Sowing Seeds of Self-Discovery on the Path Less Traveled

If you have followed the service of thoughts that I've had with added I order , you know . No , I'm not going to allow him in game , though , because if I say you choose every game , you will go .

So , if you last episode , he did introduce himself as an author and , and the first episode we talked about , you know , is journey someone and reading . I First saw the excerpts of the book on Facebook , of course , and I was waiting with base it bread be tipped , beat it be tipped , be tipped a bee down now .

Yeah 20 20 and and I was like , yeah , so this mindfully with to me she podcast is about as intended and the journey . I saw some concern , resilient , suffering . The preglame Was a pretty much Broadcasting as Ended .

I've not read the book , but , following the your train of thought on Facebook and how you're right , I'm thinking that it will be . I Think this will be a first part of many . That's what I said . Oh , yeah , it's a . I wanted a picture . Who was that was looking into the future , and I think that's why we decided on that .

Yeah , so as intended , you thought part of the story , but I want you to tell it on this episode , starting as a broadcaster wasn't your choice , was it ?

It was the horseman of . I've not seen the movie , but I hear he was the husband of the tomato salad , pepper salad , in a tribe called Judah . I've not seen it myself .

. Even when streaming became , I would rather buy an album . Mm-hmm off the streaming platforms until , of course , the other platforms now have a subscription . In all , that but I would rather it is . Creativity is .

I knew , yes , I knew what took I was not my thing . I knew construction money man was not my thing . It was clearly just about the money . But I stepped out and then I told myself okay , okay , okay , guy , you need to reflect on what is next . So I rented a house in Nevada and then decided to not eat .

The house I rented was very distant from people I knew anybody . I had a number of relatives in Nevada that were always together None of us . So I want to take a place quite far from them . So not many of them even knew I knew my house . So I was just there , leaving my reality . I would wake up in the morning , think what do I do ?

What is the next thing to do ? What is this and that ? Also that one year with that job was at Ibado . Yeah , okay , that was that . So I Would pick up my laptop in the morning . Look for what I could learn Online . Then I encountered web design . I'll find material , stitch myself this , teach myself that . Then I encountered Liquid soap making .

I visited one of my aunts . She showed me okay , beautiful , this is not bad . So I was just picking up the skills , garden them so fast . And then one day my dad called me and said you , this guy , you just went to sit down . It's not like you're in the job , you're not doing anything . What do you want to do with your life ? Go ?

At the time , the lady I was even dating . We were planning to get married , but I was telling myself I will not go into marriage without defining my purpose . I need to define what his purpose is , so I'll stay . And then he called me and said he went for one . My dad was Baptist , so he went for one Niger Baptist Convention meeting about them .

When he said I even came to battle today . I couldn't call you that someone came there to deliver a talk and then he told the person that he has a child that to need his service . As this is a human resource consultant , I said , okay , that's not bad . I said I should go and see him . Okay , what's this person's name is a bit more at the only . Okay .

And then I I called me brother when he asked me to come to Lagos . Let's talk on top of your agony , but you market yourself .

What he was doing then was , if you're looking for jobs , you make you market yourself on radio , and then you could , employers could listen to you and then like your , your value of Rain and and to call you over so I went there we had a conversation on radio and after the show you stepped out and the ball .

I said die , are you looking for an engineering job ? I said no . He said I could tell you were not enthusiastic . Okay , what do you want to do ? Said to be honest with you , I don't know , but I think what I saw you do , it's fascinating . I said okay , okay , okay , I'm starting a show in Ibadu . Let's meet there .

You can just sit in and then watch , if that's what you want to do . Okay , okay , okay . And then we met in Ibadu , fresh FM . So on that occasion I got there , there was another guy who was there to see Bimola Diwali and then we were just talking and then Bimola came and said ha , there's a problem . What's the problem ?

He said the proprietor of Fresh FM . He said he was saying that the show had to run in two languages , that this is Ibadu . The Ibadu people will connect better with the Yoruba content . Ha and Bimola could not speak Yoruba language . To save his life , he said so which one of you can do a beautiful Yoruba script ? Now look at this .

There's a way life prepares you for your future , but you often do not notice . Now I had to call from a well of experience . And what was the experience ?

One who was much younger but then at the habit of who sit in front of a house in the evening and then he would tune to the only radio station on show at the time , osbc radio , and then we listened to all manner of things I can't remember all manner of sit tunes from the station , just sitting there .

Yeah , you know , you know , you know , you know , you know , you know , you know , you know , you know , you know you , all of that . So when he said a program promo , I had to ask myself , okay , which of those things I once had will qualify to be called a program promo ? Then I just , and then I remembered Iroya ke wa wu .

That was a Saturday program that my dad will make you listen to against your own will , because of course he will listen to it every Saturday anyway . So I was not fashioning my thoughts After that thing I remembered . So I just did that program promo and he said okay , can you record it ? I said I can record it . I said I can record it .

So we went to the studio and then this wonderful guy got blessed . The production manager he was so gentle with me Was explaining to me . You do it , you should do this , you should do that .

