Once upon a time, Nigerians, both young and old, were fascinated by a television series, the ‘Village Headmaster.’ Whenever it was aired on the screens by the Nigerian Television Authority, there was always a rush.
Even though having a television set was scarce and a luxury in the days, people still looked for a way to catch up with the series. The few people who had television in their houses were always prepared to entertain the crowd. That was the kind of effect the ‘Village Headmaster’ had on Nigerians. It is still fresh in the mind of people who saw it.
But in recent times, no Nigerian TV series has been able to create such huge effect on the public. No series will make people rush home as they used to do, no series will make people starve themselves as they used to do and no series will make people gather on the street of Lagos as they used to do.
We had other exciting series including the ‘New Masquerade,’ Bassey & Company,’ ‘Things Fall Apart,’ ‘Cock Crow at Dawn and Jaguar Nana, but the ‘Village Headmaster’ stood out from the bunch. The creator, the late Ambassador Segun Olusola, conceived the idea of running a series where an old headmaster was an authority in the community. He was feared by people and respected by all.
I later went out of my way to see some of the recordings. Though they were interesting, I wished I had seen them when others did. Probably, I would have appreciated them more. I was born in the 80s, and the last production of the ‘Village Headmaster’ was in 1989.
Much as I am not so wowed by the series and strongly feel that some of the series we have today are more interesting, its followership was massive. As such, it may take something magical or revolutionary for any Nigerian series to enjoy the followership like that of the ‘Village Headmaster’.
Since it left the screen, there have been calls for its comeback or the continuity of the production. The production ran for 21 years, the longest in Nigeria’s history. A search on Google for the longest series in Nigeria, also confirms the ‘Village Headmaster’ in the first position.
Given the disconnection, it would be difficult to bring the series back. The best, perhaps, is to forget it and look into the future.
Though we still have Dejumo Lewis, Ted Mukoro and a few others around, most of the characters have passed on. Justus Esiri, Femi Robinson, Ambassador Olusola and a host of others, are no more. The most recent exit was Aunty Bukky Ajayi.
It is however instructive to note that we could still have a production that would follow the values of ‘Village Headmaster.’ All we need to do is to relate it with our culture and ensure it is a purposeful production towards nation building. We are creative and talented enough as a people.
No doubt, today’s producers and writers have tried, considering the challenging environment they operate in. We have such series like ‘Tinsel,’ ‘Papa Ajasco,’ ‘Super Story,’ ‘The Johnsons,’ ‘Jenifer’s Diary,’ ‘Hotel Majestic,’ ‘Gidi Up’ and many more that are doing well in their own right. They also have their audience. My belief is that if they were not getting feedback or no one was watching, perhaps they would have stopped production long ago.
Times have changed also. There are now many means of entertainment, unlike in the days when we had limited options. The population is also divided now. We have more people who prefer to see football matches, we have people who prefer to play games, we have more people who prefer to end their day at beer parlours, we have more people who prefer to go to the cinemas and we have more people who prefer to see musical videos all day.
So, no matter how good a production is, it could always be a big struggle to attract the kind of attention or the followership the ‘Village Headmaster’ had in the past.
