A University of Benin Medical Laboratory Science undergraduate, Emmanuella Bagudu, is smiling to the bank.
By emerging winner of a talent hunt organised by an Ibadan, Oyo State-based EBVande Nightclub, the student musician has carted home a grand prize of N1 million.
To become winner, Bagudu was voted the best out of the over 1,000 participants on Instagram during the month-long contest.
Mr. Ope Alabi, business associate of Mr. Bimbo Ojugbele, CEO of EBVande, said the club embarked on the competition as a response to the yearnings of its numerous customers.
“This is one of the numerous ways we can encourage them in their careers. We will not stop at this because we believe we should support up and coming acts in all ways possible,” he said.
While congratulating the winner, Oyo State Commissioner for Sports, Barrister Yomi Oke urged her to look beyond the money and focus on how to plant herself in the entertainment industry, most especially, as youth unemployment is on the rise.
“The government appreciates what EBVande has done. For posterity, however, you should go beyond just giving winners money because they can easily exhaust a million or even N10 million. Creating opportunities for them to showcase their talents is more important. Get them signed to labels, appear in shows and so on,” he advised.
Twenty-year-old Bagudu, however, expressed her gratitude to the management of EBVande for the confidence reposed in her. She promised to do her best to be relevant in the very competitive Nigerian music industry.