Musical Sound Advocacy as Remedy for Institutional Decay in Nigeria

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UDC: 78.036(669.1) 
     316.4(669.1)
     
COBISS.SR-ID 109621769
_________________

Received: Oct 28, 2022
Reviewed: Nov 03, 2022
Accepted: Dec 05, 2022

​Musical Sound Advocacy as Remedy for Institutional Decay in Nigeria 

Olatunbosun Samuel Adekogbe
                   Department of Music, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife, Nigeria.
[email protected]

Citation: Adekogbe, S. Olatunbosun. 2023. "Musical Sound Advocacy as Remedy for Institutional Decay in Nigeria." Accelerando: Belgrade Journal of Music and Dance 8:6

Acknowledgement: I acknowledge the Nigerian copyright commission for the grant of access to all the musical discographies used for this study.

Abstract

​In many world cultures, the place of music cannot be underestimated. Music has been used in diverse ways to correct, build, inform and educate people in all communities. Nigeria, as a nation, is not left out of these practices. This paper questions why the Nigerian government has failed in institutional responsibility? Why has the nation been experiencing an institutional decay in the provision of basic needs for her citizens even with the application of musical advocacies by many Nigerian popular music artistes in this regard? This paper, therefore, examines musical advocacies of selected popular music artists in Nigeria; Fela Anikulapo Kuti “Zombie”, “suffering and smiling”, Edrees Abdu Kareem “Nigeria Jàgà Jágá”, Sonny Okosun “which way Nigeria”, Victor Olaiya “Ìlú Le”, and Ras Kimono “Nigeria Under Pressure”, using in-depth analysis of the songs’ lyrics in connection with the recent socio-economic situation in Nigeria. Behavioral theory of leadership by Rensis Likert (1938) is adopted as a theoretical framework. Findings show that the selected songs have been used as advocacies and a clarion call to signal the decadence of the Nigerian government as an institution in relation to the state of hunger and starvation ravaging the country. The paper further establishes that the regular youth protests through regular closure of Universities, general criminality of banditry and kidnapping have resulted from the institutional decay of the Nigerian government. The paper concludes that the Nigerian government has bluntly ignored these musical sound advocacies on institutional decay to avert the outburst of bottled bitterness as expressed in protests, banditry, looting of both public and private property and especially, daily loss of lives of many Nigerians. This paper recommends that more musical advocacies be intensified to shape governance, not only at the federal level but also at the states and local government authorities.
Keywords: institutional decay, musical sound advocacy, behavioral theory of leadership, Nigerian popular musicians, analysis of the songs

Introduction

The Nigerian government as an institution, has basic obligations to provide for all the needs for its citizens in order to live a good life and not to survive. Going by the current trends of economic, social, political and religious activities, there is no better way to describe the Nigerian government as an institution than that of a decayed one. Administration as an element of solid foundations, is a pre-essential for improving financial execution on a continued premise. While the issue of fortifying the institutional structure is regularly featured, its result is sliding down without any improvement. Innumerable signs show the dissolving of administration even on the standard issues of monetary mismanagement which has saturated the Nigerian institutional framework. It is on this premise that this paper discusses the musical advocacy of selected popular music artistes for a better Nigeria and a country where every citizen has the fundamental right to live a life and not to endure a living.

For instance, the Nigeria government has basically neglected its responsibilities on certain fundamental necessities of life such as provision of potable water, clothing, employment, good housing scheme, security of life and property for its citizens. In this way, the current institutional disappointment in Nigeria has made an average Nigerian to be totally reliant on a casual economy which has offered approaches to a wide range of human misbehaviors such as fraud, criminality in forms of herdsmen attack and killing, rape of young and old, kidnapping of various degrees at various levels, bugling of houses and malls, even government property is not spared in this criminality. Yet many Nigerians, on the pretext of endurance, could not voice out these displeasures that have resulted from institutional decay.

