• Whitemoney said that his breakthrough in English speaking came when he started watching American movies, where he learnt how to speak fluently, without any tertiary education background.
In a recent interview with La Mode magazine, ex-Big Brother Naija season 6 Shine Ya Eye contestant and reality television show winner, Hazel Oyeze Onou, also known as Whitemoney, has shared with the general public, how he was able to build up his English, knowing he didn’t attend tertiary education.
Whitemoney, who first revealed while in the Shine Ya Eye House, that he didn’t have opportunity to go to school, stated that after his secondary school examination, he went to learn skills.
The skills acquisition, according to him, was done in Kaduna State, then, moving to Lagos after so many years in the North, he had to find a way to build his English because he was already mainly speaking Hausa.
Whitemoney added that his major breakthrough in English came when he started downloading and watching black American movies, which helped him to fine-tune his English.
From then, he was able to speak fluently, leaving people to think he attended tertiary education.
Whitemoney said; “My sister, I don’t have career. Educational, academical career, I don’t have one.
“When I managed to finish secondary school, which my uncle helped me, God bless Uncle Joe, for sending N4,000 I used to register for NECO examination. I managed to write it and I passed the exam very well. I got seven (7) Credits and one (1) Pass.
“So, as I left the secondary school with my NECO results, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to further my education again, because, one, there’s no money.
“So, what did I do? I immediately went to learn skills. First thing I learnt was how to barb. It was in Kaduna State. Then, from there, I learnt, I didn’t say I studied, I learnt, how to construct mast, I started going to mast construction sites, because that was when all the network providers were coming into the North.
“So, I started arranging, from there, I started climbing and fixing masts. So, all the people who went to university to study the theory part of mast construction, when they’re on industrial training (IT), they will come to us, who are doing the practical aspect of it. We will be teaching them how to do everything about mast construction.
“So, the thing is that, education is very important, because I had the basics, which is reading, writing and understanding, that’s the basics. But when you see that your brain can’t carry some certain things, like my brain, it could not, because I knew that was the bus stop, I picked up with handwork, from there, I did many things.
“Now, the problem is, I was born and raised in the North, so, I was speaking more of Hausa. My Hausa was like 70 percent, and my English was 30 percent.
“So, how did I do when I moved to Lagos? I had to switch up my English. So, I had to start downloading movies. I don’t watch Telemundo, and I don’t watch all the Zee world movies.
“I was going for these black American movies and all that. So, that’s how I fine-tuned my English, because if I’m watching all those movies, they influence the way I talk. You heard what I’m saying? So, it’s from movies.
“So, I could switch to different accents because I watched good movies. I’m not saying Nigerian movies aren’t good. I’m already speaking a Nigerian English, but for me to like fine-tune it, I had to start watching black American movies, action movies, all the stuffs. And it helped me fine-tune my English.
“It now looked like, ‘oh, this boy went to school’, I didn’t go to school. I wasn’t a dropout because I didn’t even drop-in, in the first place. I didn’t even enter the lecture room, so, I’m not a dropout. I didn’t even know anything about university because I never applied before, and by the grace of God, I won’t ever apply. Why, because I’m already a star. So, I’m good.”
Watch video below, to hear from Whitemoney.
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