try to impose their views of America on him. “I don’t get angry at such people, though. When I can’t make them see reason by virtue of my time in America which makes me know the ways of the Americans, I retreat from the discussion,” he said.

Offering his own view of America, he said, “America is an education. It’s an organised society that everyone should visit to see how things work. The law respects nobody and you must pay your tax.”

He then sounds a note of warning. Solemnly, he added that “America is not what you see on TV. What you see on TV is entertainment, but in reality, it’s a very difficult place to live in. If it’s money you are after, you can make as much money here in Nigeria as in America. It’s only that responsibilities shackle us here unlike in America where you’re not responsible for anyone except yourself. Their mentality is different.”

Revealing more about his American experience, he said that the key to success in America is that you must help yourself and must be very hard working and do whatever legal job (even if they are of the odd variety) that comes your way to survive.

“I worked hard while I was in America. I was lucky because of my talents that enabled me to integrate myself into the entertainment industry as a studio engineer. But I realised I needed to move to the next level so I enrolled for film courses and was able to start working in the television industry as well as a sound and visual person,” he said.

And he became very adept in the art of surviving in a foreign land to the extent that he soon owned his own houses and established his own businesses.

Despite being successful in the country that is the dream residence of so many people worldwide, he once again packed his bags and returned to Nigeria in 2004.

While Nigeria has its merits and its virtues, it really can’t rank alongside America in terms of the value system, development and the many other factors that make life in the West more palatable than in Africa.

His return to Nigeria must therefore have a very salient reason behind it, and he explains it thus. “Nigeria is better than America. What we have, they don’t, and what they have, we don’t, but on the balance of it all, Nigeria is the better country to live in. Here, you are free and can move about freely as you like. I remember when I was coming back, so many Nigerians started crying and telling me they wish they could also return like me, but they are still there now imprisoned by the American system which is so foolproof that if it doesn’t recognise you, you better not be in America as it would be literally impossible for you to have the appropriate opportunities that would enhance your life. If I had my way, every Nigerian in America would return immediately.”

And as if in support of Jatto’s audacious Nigeria-is-better-than-America view, there are some foreigners presently in Nigeria who don’t want to go back to their own countries.

Keith Richards, the former managing director of Guinness Nigeria PLC and Promasidor, is one of them. Since he came into the country, he has refused to return to his country because he sees Nigeria as the best place to be.

There are many other foreigners like Richards who prefer to live in Nigeria because of its values that some Nigerians don’t appreciate. If you’re such an unappreciative Nigerian, would you perhaps change your mind now?