In spite of the advocacy and appeasement by popular music artists from the eighteenth century to date, there has been no improvement on the side of the government to establish good administrative processes in Nigeria. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to look at the musical advocacy of selected popular musicians like Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s "Zombie" and "Suffering and Smiling", Edrees Abdu Kareem’s "Nigeria Jàgà Jágá", Sonny Okosun’s "Which Way Nigeria", and Ras Kimono’s "Nigeria Under Pressure" using an in-depth analysis of the songs’ lyrics. In addition, it encompasses an  opinion survey of their listeners to establish the level of musical sound advocacy being put forward to attain good institutional functions in Nigeria.

​Defining Popular Music

Popular music by conceptual definition, is a generally acceptable musical type of various genres within a defined language and culture. Popular music, according to Njoora (2015, 28) is inseparable from human daily activities. The concern of popular music has been basically for entertainment purposes where music performances are defined for praise singing of the riches, although, Merriam (1964) categorizes the functions of popular music into ten (10) but, fails to mention advocacy role in all the strong cases presented in the multiple roles of music in African lives and the community in general. The paradigm shift in recent performance scopes has put popular music artists as advocates for the less privileged and checks and balances to the ills in the society especially, to check government institutions from running out of administrative focus. Renowned musicians like Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Edrees Abdu Kareem, Sonny Okosun, Victor Olaiya and Ras Kimono have applied popular music as an advocacy to institutional decay in Nigeria.
​

​Behavioral Theory of leadership and the Application of Musical Sound Advocacies

​Behavioral theory of leadership by Rensis Likert (1938) contends that the achievements of a leader depend on behavioral responses to issues rather than inactiveness. Behavioral leadership theory includes noticing and assessing a leader’s actions and reactions to national pressing issues in a specific situation. This theory adopts that leaders are made and not conceived. Advocates of this theory recommend that anybody can turn into a good leader if he or she can conceive and implement specific ways of behavior. There are several instances where music has been used to correct and reshape human behaviors, especially in the melodic expressions “which are used for transforming ordinary experience into deeper personal/collective responsibilities” (Njoora 2015, 27).  Also, Francis (2008) argues that 

Music is a very powerful medium and in some societies there have been attempts to control its use. It is powerful at the level of the social group because it facilitates communication which goes beyond words, enables meanings to be shared, and promotes the development and maintenance of individual, group, cultural and national identities. It is powerful at the individual level because it can induce multiple responses – physiological, movement, mood, emotional, cognitive and behavioral. Few other stimuli have effects on such a wide range of human functions. The brain’s multiple processing of music can make it difficult to predict the particular effects of any piece of music on any individual.” (ibid, 4.)

​Construing this paper on musical advocacy for good governance, most Nigerian popular musicians have made their voices known to but not heard by the Nigerian government on the need to attend to some salient social and economic issues affecting the lives of the citizens. Such artistes include Fela Anikulapo Kuti “Sorrow, Tears and Blood”, “suffering and smiling”, Edrees Abdu Kareem ``Nigeria Jàgà Jágá”, Sonny Okosun “which way Nigeria”, Victor Olaiya “Ilu Le”, and Ras Kimono “Under Pressure”. These selected popular music artists' songs are within the scope of this paper. Apparently in order to make an all-inclusive behavioral process through musical activities, the Nigerian national educational curriculum places an emphasis on music education from nursery schools to secondary education. Accordingly, it is a brilliant avenue to teach morals and inculcate values of good behavior in every Nigerian. The end result is still the traits of corrupt practices and self-centeredness of the Nigerian leadership behaviour. 

Government as an Institution:
​ An Allegorical Exposition

A Government is an institution that is given the power to make and authorize the principles of a general public just as with controlling relations with different social orders. To be viewed as an institution, a decision body is perceived as such by the individuals it implies to govern. Schnapper (1972) defines and classifies institutions according to morphology.  Riggs (1971) also defines institutions in order of their developments, while Orren and Skowronek (1994) observe institutions as a kind of iconography of order. Government as an organization of the state is the hardware set up to direct and sort out its own undertakings and regulates its capacity and obligations to the state and also details the law of the land. Theonig (2007), conceives an institution as being in a state of equilibrium, unless crises or disruptive periods take place that occasion rapid and visible adaptations. 

