Aforodara TV

This is by Adedayo Oderinu
OAPs AND THE CHALLENGES OF THE RADIO INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA

I have keenly followed the conversations around the ongoing radio transfer window in Ibadan and it has prompted me to pen this article, one that I should have written a long time before today.

A Yoruba adage (paraphrased) says "Sometimes, there is time, but you do not have anything to say; sometimes, you have something to say, but you do not have time". Today, aaye wa, oro naa de tun wa (I have a couple of things to say and I have time to say them).

Note that this piece is not a targeted attack on anyone, but a general assessment of the radio industry and the realities therein.

Let us delve into three critical issues.

POOR REMUNERATION

I say with confidence that the average OAP in Nigeria today is broke. Aside from his direct salary being ridiculously low, he also has to put in a whole lot of costly work to earn any extra kobo by the side.

Most OAPs you know earn far less than 150,000 in direct salaries. There are popular OAPs who earn less than 70,000, yet you think they are rolling in money.

For all the popularity and pomp that follow their names, most OAPs cannot survive two months without actively working. To add some more clarity, the average OAP in Nigeria today cannot finance personal medical care that goes beyond malaria.

It will also interest you to know that 80% of the OAPs you know cannot afford to buy cars or build houses with what they earn. We are aware of big names in the industry who bought cars on credit and almost ran into messy scandals because they could not pay on time. Stories abound.

Poor finances is why OAPs (broadcasters) began belittling the prestige of their profession by hustling brown envelopes and condescending gifts. This is why most OAPs have become 'boys' to people who should shiver at the mention of their names. Poor remuneration is also why most OAPs cannot survive a year without organizing events that they can use to raise money from their fans.

Poor remuneration is an issue across the media industry, in reality. There are Newspaper corresponents who earn #1,500 per published story. Oh yes! Find out from your friends in the media industry.

To make matters worse, salary review within the radio industry can be as far apart as six whole years! So, an OAP walks into a radio job while he was a bachelor, gets married in-between and started building a family, but will continue the same salary on which he lived a near-poverty life, even as a Bachelor.

His only solution to earning more, is to move frequently. Say he earns #50,000 in A-FM, he either waits 6 years for a salary raise, or move to B-FM and negotiate a higher pay with his years of experience and record in the industry.

This is why loyalty to a station is not in the dictionary of an average OAP. He wants to grow financially, but that is rarely in the thoughts of his employer.

LACK OF FREE TIME

The general idea of radio employers is that their OAPs have side hustles which they can use their radio brands to promote. But, where is the time though?

An OAP who airs well-researched content is already spending the bulk of his time on content research. By the time he finishes his task for the day, to be ready for the next, he is finished physically and mentally.

For some, their schedule of work is so thick that there is rarely any space left to even sleep. This explains to you why many OAPs are on drugs and other such performance enhancers. If he/she is not smoking, he is drinking...some are on illegal substances...just to keep the grind going! Ask them nicely, they will tell you.

Some of your OAP friends are 'four-men' in their places of work, combining several distinct roles. Do not say they should not have accepted such multiple responsibilities until you have worked in an industry for which you have so much passion and will not mind filling in the gaps so that work can progress.

Poverty is what happens when you earn poor wage and has little to no time left to pursue other sources of income.

A BLEAK FUTURE

One reason OAPs should earn very high wages is the short-lived relevance that an OAP enjoys in the industry. Footballers for example, earn so much money because their relevance in the profession is very short-lived. Within the short period that they are relevant, they earn so much to be able to plan a proper future for themselves beyond the game. This should rightly be the case for OAPs, but unfortunately, it is not.

For starters, media employers consider OAPs easily expendable. If a new kid comes on the block with more talent than an already established OAP, the Stations are quick to discard the old guy, just like in football. It is quite difficult for an OAP to remain relevant for up to 20 years. Some expire at 10 years of relevance. We imagine for a second that he saves all of the peanuts he earns in say, 15 years, he still would not have saved enough money to give himself an average life post-relevance.

I met a veteran very recently whose advice to me was to get my hands into more profitable ventures outside of broadcasting, to safeguard my future. He did not know that I am already taking care of that side of my life very carefully, but his advice touched me in very deep places. According to him, almost thirty years in the industry and he still cannot conveniently withdraw two million from anywhere. He said, "Dayo, move on as soon as you can, this industry promises you no future."

