I’ve great plans for Nigeria, Africa -Sunky

Sunky

Olasunkanmi Ogunade, also known as SunkyOG, is a multitalented Nigerian. He’s an ultra-modern

visual artist, actor, journalist, multimedia practitioner, human rights campaigner, writer, photographer, movie producer and so much more. His credits as an actor include the TV series: Two Sides of a Coin, At Dawn; and as a professional commercial model, an uncountable number of brands, including Chivita, Panasonic Asia, Sony, Coke have relied on his charm and wits to promote their products. He also co-owns a talent agency which manages talents all over Asia and beyond. Presently based in Asia where he relocated to for more studies after studying at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State and working as a journalist at Nigerian Compass, his star keeps shining more and more and he spoke about how he’s using his influence to make the world better.

Now you’ve lived outside Nigeria for some years, what’s your view of Nigeria now compared to when you were based here?

Nigeria my country! With all sincerity, it keeps getting worse and terrible, no accountability, our leaders are not great at anything, our president keeps incurring more debts, nothing is actually working in Nigeria. No infrastructure, more deaths, valueless currency and the list goes on. Nigeria breaks my heart all the time and I still don’t know who we offended as a nation to deserve all these. The Nigerian life as I call it is the sufferhead life. Even with your millions, you are not safe. Everything’s hard. I’m really sad. Thanks to Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy and the rest for at least helping to give us a good image externally. But with the youths’ driving force, I still believe in the great and amazing Nigeria. Nigeria will be great but it’s going to take a lot and it begins with us as citizens. It’s very bad right now and I just hope the next leader coming will be more reliable especially in the area of security. We have too many deaths in Nigeria now. I pick up my phone and it’s bandits killings left and right, Boko Haram killings, kidnappings, etcetera. It’s terrible. For example, no single good road from Abule Egba, Lagos State to Sango-Ota, Ogun State. Accidents left and right. It’s tiring and I always try hard to take the thoughts out of my head.

Can you ever live in Nigeria again?

With the type of jobs I do, I move around a lot. I visit Nigeria occasionally so I will always be in connection with my country. Home is home and I can definitely live there. Asides bad governance and terrible infrastructure, there are other things I still like about Nigeria. For example: family, festivals, the food in Nigeria which cannot be found anywhere else in the world, etcetera. I just need to be fully ready mentally and physically. Nigeria is not for the fainthearted.

What’s the difference between Nigeria and Asia?

The fact is they’re way ahead of us. They’re more organized and everything they do is futuristic. They got big issues too just like any other continent but they are trying to resolve them unlike my country where leaders don’t care at all. We can’t begin to go into details but the margin is wide. Nigeria is in a really bad place. People embezzle money here but still ensure they got good infrastructure and all sorts. Provision of basic necessities is a norm here and even though they aren’t perfect, they still try while Nigeria’s government does nothing. Buhari has indirectly sold Nigeria. We owe way too much and it’s going take decades to pay back all the debt.

What are your plans for Nigeria and Africa?

I got great plans and I pray to God to help me actualize them all. I’m fully on ground with humanitarian engagements and we’re currently helping refugees around the world with Paint The World Foundation in Asia. It’s currently in 32 countries at the moment and we’re working to broaden the reach. A lot of refugees are beneath the living bracket margin with nothing to do. We got plans on going round the Africa to help as much as we can. This and more plans coming up by His grace.

How does it feel representing Africa in Asia?

Representing Africa is a great feeling because I get to influence and change the perception of friends and acquaintances around me. People have different notions about Africa but I try to create good impressions every chance I get. I have lots of friends and I tutor them on one or more things about my continent and country. I prescribe articles for them to read so they understand why Africa is unique. I show them our culture, music, food and the list goes on.  Funniest thing is some people think Africa is a country ha ha ha ha. I pontificate and introduce them to reality. The western media is fond of always showing the jungle, war zones, sick kids as the image of Africa. I do everything possible to change the narrative and let them know what we made of. We all need to keep doing this at every chance we get. I host afrobeat parties, amapiano parties, etcetera. I stay evangelizing the culture and let them know that Nigeria is not only known for scam.

Tell us about the Nigerian community in Malaysia.

It used to be a very big community but not anymore because a lot of people relocated to other countries. We’ve still got some here, most especially the married ones. A lot of Nigerians are married to locals and they got beautiful families. We have the ones that have big businesses here: restaurants, bars, gyms, creches, mini-markets, filmmakers, hair salons, film production houses, etc. We also got the bad eggs doing all sorts of nonsense ruining the Nigerian name. It’s a mixture of good and bad. The good ones are all striving to maintain the good image so we can overshadow the bad image.

As an actor and filmmaker, do you plan to shoot a movie with Nigerians in Malaysia and bring it to the Nigerian market?

We’re working on different productions now. I’ve an agency where we supply talents locally and internationally. We’re also into full production where we produce documentaries, television commercials, short films, marketing jingles, digital marketing and the rest. I’m currently working on my third short movie and planning to commence production soon. I’ve also featured in movie projects that are dropping as soon as COVID-19 issues subside. I’m definitely going to shoot a movie with Asians and Nigerians very soon and definitely bring it back home to showcase. We have a lot in common and lots of stories to tell.

Do you have a plan also to shoot a Nigerian movie and introduce it to the Malaysian, Asian market?

We’re working on a lot of projects and will definitely do that soon. Like I said earlier, we’re changing the narrative and exploring all available areas. Can’t wait to show the world what we got.

Tell us more about the impact of Nigeria, Africa in Asia. For instance, is there a particular Nigerian or African product or brand doing well over there?

The impact is immense and our movies and music are doing super great. It’s pretty dominant amidst the Asians that have mixed up with foreigners and frequent travelers. Wizkid is big, Davido is big, Burna boy, etc. Nigerians are naturally relentless and we study a lot. One of the most interesting things about Malaysia is that education and the standard of living are affordable. Our supervisors and lecturers here are internationally prominent and relevant. A lot of Africans and Nigerians are here studying different programs in world-class universities. We have a great influx of northerners taking up Ph.D. programs and graduating in flying colors. Nigerians influence cannot be undermined. We are dominant and can easily sweep you off your feet. I am a proud Nigerian all day every day despite our setbacks and weaknesses.