Nigerian rap icon MI Abaga has lamented how prevalent funding artistes with funds from scamming activities has become.

MI, as he is simply called, asserted using illicit money to fund the creative arts was an unnecessary smear on the national image of Nigeria.

National Alarm

“There are a lot of controversies when people talk about Yahoo Yahoo because for a lot of artists, that is the funding they have,” he said on the So Nigerian Podcast.

“When people try to talk about it, for me, I do not want to be misquoted or say the wrong thing. What I am trying to say is that it is an indictment on our country that we have such talented musicians and the major funding for the industry comes from the West and from this other industry.”

Noble Alternative

The Hiphop artiste and music executive asserted that young people turning to dubious means of wealth acquisition to finance creative arts ventures was a regrettable anomaly in an oil-rich country, which is touted as one of the biggest economies in Africa, and home to the richest African, Aliko Dangote.

MI said, “It should not be so in a country where we have so many rich people and so many talented young people. Why do we have this situation? Who is to blame? Is it the young people just trying to survive? It is very hard to say this.”

“So what I am trying to say is that the fact that this money goes to artists and that is one of the major ways artists get investment is telling. There is no other place it comes from. It has to be other young people who just so happen to have money,” he added.

While strongly condemning crime, the former Chocolate City CEO sympathised with talented people who were struggling to find their footing in a saturated and highly competitive industry, and, thus, were vulnerable to giving in to fraudulent means of moneymaking.

“Not to say that sin is not sin, or bad is not bad,” he caveated, insisting: “Evil is evil.”