ONE ON ONE with One of Nigeria's Most Revered Journalist SULAI ALEDEH

As one of the revered television newscasters in Nigeria and perhaps Africa can you share with us how it started for you?

I actually read philosophy from the University of Benin. That was my major. Then I obtained a Masters degree in Humanitarian and Refugees State from the University of Lagos. I have always been a broadcaster from my college days (i.e. my University days). From my 1^st year in school, I have always been a broadcaster. I stumbled on a station listening to a programme on a particular frequency (I and my elder brother). And I said; “I could do what this guy is doing.”

And who is this guy?

I even can’t remember his name. The guy was on air that was in Benin. And I felt I could do what he was doing and even better. So my brother drove to the office, I mean to the station and told them that his brother said he was interested. Mind you, this time, I had just got my admission letter and I hadn’t started schooling at UNIBEN, I had not done my registration. So they said, they were going to audition me. And I was auditioned and that was it. I was given a couple of radio and television programmes. And that was how it all started.

Where exactly was this?

Edo Broadcasting Service in Benin

Was there anyone you looked up to when you started and for those looking up to you, what would you say to them to encourage them?

I didn’t have any role model when I started. For me, it was fun; it was just what made me happy: being on radio and television. And if I had to call anyone my role model as at that fresh start, I would say Ray Macdonald was the only guy I listened to on radio. So that was how I was able to know that what I was listening to then in Benin wasn’t it at that point in time, for the person I was listening to on air, Ray Macdonald, a renowned Voice of America Anchor, who was doing the Top 20 Chart back then. So, I had to learn from him by listening. So, I was, I don’t want to say “mimicking”, I was listening, If I hear a word, for example the word “inevitable”, I would ask myself, lots of people call it inevitable (slow paced pronunciation) why is not inevitable (fast paced). So I tried and said okay, this is the right pronunciation (fast paced). So if he says, “bomb” and I would wonder why is the last ‘B’ silent. Why didn’t he say “This is the bomb” with the  last ‘B’ sounding. Things like that, so I was learning from him. I was recording the top 20 Billboard Countdown. And then, there was no internet. So I copied him, by recording, putting the cassette in the short waist band and record everything and transcript to the script. And I go “This is the top 20 billboard countdown to radio air play, record sold sales and duration chart day, I still have them in my head. So we were doing all of that. So he, if I must pick someone who was more like a guide, a mirror, for me, I was looking up to, it was Ray Macdonald back then. Until I left school, did my National Youth Service also in the east in a radio station (Ebonyi Broadcasting Service). It’s been broadcasting from school till this moment. There’s never been a break.

Femi Sowoolu in his word said; “There is an extinction of intelligence” because today’s generation does not embrace the reading culture, do you agree to that?

Mr. Femi Sowoolu, I call him Egbon Sowoolu. He is an icon in the field. I think you really can’t overemphasis that big point. And it is also evident in broadcasting. You take a look at or you watch so many television programmes, listen to so many radio programmes. And what you get is the ‘wanna bees’ ‘mediocres’ and people who are not even trained. Lots of people want to hear their own voices. With some kind of pseudo accent, whether it is right or wrong is another thing. So, sometimes you get just an individual, who makes in a sentence, part of the word would have an Asian or Indian accent. Another one would have American accent, so you really can’t place where the person is from and almost all those that are called or termed ‘Returnees’, those who have come back home, even those from non-English speaking countries. Everyone wants to speak in funny accent and they have a radio job, especially radio. They are the most culprits. So, when he says intelligence or fresh kind of professionalism is going extinct, yes, he has a point; people don’t take their time to read anymore. I told you earlier that before starting off I was listening, doing a great deal of listening to Ray Macdonald. As I was doing a great deal of listening I was also transcribing his script and reading. For the younger people today who intend to attain higher education, you just realize that they do more of watching television than reading, they forget that you can’t even be a good on-air personality without reading. So you can’t take away the importance of reading in your everyday life. On a daily basis, we have so many newspapers, we put them in our bags, and we just stash them. We go home; try to read all we can read. Sometimes, when you’re bored, you just flip and see what catches your eyes and whether you like it or not. You think that it’s not there in your head but that’s what we call residual knowledge. It is somewhere in your head. And you really can’t be thankful enough when the need for it arises. And I’m hoping that people should see such importance in cultivating a reading culture. So you must read a page a day. If it is online publication but by all means read. Read ahead, it builds your vocabulary. It broadens your horizon such as; traveling and meeting people. But we don’t think today. Some of today’s professionals in their respective fields or in school aspire to become someone important in life but if you deemphasize the importance of reading, I don’t think you will get to the pinnacle of your profession. That is why most schools introduced what they call the “Prep” or “Library period”. And they should also have “Days of Reading”. You have people who come to sit with them, who could be some people they look up to as role models from the banking sector, telecom industry, journalism profession; different people to sit with these children and read. And even the orphans and the less privileged ones. So many other people have taken it upon themselves, especially some NGOs to have a day or two in a month to read with these ones. Buy them books in their libraries and read with them. Reading is the Key, reading is important. And I tell people, if you pick up anything that has been printed, just have it in your mind that it is an important document. It may not come handy now, but you really can’t tell when it will come and when it does come you would have been prepared.

What do you think the government need to do to drive reading culture into the students, both in private and public schools?

