How 1983 coup destroyed my concert business – Ben Murray-Bruce

By Nnasom David

Founder of Silverbird Group, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, has said the 1983 military coup that ousted the government of President Shehu Shagari dealt a devastating blow to his concert promotion business, forcing it into collapse despite early success.

Murray-Bruce made the disclosure on Wednesday at the Infrastructure Dialogue 2026 in Abuja, a two-day entrepreneurship programme organised by Deutsche Partners Holding.

He said he had built a growing concert promotion outfit between 1980 and 1983 after starting the business with a ₦20,000 loan borrowed from his siblings.

According to him, the industry was still at an early stage in Nigeria, with limited infrastructure, few media platforms, and little institutional support for entertainment ventures.

He explained that the turning point came with the military takeover in 1983, which, he said, disrupted business operations nationwide and effectively shut down his entertainment activities.

“By 1983, the military overthrew the government of Shehu Shagari. Once Shagari was overthrown, all hell broke loose. In those days, when a coup d’état occurred, the first thing they did was to cut off your phone. That was how they ruined my concert business,” he said.

Murray-Bruce added that the instability that followed the coup also worsened economic conditions, with foreign exchange challenges and rising costs making concert promotion increasingly unviable.

He said ticket prices rose sharply within the period, while audience turnout dropped significantly, further compounding losses.

“My ticket rates when I started were N5 to N10. In 1983, my last show was N15 to N20, and I lost 25 per cent of my audience. That was how my concert promotion died,” he said.

The media entrepreneur noted that at the time, Nigeria had only a handful of communication and entertainment channels, including a single television station, NTA, one radio station, FRCN, and a few newspapers, making promotion difficult.

He also said the absence of modern entertainment venues, apart from the National Theatre in Lagos, limited the growth of the sector.

Murray-Bruce, however, said he organised about 20 concerts during his brief venture into show business and lost money on only one of them, despite the eventual collapse of the business.

Speaking at the event, Dr Onuoha Nnachi, former aide to the late former Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili, and managing partner of Deutsche Partners Holding, praised Murray-Bruce’s resilience, describing him as a mentor who had contributed significantly to his professional growth.

He said access to funding in business is largely driven by trust in capacity and returns, noting that lenders are primarily motivated by potential profitability rather than goodwill.

Also speaking, former Governor of Adamawa State, Boni Haruna, commended the organisers of the dialogue and urged young entrepreneurs not to abandon their ambitions despite Nigeria’s difficult economic environment.

Haruna acknowledged the challenges of doing business in the country but encouraged startups to remain persistent and focused on long-term goals.

Murray-Bruce, in his remarks, advised young entrepreneurs to remain resilient, stressing the importance of persistence, careful contract review, and strategic thinking in business decision-making.

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