Well, I read Abati’s article on the instance of my friend. I found his intention noble but his expression of it rather despairing. While (in my opinion) the crux of Abati’s article is the quality of the lyrics of today’s artistes, his choice of approach to (national identity) is inapt. Nigeria is not suffering from identity crisis (we know who we are, even if we have been haphazardly juxtaposed by his much-celebrated lord Luggard, or would you say his wife?) and if it is, it wasn’t imposed by the music industry but the political industry (it is in Nigeria that peopletake politics as a profession and become miserable, irrelevant and useless once out of office; fighting to come back to mainstream power struggle)
What is the real meaning of this “hallowed” name Abati was making a case for? If my lessons in history counts for anything, I think it’s more or less “people of the Niger area” or even “Niger area” at best. So what does that have to do with us as a people? “River Niger used to be to Nigeria what River Nile was/is to Egypt?” it is a good thing he said “used to” meaning the Niger no longer have relevance to the nation, which calls the relevance of the name Nigeria itself into question. And Abati said Flora “thoughtfully” added “–eria” to Niger in a romantic moment? 
I’m from the Yoruba race where much importance is place on the name. while there is a saying that “it is for the identification of an errant child that each child has a name”(nitori ti omo o ba daran la se nsoo loruko),there is also this saying that ‘Each person has two names; there is the real name and there is the acquired name. It is because the acquired name that everyone behaves with caution. ( oruko meji laa ni, oto loruko ojo oto loruko eyin. Nitori oruko ehin la fii s’owa hu)
which means that your personality (or identity, what people make of you) is not so much about your name but your character/ deeds. So, I will say the name Nigeria does not really define who we are as a people, our actions (politically and in all other forms) do.
While I agree with Abati that there is need for Nigerian artiste to pay more attention to their lyrics, I think having“non-conforming” lyrics is not tantamount to losing one’s identity or having identity crisis. In fact, one thing I think Nigerian artiste have tried to do is to localize this foreign genre of music (hip-hop)in such a way that its appealing to their Nigerian audience and reflects the Nigerian flavor. I do not think any of the artiste mentioned have tried to deny or dishonor Nigeria in all of their lyrics rather they are proudly Nigerian.
Some of the lyrics Abati has pointed out as “meaningless” are loaded with meaning. For instance “ori mi wu, e lagi mo” is a common saying in Yoruba which may mean(if taken seriously) “someone please check my excesses” and D’banj’s Fall in Love is the depiction of a typical Casanova’s dilemma when caught in the web of love. Zulezoo’s “Kerewa” resonates the Yoruba joke (baba mi di meji, okan t’ko de okan nbe ni yara- I have two fathers, one just got back from the farm and there’s another in [my mother’s] room) which depicts a young child’s understanding of his/her mother’s infidelity.
Music is an art. As one does not expect an artist to elaborately depict all his meaning through his artwork, Abati should not expect young Nigerian artistes to compose a ten page essay in the lyrics of their songs. An artist tries as much as possible to compress his message and the rest is left to the art lover, critic (etc) to make meaning of it. The same goes for all other genre of art- literature, sculpture and the rest of them, music inclusive.
These things are basically about communication, there are target audiences for each stream of communication and purpose for the communication. And I want to believe Nigerian artistes take all these into consideration before producing their music (or how else will such music make waves and millions of naira on sales?)
And as for the sexual innuendos in today’s music, its everywhere check out the ad industry where sexual appeal is used to sell things from pure water to houses. Itz all an indication of consumer behavior which underscores our rotten value system as a nation and which is mostly the fault of the older generation (a se sile ni abowaba) it’s what you guys sowed into your future that you see all around you today.

ayotunde