At a recent panel session during Entertainment Week Africa, award-winning singer Tiwa Savage opened up about the recurring pressures and inappropriate demands she says female artistes continue to face in the Nigerian music ecosystem.
Sharing her personal experiences, Savage explained that at several points in her career she was allegedly urged to “personally visit” influential male industry figures before she could be considered for performance opportunities. According to her, the implication was clear: access and visibility often came with expectations unrelated to talent or professionalism.
She recounted one instance in which she says she lost a major endorsement deal after refusing an invitation to travel to Dubai with a co-owner of the company involved. Savage noted that the experience became a turning point, making her more aware of the ways some executives viewed her not as an artist but as an object.
In her words, she had been told that declining to meet a certain “chairman” would cost her a performance slot, and the lost endorsement further cemented her concerns. What she had once considered strategic branding, she said, was misconstrued by some as an invitation for exploitation.
Savage’s comments added to a broader industry-wide conversation on power dynamics, consent, and the continued push for safer, more equitable professional spaces for women in entertainment.