ICYMI: Why Lagos never hosted Afronation - Smade

Smade, the co-founder of Afro Nation, a leading music festival has revealed the real reason the concert hasn't been staged in Lagos, Nigeria despite being hosted by other countries across Europe, America and Africa.

The music entrepreneur, whose real name is Adesegun Adeosun Jr. bemoaned the posture of the Lagos state government towards projects of this magnitude. He questioned the intent of the state government in a no-holds-barred interview on Ayo Shonaiya's documentary, Afrobeats: The Backstory.

Afro Nation which has become one of the highly anticipated concerts for Africans in the diaspora is a celebration of African music, culture, and talents. At the forefront of projecting afrobeats to the globe are some of the leading acts from the continent including Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade and Stonebwoy.

Started in 2019, Portugal, Ghana and Puerto Rico have hosted different versions of the festival.

Why we created Afro Nation?

"The reason why we created Afro Nation was to unify and bring everybody and celebrate everyone. Celebrate the culture, showcase our talents, our different talents. Make the mainstream respect us Africans and make us superstars."

Why is Lagos not hosting?

"I am an African ambassador. I might be Nigerian by birth but I’m African. We have been doing this thing for so long, why have they not supported what we have been doing? Why have they not seen that there’s need for them to support?"

"I did 14 shows last year, no one from Lagos State Tourism reached out to me, encouraged me, try to say okay, how can we help you. Before I created Afronation with my partner, we went to different countries and we choose Ghana because of the experience we had in Ghana."

"So if the government is ready to work with us, we can do something in Nigeria but for now, we’re working with the Ghanaian government."