By Mercy Onyenweli
The Deputy Majority Leader and All Progressive Congress (APC) Candidate for Akoko Edo Federal Constitutency, Hon. Peter Akpatason has called for contextual revival of Reggae music in Africa.
Hon. Peter Akpatason said this shortly after being conferred a meritorious Award by the Universal Reggae Fans Movement in Benin City.
He stressed that reggae music must retrace back to what it was known for , basically as a means of inspiration and a medium to communicate equality and love to leaders and followers respectively.
According to him, this is the time the continent of Africa needs reggae music to communicate the right message of self discovery and advancement to the people.
” I noticed anytime we are gathered , we listen more to Bob Maly , Oritse Wiliki, Peter Touch, and others, but I hardly hear hear them play recent lyrics . I want the young reggae musicians to take the footsteps of their predecessors and produce meaningful and philosophical lyrics which reggae stands for ” he said
Speaking after receiving the honour as grand patron of Universal Reggae Fans Movement, the Hon. Minister of State for Budget and Economic Planning, Prince Clem Agba, proposed a change of name to Africa Renaissance Movement.
He said Africa as a continent needs to rediscover it’s place of pride in humanity.
” Just as in Rastafarian movement, Africa is misconstrued in material context, particularly when the concept of modern development is being discussed. We need to rediscover who we really are as Africans, if we are to take our pride of place in humanity” he said
” No other place is most suited to host this revolutionary conversation than this famous historical city of Benin. There is no better time than now as we are celebrating the return of prized scientific and technological crafts, otherwise known as Bini artifacts”
He further emphasized that the significance of the three colours of Reggae movement which defines it’s greatness and nobility should be sustained at all times.
“Reggae is inspirational and when I want to go philosophical, I listened and internalize the lyrics.” He said.
The Hon. Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed represented by Mrs Alice Ugbe also called on reggae musicians to revive back the culture of philosophical context where lyrics were rich in communicating the right message to the people.
” We are here today to fraternize with reggae musicians to see how the culture of reggae that we used to know can be revived back. “
” It used to be message of love, equality and call on leaders to remember the down troden”
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