There is other allegorical exposition of definitions of an institution, these include family, education, religion and politics, all these are intra-institutions within an institution need to be cared for but, have been neglected due to decay in the national policy and constitutional pervasiveness that has resulted into various criminalities in form of kidnapping, insecurity, herdsmen attack and banditry have taken over to put the nation in further decaying of institutional system. The issues of institutional decay have not just saturated the social establishments – notwithstanding strict expansion in Nigeria -- institutional decay has become endemic, terrifying, troubling and imbued in our overall national culture.  

Nigerian Government as an Institution

Nigeria is a federal republic, with the executive power by the president. Nigeria's decision-making body is the legislative arms of the lower and upper chambers which operate within the scope of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 with Amendment through 2011 (www.contituteproject.org), this gives the executive power to the President of the nation. The lawmaking body is the main establishment of administration in the Nigerian democratic based nation as it intercedes and deals with the premium of two significant classes of people governing, including legislators and executive and non-governing including electorate and elites. Commenting on this, Ambily, Philips and Timipa (2015) write that

​“<...> the national assemblies have committees and subcommittees that are assigned specific responsibilities.  By their contributions in committees, members play a more significant role in the formulation and consolidation of public policy than they do in open debates on the floor of the house.” (ibid., 21)

North (1990) opines that the most common understanding of institutions in the empirical literature is the rules of the game in a society or, put more formally, they are the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction. This posits that a large number of the Nigerian citizens depend solely on the sustenance and efficiency of the nation’s diverse institutions. This is the position of Dickson (2013, 8) that “societies require the proper placement and effective functioning of the state institutions for accountability and good governance.” When an institution fails to address certain concerns which are fundamental to good living conditions of the society, there are possibilities for protests in order to express grievances, and this is what has happened in Nigeria in recent times. It is expected of people to grope for a kind of governance that is pragmatic enough to provide all the basic needs of life. Responding to this, Merton (1968) submits that the manifest functions of government should profess objectives of the institutions, the latent functions should be intended and be recognized or if recognized to give products and by-products of good governance.

​Institutions in Nigeria are of varieties, these are defined by roles and functions which are backed up by the nation’s constitution. The most disturbing issue in the decay of institution in Nigeria are the issues of nepotism, coercion, extortion, ill-politicization, dishonesty and different social, physical, environmental and political diseases, for example, the non-impacting duties of our legislative arms, subverted economy, government spending away from socially significant merchandise like training, redirects public assets from framework ventures that could have profited the wellbeing of Nigerians.

​Decay of the Nigerian Institution

​<...> institutional decay includes the inability of the executive and the legislature in the political realm, the judiciary, the administrative that incorporates the public and civil services and other governmental financial are bedeviled with corruption, inefficiency, bribery, nepotism, extortion, fraud, manipulation, dysfunctional politicization, unethical practices and other maladies. (Ovie-Ejumudo 2013, 70)

​​This submission above, cited from Ovie-Ejumudo (2013), has taken roots and become a condition per excellence in Nigeria. Corruption, for instance, exists in both public and private sectors in Nigeria, and it has become institutionalized, systemic and structural with the holistic effect of its pollution on  our politics, economy, bias in  governance and peddling with socially valuable assets like education.

Musical Advocacy on Poor Transport system:
​ "Suffering and Smiling"

Nigerian popular musicians have been very much concerned about the degenerated state of the Nigerian administrative policy on transportation systems. Apart from lack of good roads, the administration has equally failed to provide an ideal transportation network, this has greatly affected the nation’s economy through impacts on human movement and medical service delivery. This has limited contributions to economic growth and wellbeing of many Nigerians. Responding to this situation, Rosenbloom and Shahar (2007, 432) opine that addressing the transportation needs of citizens requires active cooperation between the transportation ministry and those in policy making and program executions. Where there is lack of congruence and corporate decisions on this, transportation problems will surely abound.

