By Ayo Onikoyi

After being announced as the new governor of the Performing Musicians Employers’ Association Of Nigeria, PMAN Lagos chapter, on Tuesday  Aralola Olamuyiwa, Nigeria’s foremost female drummer in Africa, commonly known by her stage name ‘Ara,’  unveiled her areas of priority.

She emphasized her focus on creating awareness of the purpose of PMAN for the Gen Z generation.

She said, “I have numerous plans, with the top priority being to create awareness for PMAN (Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria) in Lagos and to engage Gen Z artists and every artist in Lagos, including managers, in becoming a part of PMAN. This will enable us to advance our careers. One of PMAN’s primary goals is to protect musicians and our music. For instance, what happened to the late Mohbad might have been prevented if there was a functional PMAN chapter in Lagos, which was the jurisdiction. We need to address this issue and focus on raising awareness, sensitizing, and educating young talents entering the music industry. They need to be informed, not just about the glamour but also trained in various aspects.

“Additionally, we have the PMAN awards coming up, where we’ll introduce upcoming artists and provide them with a platform to be heard. We’re also planning to create a compendium, a book of musicians in Nigeria. Due to the overwhelming popularity of Afro beats, other music genres like Juju, Apala, and Fuji have been pushed into the background, even though they have talented artists. PMAN aims to create a platform for these genres to thrive,” she added.

Also addressing members of the press was Sunny Neji, Vice President of PMAN, regarding the association’s election. He stated that, like any other responsible organization, PMAN is not exempted from holding elections. “We need to hold an election to choose new executives who will oversee the union, and that’s one of the reasons we are here today.”

Emphasizing PMAN’s plans, Neji added, “We have great plans, primarily focused on our members, aiming to improve the music business for them, making it more lucrative and life easier to bear. PMAN has ambitious plans, and we’re ready to work. We’re inviting as many people as possible because there’s strength in numbers. We’re asking everyone to come and join us because there will be numerous opportunities. Many things will come up, but we’ll provide excellent training. If you look at the music industry right now, it’s thriving, and everyone wants to contribute to the betterment of all practitioners.”

Addressing the purpose of the convention, Chairman Media, Michael Stephens, popularly known as Ruggedman, said, “It’s an election where we are about to elect new executives. Maybe, I say ‘maybe’ because I’m not sure if someone is already set to take over, but that’s what we are here for. At the end of the day, everything will hopefully work out, and the progress we’ve made so far will continue, as we’ve achieved a lot.”

PMAN President, Pretty Okafor in his post election statement, stated :” Actually, I didn’t want to re-contest as PMAN President, but I changed my mind when some state chapters, five of them, purchased a form for me and insisted I must run for another term.

“The whole thing became an issue when I resisted the pressure to run, and more so when the General Secretary told them that I have since submitted documents that I was not going to re-contest. The reason for this is that my personal business is growing and I need time to pay more attention to it. But when I found out that members were almost fighting each other to make me re-contest, I decided to put my personal business aside, believing that the interest of PMAN is greater than my personal interest.

“In fact, when it was time for election, all the state chapters’ chairmen practically dragged me into the hall, some were even in tears, and they refused to sit down until I announced my decision to re-contest.

“And to cap it all, there was no election in the real sense of it, it was more of an adoption than election. I think the reason they decided to bring me back as PMAN President was because of my achievements over the years. They were all surprised that nothing like this has ever happened in PMAN. For PMAN to have a solid structure, radio station and other businesses like hotels was a big surprise to them. So, it was hard for them to let me go.”

New PMAN Exco

1. Pretty Okafor – President

2. Sunny Neji – 1st Vice President

3. Zaaki Azzay – 2nd Vice President

4. Baba J.F.O – Treasurer

5. Michael Stevens (Ruggedman) – Chairman, Media Committee Ex officio

6. Boniface Itodo (Aitabonny) – General Secretary

Fada Bem Paul (Bempee) – Assistant General Secretary.