Encomium
The results speak for themselves. While Nigeria’s music from superstars like Burna Boy and Tems dominates global charts and festival line-ups from London to Lagos, the technical backbone has long been thin. While Burna recently co-headlined the biggest sporting event – the World Cup – and Tems has become the first female African artist to get a US Diamond single, music insiders face a larger question about the infrastructure that drives music production in the country. The orchestrators who arrange film scores, the composers who shape screen narratives, the educators who build the next generation from the ground up – these roles have too often gone unfilled or filled from abroad.
Augusto & Co says the Nigerian music industry is expected to hit the one billion dollar valuation by the end of this year and agrees that severe infrastructural and regulatory deficits are amongst the key issues. The MTN Foundation-MUSON partnership is one of the players closing that gap, producing scholars who are already securing seats at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and recording orchestral albums. Albums that rival anything finished in American studios.
With a fully equipped digital studio built in 2022, a 20-year track record, and over 550 graduates scattered across Nigeria, South Africa, Europe, and the United States, the tech company has since gone beyond connecting more than 87 million subscribers. It is connecting Nigerian talent to the global stage, not as participants but as competitors.
The 2026 cohort of the scholarship programme stands as proof that when investment meets artistic discipline, Nigeria does not just take part in global culture. It shapes it. The model is set. The only question left is how Nigeria’s music infrastructure will explode in the way the country’s music is being exported and which other players will drive that revolution successfully.