In his musical advocacy, Fela Anikulapo Kuti releases a song titled “Suffering and smiling” to emphasize and address the problems of poor transportation in Nigeria. An example is drawn from the “molue” (public bus) transportation system in Lagos where a fifty (50) seater bus is redesigned to carry forty-nine (49) people sitting and ninety-nine (99) people standing because of non-provisions of sufficient buses for commuters. This is a suffering situation and yet, the commuters are still happy about it because there are no other transportation options available to alleviate the problems. Fela expresses in the song that 

---

Lead: Everyday my people day inside bus
Response: Suffering and smiling
Lead: Forty-nine sitting, ninety-nine standing
Response: Suffering and smiling
Lead: Dem go pack themselves like cocoyam
Response: Suffering and smiling
Lead: Every day, na the same thing
Response: Suffering and smiling

Figure 1: Musical score of Fela’s “suffering and smiling” (source by author)

Recalling from Akinrinade (2016, 13), at the Professor Kenneth Dike memorial lecture delivered at the 2016 congress of the historical society of Nigeria, University of Port Harcourt, opines that “the Nigerian society is under pressure" aptly describes the state of anomy that pervades the geographical spaces that were brought together into the Nigerian State but mismanaged by the leadership and followership. In other words, the submission here is that the state of “under pressure” in Nigeria is caused by all Nigerians. Moreover, Fela Anikulapo also expresses his concern on the pressured status of Nigerians especially in the area of good public transportation systems. Fela sings about the compressed sitting arrangements of commuters in public buses in the Lagos environment, a situation where people struggle for buses and the overloading condition of such public buses. Fela sings “suffering and smiling” as a satire of the deplorable transportation system in Nigeria. 

Musical Advocacy on Military and Police Brutality: “Zombie”

​Fela’s determination to denounce the military and police brutality, abuse of power, endemic corruption, bad governance and its associated dysfunctions establishes the theme of his song to condemn the decaying status of the Nigerian institutions. Fela’s song is a perfect illustration of the military and police brutality still occurring today in Nigeria. Connecting this song to other Fela’s songs in condemning the intolerance attitudes of police brutality, Fela, in 1976 released “Zombie”, a scathing antimilitarist satire. This song is a mockery of the Nigerian army and its stereotyped robot-soldiers’ nature. Fela expresses the Nigerian Army as a set of people who could not reason on their own but blindly take orders from the superiors. Fela’s figurative expression is presented in the song lyrics as follows (interpretation is in the brackets):

Lyrics
Lead: Zombie no go go, unless you tell am to go (Soldier won’t go without order)
Res: Zombie (Solider)
Lead: Zombie no go stop, unless you tell am to stop (Soldier won’t go without order)
Res: Zombie (Solider)
Lead: Zombie no go think, unless you tell am to think (Soldier won’t go without order)
Res: Zombie (Solider)
Lead: Go and kill (Go and kill)
Res: Joro jaara Joro 
Lead: Go and die (Go and die)
Res: Joro jaara Joro

Figure 2: Musical score Fela Anikulapo Zombie” (source by author)

​Over a period of time in Nigeria, citizens have had bitter experiences of military and police brutality, from unlawful arrest to unlawful detention, prosecution and imprisonment. Recently, the October 2020 national youth protest tagged  #EndSars came as a result of incessant police brutality on peaceful and law-abiding Nigerian citizens, especially the Nigerian youths, is complete reflection of total institutional decadence in Nigeria. Opening fire on peaceful protesters is a blatant violation of people’s rights to life, dignity, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Soldiers clearly had one intention, that is, to kill without consequences. Reporting on the incident, Amnesty International has been monitoring developments across Nigeria since the #EndSars protest began on 8 October 2020.  At least 56 people died across the country during the protest, with about 38 killed on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 alone (www.punchonline.com). According to Punch Online Newspaper of 24 November 2020, “victims include protesters and thugs who were allegedly hired by the authorities to confront the protesters.” In many cases, the security forces had used excessive force in an attempt to control or stop the protests. The killings of the Nigerian youths are a confirmation of Fela’s position in his song that military and police brutality always “leave sorrow, tears and blood as a regular trademark.”  Collecting from Fela’s dong lyrics that

