The Minister of Youths Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, has refuted claims that the federal government has endorsed the winner of the just concluded Big Brother Amplified (BBA), Karen Igho, as a youth ambassador.
Abdullahi, on Tuesday, responded to criticisms that have trailed Karen’s visit to his office. While explaining that the visit should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any kind, he hit back at critics of the $300,000 winner as sexists. www.naijapaymentsonline.com
He spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the 'National Conference on Youth in the 2011 Elections and Strategies for Improved Participation in the Democratic Process' organised by the International Republican Institute (IRI) in Abuja.
"What I see here is a rising tendency to be sexist in this country in a way that is not acceptable," he said. “I mean someone won this competition last year and he was hailed and hosted everywhere like if he was a hero. We didn’t know what he did in that house. Now, because Karen is a woman, therefore she is what? If it was a man that went into that programme and did all the escapades, will we be treating him like this?”
Karen was named the co-winner of the three-month long reality show alongside Zimbabwean Wendall, with each taking the prime prize of $200,000. The minister drew condemnation after she visited his office with officials of the MNET who organised the event. Many argued that the visit foists Karen as a role model to the youth despite questionable conducts that were promoted during the show.
Many opponents have spoken against the unrestrained alcohol use and smoking as well as explicit sexual tone of the programme. Most of Karen’s performances bore these hallmarks and ended up helping her to clinch the coveted prize with many acclaiming her for being real.
“What we did as a Ministry of Youth Development when we were informed that they will like to visit us, I mean, we welcomed them," said Abdullahi. "That does not mean the same thing as endorsing whatever she did or did not do. No one mentioned anything about role modelling. Nobody mentioned anything about being an ambassador.
The DSTV people said that they will like to visit us with Karen and we hosted them in my office. The whole thing didn’t even last an hour. If Fela was alive today and he visits my office, will that mean I am endorsing those who smoke things? If someone is a drug user and is a fantastic designer and he visits my office, because he has designed something fantastic, does that mean we are endorsing the use of drugs? You see this is grand hypocrisy.”
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