RENOWNED Nigerian Comic Artist/Cartoonist, Tayo Fatunla, gives an account of crack cocaine addiction in Guinea-Bissau through his new work, Hooked.
The comic, produced in collaboration with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Focus on Africa for BBC Africa News was written by Benjamin Dix.
Interestingly, the youth-centered picture is positioned, not just for TV, but for online streaming, to capture the attention of young men and women who literally today, lives on digital platforms.
Centred on the character Buba, a young man growing up in the neighbourhood of Bissau city, Hooked was made part of a five day serialisation online and has been produced in 10 languages.
BBC is the world’s oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world. It is well known for its news coverage, drama, programs and documentaries around the globe.
Earlier this year, PosNeg conducted interviews around crack cocaine addiction in the West African state of Guinea-Bissau, hence the project Hooked.
Reports say BBC News Africa called upon Fatunla to illustrate the comic for digital viewing on also devices such as mobile phones, ipads, tablets and computers.
Guinea-Bissau has been a key centre for smuggling cocaine from South America to lucrative markets in Europe and has often been referred to as Africa’s first ‘narco-state’. Although Hooked is based on reportage that tells the story of Buba, all names have been changed to protect identities.
Fatunla is a former Punch, Concord, Nigeria Herald, Guardian, Daily Times and Thisday cartoonist who continues to draw cartoons and comic art internationally from an Africa perspective. He has also drawn for international magazines like West Africa, New African and African Courier to mention a few. He has done several web-based cartoons and illustrations and has attended cartoon festivals around the world in places such as South Korea, Egypt, Cameroon, Algeria, Ethiopia, the U.S. and some European countries.
The episodes of Hooked, as illustrated by Fatunla are on YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKRkc35D2N0, with Ghetto, from Akon’s debut studio album, as background music.