Renowned Nigerian musician, Divine Ikubor, professionally recognized as Rema, emphasized during his acceptance speech at the 2023 Headies Award for Best Male Artist of the Year in Atlanta, Georgia, that regardless of the genres Nigerian artists may ascribe to their music, they all come together as Afrobeats artists at award ceremonies.

This statement was made following Burna Boy's recent interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, where he distanced himself from the Afrobeats label, citing a perceived lack of substance.

Rema said,

“I must say it is very important that I should let everyone know that I’m not here because of the awards. I’m here because it is important to support our institutions. And when I said institutions, I mean the bodies that support you to be able to achieve these major successes; the media houses, award organisers, you know.

“We are in a very sensitive period if we don’t give our attention to our institutions, we will miss this chance that we have. And we will never have this chance again.

Be it afrorave, afro this, afro that, last last, we go jam for afrobeats award. So, this is our chance. We [afrobeats artists] are not the first to do it. Reggae has done it before.”

Nice one.