[interpretation is in the brackets]

Lyrics
Everybody run, run, run (Everybody is running)
Everybody scatter, scatter (Everybody is scattered)
Some people lost some bread (Some people lost some bread)
Someone nearly die (Someone nearly die)
Someone just died (Someone just died.)
Police they come, army they come (Police they come, army they come)
Confusion everywhere (Confusion everywhere)

The above lyrics suggest a state of total confusion and upheaval where less-defensed individuals are exposed to serious danger and possible death.

Musical Advocacy on Lack of Potable Water and Electricity:
"Nigeria Jàgà Jágá"

Edrees Abdu Kareem “Nigeria Jàgà Jágá” is a direct musical pressure on the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian democratically elected President between 1999-2007. Edrees’ music is an advocacy for a change in government policies that has inflicted serious hard times on the Nigerian masses. Edrees laments on the ingenuity venture and institutional in-activity in the turn of events and expansion of social and cultural framework that have resulted into deplorable and declinable society, especially in the area of electricity provision. Recently, as gathered from Legit online newspaper, several months of total blackouts in the city of Maiduguri (see Figure 3), north-eastern Nigeria, has finally come to an end as electricity has been finally restored and children jubilated loudly on the street because of the electricity restoration after fifty-six (56) days. 

Figure 3: Picture of children jubilating at the power restoration in Maiduguri, Borno State

The shout of "NEPA oyoyo" (National Electric Power Authority) among other words expresses such happiness on power restoration. Regardless of whether streets and roads or medical care, the issue of electrical generation and provision of such for Nigerians are not up to an alluring norm. Moreover, the attempt by the Nigerian government to sell the power generation and telecommunication sectors to private ownership has been condemned by Edrees in his song where he refers to this attempt as Jàgà Jágá (total failure) though these two public sectors were eventually sold out to private companies to operate. Another valid example is the indifferent endeavor towards the-guideline of utilities and information sources. The oil and gas area has been totally overwhelmed by the huge corporate vested parties without satisfactory portrayal of public delegates. By permitting oil costs to ascend till dramatic scales which has caused a lot of discomforts on the Nigerian public. Edrees refers to the Nigerian institution as Jàgà Jágá when he sings that (interpretation is in the brackets):

Lyrics
Nigeria Jàgà Jágá, (Nigeria is a total failure)
Everything scatter scatter (where everything is scattered)
Poor man dey suffer suffer (Poor man is suffering)
Gbosa, gbosa, gunshot inna de air (And gunshot everywhere)

The above lyrics are the excerpt from Edrees Abdul Kareem song (2004), titled “Nigeria Jàgà Jágá". This version of the song is seemingly one of the real musical advocacy and truth about the Nigerian nation. It passes on our dispersed political reality as well as similarly, the death of reason in our present political construction and culture. Edrees' Jàgà Jágá resound the demise of initiative, the franticness of force and the powerful construction between the pioneers and adherents. Jàgà Jágá, according to Tribune Newspaper Online (April 12, 2004) was once denounced and banned from all public performances and the media by President Olusegun Obasanjo on the basis that "how can anyone call his own country ‘Jàgà Jágá’?".

In fact, Nigeria is in a state of political wreck and an appalling position of Jàgà Jágá. According to Ologundudu (2015, 32), “it could be difficult to concede yet except if we live in cloud cuckoo; the Nigerian situation has become a tragic state”. In any case, the nation has got close to a harbinger of disaster and passing. Each time one thinks about the truth ground it is like: salt is added to a destructive mixture made for supper with a taste of harshness and unfathomableness. Figure 4 is the musical score of Jàgà Jágá.