I think the government should put in the school curriculum, reading as a subject. Reading in itself; people should be made to step forward after reading to expatiate on a particular passage, page or point on they have read. I’m trying to look at it like a debating society. You know in a debating society people come to marshal out their points on an issue or some matter of national discuss. If we have a debating society, which in some schools is going extinct, we have to revive it. You don’t go out for a debating contest without reading. So reading is also the bedrock for you to excel in bringing up those points. I’m hoping that the school, I mean the government at all levels; local, state and federal would try as much as possible to bring back that culture. But it can only work if we now have fantastic and up to date Libraries. Get E-Library that would entice these children to come in and read.

What do you have to say to those striving to get to where you are now?

Sacrifice is the key. You have to sacrifice your time to study and that’s why for you to be on breakfast show on national or international television, you have to always study.

How about those who apparently would be hoping to attend Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) for their basic training?

So many people have attended such school, but what they do with such knowledge after the school is another thing. Lots and lots of people have passed through FRCN. I have too, but is it sufficient for you to just acquire such knowledge and stay back? No, even those who come for the intermediate course is to remind you of what the basic is about. For those who come for the advanced course it is also a refresher of what the basic is all about. So everything is about basic knowledge. But if you don’t put it into practice on a daily basis and you don’t put to practice how you can harness and use it, then it becomes dormant in you.

Well, you and some of your colleagues like Frank Edoho, Charles Anazodo, Kamal and a few others appear to still be relevant in the industry, while others had fallen by the wayside; what would you attribute to their fall?

I think life is a competition. You know, it’s just like how humans come into the world. Over a million sperms are released and they take a race, the first to get to the ovary fertilizes it and the human is conceived. If you think of it in that light you say everyone here on earth is a champion because you were the one who made it. If you believe it, then “you are a champion”. Then you continue in that light. Without saying much on this, I think people fall on the way side, in trying to be what others want them to be, and for those who try to cut corners, without studying or trying to burn the candles, they can’t be where they want to be. Being on radio (Radio Nigeria) which for me was very good, I felt it was a breeding ground for burning talents in the profession. You can throw away your time if you want to but you wouldn’t be found close to the mic. That’s how tough Radio Nigeria was and still is. You are picked based on your diction and pronunciation and how well you have been able to put them into practice. But today, there is a dearth in that, because loads and loads of people have actually pulled out. Those that have retired have retired, those that have left, have left. Using the cliché for “Greener Pasture.” “Greener Pasture” now is not outside the country but within the country. So it tells you that we all have to start looking at deregulating that hasn’t worked well in government circle. So that’s why you get to see people living in drought. The bottom line is this; you have ten people that have gone to FRCN training school all to have the potential of becoming the brightest but some of them don’t have the same energy to pursue it. So that’s why you see some people fall on the way while others excel. There is no one, no station, no television, no print that would see someone who is fantastic and not give him a job.

Does that mean for one to be a successful broadcaster or journalist you don’t necessarily have to go for mass communication or get a certificate in journalism to be there?

Quite frankly, most of the best broadcasters now, with due respect, most of the best broadcasters and even journalists didn’t  study broadcasting or journalism in their first degree. They did not acquire orientation journalism as their first course. Richard Quest is a lawyer, I mean, so loads and loads of them. And coming home, Charles Anazodo read English, Dele Momodu read Yoruba, Frank Edoho read Animal Science. So many people like that you see, Kamal read psychology, I read Philosophy. So loads and loads of these people who finally became what they are today in the profession: it’s about their interest and love for the job. That would now spur them to study and excel. If you don’t have interest, if you don’t have love, because interest and love would sustain you, where there is no money. Time was when people were not even paid salaries yet they were doing it. All the time I was doing it. I was in UNIBEN doing my stuff while I was doing broadcasting. I wasn’t paid but I stayed put, I continued, I loved it and I was even thinking about having my face on TV. I was thinking hmmm okay, let me be the best in the industry and that was what spurred me. And I knew when I leave the school the next megacity of broadcasting is Lagos so I came to Lagos. When we had that growth coming up in Abuja, so many people went to Abuja. I said no! I wouldn’t leave; this is the Hollywood of this profession. I would stay so if also trying to recognize what and when to move to and not to move.

Do you want to talk about your movement from Channels TV to TVC and back to Channels TV before now?

Talking about my movement from TVC to Channels is a big chapter and an entire book. I have always believed that Channels TV is where I should be. I came to Channels TV without knowing anyone. That’s why I tell people, you don’t have to know someone. I resigned from TVC 15^th May, 2013 and I didn’t have any other job.

Was there any particular reason for your resignation?

No! There was no fight, nothing. I just resigned. I got my clearance and I left. So I switched off my phone went home and stayed in the house until I came to Channels TV. I did the audition and all that and resumed 1^st June of the same year. Someone once joked with me saying they pushed me away. I said nobody pushed me; I resigned and applied to somewhere else.  And I wasn’t even a member of staff of TVC when I applied for Channels TV’s job. So looking at the date, the records are there for everyone. I left 15^th May and resumed here at Channels TV 1^st of June. So when did I come in for my audition? It was when I had left the place. That was the same thing I told them at FRCN. They were saying the stations were just pushing me around. I said as for me, nobody pushed me. I left FRCN for TVC. In fact, it was G65. We started G65 before it became TVC. Before I left for Channels and growing with the station in leaps and bounds. I think everyone has grown with the station and for the station. And the fun part is the many pulses because you have someone at the head of affairs who has been through the entire core; as a co-reporter, reporter and he rose through the ranks to becoming a senior person in the profession. And he is an anchor and so there is hardly any department he doesn’t have knowledge of. If you are a camera man, he knows what to tell you, he knows everything about shots. So we are in a place where the leader, the father of the place (John Momoh) is someone who understands every department. No wonder everyone will definitely be the best in their respective departments.
Thank you