That's clear enough.

Remember what I told you about OAPs being unable to manage medical care beyond malaria? Imagine age-related ailments? That will be the very end.

_________

So, what is the OAP's solution to self-preservation?

Timed loyalty is one. Stay with a platform for as long as your financial realities can allow you. When you need more, move on, the transfer window is always open.

Strict insistence on favourable work conditions is another. Take on only the tasks that allow you have a life that the radio industry will gleefully rid you of, if you do not look after yourself.

Planning your exit is also part of the solution. From the day you become relevant in the industry, deliberately plan your exit. In being deliberate, you intentionally put necessary resources together to guarantee a great life for you after your exit. Those resources will include money, bankable knowledge, human network, etc.

Ultimately, define what growth means to you so that you do not get lost in the euphoria of "a n gbadun yin".

May Olodumare give all of us wisdom to make the best of our talents.

__
Adedayo Oderinu
Head of Current Affairs
Rave 91.7FM/Western Spring Television
Osogbo.

Cc:
Oluwatoyin Adeyemi
Radio Reporter NG
Ibadan Elites Broadcasters
Awa Ti Ibadan

Ondo State Governor Akeredolu dies at 67.. RIP Rotimi Akeredolu

Happy new year 2023 from here

S3

PROPHET TB JOSHUA – JUNE 12th 1963 to JUNE 5th 2021

“Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” – Amos 3:7

On Saturday 5th June 2021, Prophet TB Joshua spoke during the Emmanuel TV Partners Meeting: “Time for everything – time to come here for prayer and time to return home after the service.”

God has taken His servant Prophet TB Joshua home – as it should be by divine will. His last moments on earth were spent in the service of God. This is what he was born for, lived for and died for.

As Prophet TB Joshua says, “The greatest way to use life is to spend it on something that will outlive it”.

Prophet TB Joshua leaves a legacy of service and sacrifice to God’s Kingdom that is living for generations yet unborn.

The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations and Emmanuel TV Family appreciate your love, prayers and concern at this time and request a time of privacy for the family.

Here are Prophet TB Joshua’s last words: “Watch and pray.”

One life for Christ is all we have; one life for Christ is so dear.

WHAT BROUGHT PROPHET ISREAL OLADELE(GENESIS) TO JAIL
A staunch member and elder at Global Genesis Church, owned by embattled Prophet Israel Oladele Ogundipe, has narrated what truly transpired between the clergy and a certain Mrs Laide Williams that made a Lagos court to sentence him to two years imprisonment and ordered him to refund exactly N11.5 million.
The member, Elder Dayo Akintunbi reveals in a Facebook post that the whole incidence began around 2007 when Oladele was just a young man in his twenties and had just began his church ministry, a Celestial church precisely. He was from an extremely poor family and didn’t know what the future held for him but he trudged on in his ministry work,
Laide Williams on the other hand, was in her thirties and was living in the United Kingdom when she heard of a young prophet in Nigeria who had the gift of spiritual insight. She came to Nigeria to see him, and he prayed for her. She got back to the UK and had tremendous testimonies as regards the things she came to see him for.
She was married in the UK but maintained close communication with the young prophet. She told him how she caught her husband red handed sleeping with another woman. She continued the pressure for love from this young ‘minister of the gospel’ who also had reasons to see her as a life saver who could take him and his family out of poverty and penury.
Unknown to Williams, he wanted to leave Nigeria to the UK in search of greener pastures. But he didn’t have an idea of what God had in stock for him. He never believed that he could ever be great.
They started a relationship that was not in any way a secret one. They rented an apartment around Jaffa where they both lived with her sister and Oladele’s sister. Williams was not only a lover to him, she gradually became close to his mum, Mama Dorcas Ogundipe. No doubt, Williams did a whole lot to support her young lover in whose giftings she believed in.
During one of the church’s harvest, Yinka Ayefele was the musician invited to sing. Williams single handedly sprayed Ayefele N500,000. This got Oladele very angry, he felt it was a waste of money that should have been put to good use for the future they were building together. He advised her to put money together for the purchase of landed properties and she agreed.