Figure 4: Musical score of Edrees Abdu Kareem
“Nigeria Jàgà Jágá” (source by author)

Musical Advocacy on Bad Economic Policy:
"Ìlú Le" (Country Hard o)

Popular musicians have consistently advocated for social change especially in Nigeria. However, these artists have grappled with the outcome of several economic policies of the Nigeria government since the commencement of the 4th Republic in 1999 till 2021. In this connection, Okolo and Etekpe (2011, 42) state that "several popular musicians have reacted to this harsh economic situation and subjection to the abject poverty of many Nigerians from low classes to middle classes citizens". Victor Olaiya’s advocacy of poverty and economic policy of the Nigerian institution expresses a great disappointment in the Nigerian leadership style and the non-caring attitudes of leadership. Victor Olaiya sings on the hardship being faced by many Nigerian in his music Ilu-Le (Country Hard o), this expression is so touching as resulting from its lyrics that

Lyrics 
Ilu le o ko s’owo lode [Country hard o, no money in circulation]
Okunrin nkigbe, Obinrin Nkigbe [Men and women are lamenting]
Ka luku lo nkigbe owo [Everyone is lamenting for lack of money]

The above lyric has expressed the generational situation of the Nigerian government institution; it should be recalled that Victor Olaiya released this song in 1983 by Polydor (Lagos) yet, the economic status in Nigeria has not improved a dint, rather getting worse. As though the present status of insecurity, corruption, ineptitude, kidnapping, bomb impact, disarray, pressure and destitution are sufficiently not, the Minister of Finance has just cautioned of a looming economic downturn in Nigeria in the coming moment and with a blend of all the hopelessness and the recession when it begins, one thinks about what will happen to the country in the coming years if the economic situation fails to improve. Nigeria's newly developed culture of reckless borrowing and spending are answerable for our wrong economic and political progressiveness, responsible for our troubles and our absence of monetary advancement and improvement. A lot of accentuation on lost qualities, instruction, realism and cash force has served us no better. It is the dug in culture in each Nigerian institution and the standard in most open organizations and among our friends and relatives. The new culture is not just fashioned upon us by the clouded side of globalization, however by the terrible many years of neediness, the death of administration and numerous long years of gloomy orientations. Figure 5 is the musical score of Ilu-Le by Victor Olaiya.

Figure 5: Musical score of Victor Olaiya “Ilu Le” (source by author)

Musical Advocacy on National Insecurity: “Nigeria Under Pressure”

​The faith of Nigeria and Nigerians in the present national insecurity is a global concern. This concern has been expressed and addressed through diverse channels of schools of thought in literature, artistic paintings, dramas, dance, and popular musicians are not left out in this national advocacy for a secured Nigerian nation. In this connection, late Ras Kimono, a veteran Nigeria popular reggae musician, has severally called on the government of Nigeria to address the pressured national insecurity being perpetuated by Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen and kidnappers. Kimono in his song “Under pressure” (see Figure 6) laments on how Nigerians are faced with incessant killings through Boko Haram insurgency and the Fulani herdsmen invasion of farmlands and villages, kidnappings of school children and teachers alike. This has turned many Nigerians to destitute with no food to eat, no home to stay and no money to spend. The wailings of many Nigerians under a serious and undefinable pressure have become concerns for Kimono, hence the release of his musical album “Nigeria Under Pressure.” Yet, the problem of insecurity still persists till date. The song lyrics express this further as stated below (interpretation is in the brackets):

Lyrics
Under pressure we wail under pressure 
(We wail under pressure)
Under pressure black people under pressure 
(Black people under pressure)
Under pressure Nigerians under pressure 
(Nigerians under pressure)
Under pressure Africans under pressure
 (Africans under pressure)
No food in we belly 
(No food to eat)
No money in ah we pocket 
(No money to spend)
No bed fe lay we head
(No house to live)
The people dem are suffer 
(People are suffering)
In ah ghetto, in ah city 
(In the village and the city)
Everywhere dah me go oh 
​(Everywhere you go)
Me see them, some are cry, some are die 
(Some are crying, some have died)
Some are weeping! some are wailing! 
(Some are crying, some are wailing)

Figure 6: Musical score of Ras Kimono’s
“Under Pressure” (source by author)

Musical Advocacy on
​National Underdevelopment:
“Which Way Nigeria?”

