African Time: Other continents are laughing at us, says Jidenna

Jidenna Theodore Mobbison has said the world constantly mocks Africans over the culture of lateness dubbed ‘African Time’.

The singer said this in reaction to his failure to perform at the recently held One Africa Music Fest in London, England.

The African music concert suffered time management issues while the performances of some artistes were cut short.

Although the ‘Classic Man’ singer had taken to Instagram to apologise to fans for his inability to perform, he again addressed the matter in an interview with Factory 78.

He said: “I was at the first One Africa Fest in Barclays Centre, Brooklyn. It was a success.

“It wasn’t enough for me to just do one. I really want to follow this and I want to follow this everywhere in the world.

“This fest is very important to me. I’m not sure where the ball was dropped but I do know that it came down to time management

“People make jokes about African Time but the truth is that everyone is laughing at us. We are out here joking about it but every other continent is laughing at us.

“That’s what happened to me. Davido, Tiwa’s sets were even cut off. I don’t know what exactly happened and why it happened.

Jidenna also said he’s yet to receive a personal apology from the organisers of the concert.

“All I can say is the way we do business in our crew…. is that if we make a mistake, then we apologise to the person personally. I am still awaiting the apology personally,” he said.

In spite of his experience at the One Africa Music Fest, the singer said he’s open to working with events of its nature in the future.

“I am proud that we sold out Wembley. I am proud of those aspects of it. I’m sure that we will have more events like this and I’ll be there.”