Laide Williams and young Israel Oladele Ogundipe

Laide Williams in Israel Oladele Ogundipe’s church
She sent money to him and they got the first landed property which was three plots of land. They started work on the land, and Israel Oladele’s mum was the one helping her to supervise the construction process. Later they bought two other properties and things continued fine.
She came to Nigeria and on one faithful day while taking her bath, a message came into her phone which was with Oladele. Lo and behold it was a message from her husband who was complaining of how she abandoned him and came to Nigeria. Immediately this young man saw this message, he called her attention to it by saying ” I thought you said you guys were divorced?”
Immediately, Israel Oladele told her he was uncomfortable with the relationship. One thing led to the other, and they broke up. She went back to the UK and life went on. At this time, Williams had already been handed over the documents of two of the landed properties that was purchased for her which all carried her name. The third property was the one that had a little issue between Oladele and Oba Lambe in Jankara area.
After a while, she sent some baby pictures to her Oladele’s mum and told her the baby’s father is her son.

Laide Williams with Israel Oladele Ogundipe’s mum
Few years later, Oladele who had moved on, got married to a certain lady called Bimbo in a very elaborate societal wedding. When Williams discovered with video evidences from her informants that Israel Oladele had moved on and gotten married, she got upset and wrote a petition against him to the special Anti robbery squad claiming that he had guns in his house and so on and so forth.
The police visited his residence and couldn’t find anything incriminating against him, and he was released. In a bid to fulfill her threat of bringing him down, she again wrote a petition against him to the Special frauds Unit of the Nigerian police. They picked him up again, and during interrogation, they asked her what happened and she said:
1. He is owing me the money I used to roof his parent’s house when it was leaking.
2. He is owing me money I spent on his son when he was sick
3. He is owing me money I used to fix his car
4. He is owing me money I used to buy him Ralph Laurel T-shirt
5. He is owing me money I used in supporting the purchase of the land where his church is now.
The total amount of money she said she was being owed was collated and it was agreed that he should pay her N2million. Israel Oladele promised to pay her but asked for time as he couldn’t afford the money at the moment. Oladele was also made to write an undertaking that to pay N8.5million to the lady which he wrote and said he was willing to pay as soon as he gets the money, just so as to get the issue done with.
In her bid to take revenge, she felt very unsatisfied with the agreement and looked for a better way to use her influence to make the case more complicated. He was later picked up again and was given a kangaroo arraignment in court which the judge kicked against.
Eventually, Israel Oladele spent close to a month in Kirikiri prison.

Recommendations given to the court by the police based on their investigations which made it clear that the allegations of stealing, fraud and forgery, lack evidences to back up the claim.
The case became more complicated and when questioned, Williams denied that they were ever in a relationship or were ever close at any time. But from pictures posted below, this was far from the truth.Even the pictures of their baby looks very much like his father, Oladele.
The court case continued for over 11yrs, even though the case in question lacked jurisdiction because the said incidence happened in Ogun state. But because Williams had the necessary connections, the case was treated in Lagos state. This is also despite the recommendations given to the court by the police based on their investigations which made it clear that the allegations of stealing, fraud and forgery, lack evidences to back up the claim.
Over the years, several attempts were made to settle the case out of court, but each attempt was denied by the prosecutor. Obviously it was not about the money but a bid to exact revenge. Because how does one explain how a case of love gone bad became a seven count charge of fraud?
In my opinion, the judge was fair enough to have removed the irrelevant counts in the case. The money he is asked to pay by the court is 11million; the N8.5m that he was forced to write in undertaking when he was younger and the N2.5m that she said was for the third landed property on the document which was not perfected.
I believe Prophet Israel Oladele is not only a loved man of God, he is a blessed man. I just believe deeply that God has something specific he wants to do with this incidence because from all indications, Oladele is not in any way guilty of any of the offenses listed. But one thing is sure, posterity will judge everyone.
To members of Genesis Global church, the man of God is fine and already doing great exploits in his new location. Be strong and keep the fire burning. I believe this persecution will bring about an unprecedented next level in his ministry.

https://youtu.be/5l2bnk4xmLw

Owe Yoruba by Ayeni Tope Aforodara An educational Yoruba proverb program by Ayeni Tope Aforodara