Nigeria's underdevelopment is not about the challenges of lack of resources, but a situation of wrong policy executions and the absence of advancement plans and projects. Strategy summersault and improvement projects relinquishment are normal. Political pioneers should be more concerned about putting the societal interest first and focusing on advancement plans and projects. Utilizing the basic exploration strategy for breaking down accessible auxiliary data, this investigation surveys nonstop ineffectual execution of improvement plans and activities. Individual and corporate obligation to the expulsion of debasement is suggested for path forwarding the nation's turn of economic events. 

​On this note, Sunny Okosun is so concerned about the slow pace of development in the Nigerian nation. The use of rhetoric in his song reflects a sense of no definite answers to some raised questions. Okosun wondered why Nigeria is still at the crawling stage after many years of independence, why are Nigerians still finding it difficult to live? Why are many Nigerians surviving and not living? How long shall we be patient till we reach the promised land? Which way Nigeria is heading? Below is the lyrical excerpt from Okosun’s advocacy music:

Which way Nigeria
Which way to go
Which way Nigeria is heading to
Many years after independence
We still find it hard to start
Inefficiency and indiscipline
Is ruining the country now
Corruption here there and everywhere
Inflation is very high.
How long shall we be patient still we reach the promised land.

​Okosun did not end the music without a prayer advocacy when he sings that:

Let’s save Nigeria
So Nigeria won’t die
Heaven and earth will pass away
It is written in the book of God
The good people will surely find their way
And the meek will inherit the world
Let's save Nigeria so Nigeria won’t fall

Okosun ends the music (see Figure 7) with a plagal cadence of “Amen” which represents a sense of perfection in a musical sentence. An institution is a system of norms to achieve some goals or activities that are considered beneficial to the people and more centered on a major human activity. Okosun's position is a confirmation of a digression of the Nigerian institution from the normal processes of what should be called an institution as a result, all institutions in Nigeria are suffering from a total decay.

Figure 7: Musical score of Sonny Okosun’s
“Which Way Nigeria” (source by author)

It is so unfortunate that corruption and corrupt leaders are gladly celebrated by the people and the government itself. In this connection, Chukwumezie (2010) notes that “corruption and its associated ills have, in fact, found a fertile breeding ground in all governmental institutions including the power sector”. For example, Ologundudu (2015, 29) expresses the connection between power supply, industrialization and financial advancement in Nigeria. 

​Likewise, Lionel (2013, 8) in his investigation analyzes the connection between power supply and financial advancement in Nigeria. The investigation shows that per capita GDP slacks in power supply, innovation and capital are the huge factors that impact monetary improvement in Nigeria.   

Conclusion

The paper has extensively discussed the response of popular musical sound as a form of advocacy to the menace of institutional decay in Nigeria’s administrative systems since independence. It has expatiated on the various musical advocacies of various popular music artists from the 1970s to the 2020s. Musical Advocacy on Poor Transport System through Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s “Suffering and Smiling” released in 1980. Musical Advocacy on Military and Police Brutality by Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s “Sorrow, Tears and Blood” released in 1981. Musical Advocacy on Lack of Potable Water and Electricity by Edrees Abdul Kareem’s “Nigeria Jàgà Jágá '' released in 2004. Musical Advocacy on Bad Economic Policy through Victor Olaiya’s “Ilu Le” (Country Hard o) released in 1983. Musical Advocacy on National Insecurity by Ras Kimono’s “Nigeria Under Pressure” released in 1989 and Musical Advocacy on Nation’s Underdevelopment by Sonny Okosun’s “Which Way Nigeria '' released in 1984.
The paper also examined the various organs of governmental institutions and the various levels of corruption perpetuated therein. Identifying these corrupt practices by the resources with which the Nigerian nation is blessed, no Nigerian is expected to live in poverty – yet, the masses could have had what it takes to live – but are only surviving in abject poverty due to severe institutional decay in the Nigerian administrative system.

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