And then the next week we started and I came in as a translator for the job show of Fresh Efrem , and we're there , he would just do his thing and then he would go Dio , give it to me in Yoruba language , and then we'll go . I was totally , totally loving it and of course , I've had trainings in human resource management too .

I had my certifications in that too , so it was more like a familiar terrain for me . Whatever I was saying I already had some knowledge too Was easy for me to just put in Yoruba language because I already knew about them . So we continued and we just we're doing it , we're doing it , we're doing it . And then someday we had a fallout .

I don't remember what exactly led to it , but it was all separatist . So I left him after three months and thought I know how to write proposals . How bad can it be to write a radio proposal ?

And then I sat down and wrote a radio program proposal , as with as much effort as I could , and I would present it to one radio station anybody in Park , business Radio and the general manager loved it and she said oh , this is a beautiful idea , let's run it . I called it Karakata .

What it was supposed to do was was supposed to give employment advice , business advice , and then some bits of employee skills that you'd need .

That was exactly what it was supposed to do , so we proposed it in three languages , coming from the experience I've had with Fresh of M , so we proposed it in English , pigeon and Yoruba language , and she loved the idea . Now I was working with two friends Toi Uluwa , toi Yademi , and what a name that I must not forget Lai lai lai , lai lai lai .

I remember her name , I remember her name . So we're working together . And then Toi just mentioned me . But there is this app that they used to you know , my background was in civil engineering .

I sat down with it and found that , okay , this interface is not tough , I could find my way around it . So I called them , let's record . The next morning . And then what did we do ? I was like I lived in a room and palace and a contained apartment . So we carried my mattress up , used it to block the window oh yeah Took pillows , blocked the door under .

We just blocked everywhere . And then we sat around the table , the only table I had in my house at the time . We sat around the table and then I bought one headphone that had the microphone . So we now plugged in the headphone and put it in the center of the table . So we're all using it . So we're projecting the voice very loud .

And then we started . Then began the financial strain that comes with broadcasting . So we started running the show , but we're not making one cover . We will go every week . Why do everybody else ?

Now , while that was going on , someone just told me a new radio station just opened in Oshobo and I told myself but okay , in truth , if I want to grow , I should grow from where ? From a location that is not too competitive . Grow from there and come back to the bigger stages . So I told myself , yes , we go .

So I did other proposal sent it to show Proposal , got to show boo , first month they didn't get back . Second month I didn't get back . Then third month I just got a call . I'm this is a dad from a show book , can you please come over to discuss your proposal . And then I visited and then we sealed my program time .

I go one hour , but with the caveats , remember I said fortunes always are lying in your field . And then this guy said well , we have a business advisory program that's already running in english . Now can you run your own program in yoruba language ? I said well , yes , I can , I have capacity to do it . That was how we started Karakata in Yoruba language .

So we started we're doing our thing , we're doing our thing , we're doing our thing . It was mean on smooth . By then , the other , the two ladies that I was working with , had left to pursue other things . One was she's still now in the society , the other went back to school to take a master's and all of that . So I started

running , running , running . And then , after the first year , the CEO of river was Mr Femiadefila was discussing with someone Okay , I have an idea , yoruba police can interview . That would be punchy , that will really put People to the sword and then to make them , oh lord .

And then the person said the only person I know in this station can do is his die and he speaks in pekebu yoruba language . And he said okay , let me talk to him , and I want to because you know I was freelance , I was running my shoe freelance . Okay , okay , so I I went to his office and then we discussed it Can you run it . I said why not ?

And you know , like I said , life prepares you , but in most cases you do not know . Yeah now , my dad was a politician . So most of the people that were going to be my guests Were either my dad's friends or people he had played some politics with at some point . So even if I had not met them physically , I have heard him talk about them .

So I knew I was coming from a well of information . So I came into that program and the first person that came around was my dad's friend . So I made you like , oh , and we started , and from that day the name rose in leaps and bounds . And that's how journalism broadcasting , and like he just picked me out to see what he knew .

No , I know that To to buttress your story of life and lining in university , my dad designed , if not up to 70% of the roads in Lagos and . I schooled in . I was my primary school was . It is editing a job . I stay okay so him and I literally Went through this rose .

I will be in the car or is holding me from here's a lucky one like you should practically knew , so I knew what networking leaders . I knew the networks in Lagos , enter traffic radio and of course we did that part from broadcast experience . I had no idea how to report traffic , you know , but Late-end muscles isn't it .

And when somebody says I'm here , I just say , okay , give me the landmark there when I'm presenting , and you like I , I literally transported to when I was Six , seven so you remember the end of the okay .

And then , because I have this storytelling , so I just wolf stories around and it was just smooth and fun to do , like I said , but I got bored . I was like I got bored . I love radio , but having to do , um , traffic reports the same thing .

Now you are one of the foremost voices in the political space . Broadcast political space in oceans state . How has that been ?

If there is one thing that's taken from me , the biggest one is my freedom to express myself publicly . Because in reality , I told someone if I , if I spoke publicly about half the things I think in my head , oh god . So the moment I started political broadcasting , I could no longer speak of things I would ordinarily have opinions about .

I could no longer speak of them , so I became have to be fair on bias . Yes , yes , but yeah , because society expects that I'm supposed to be neutral at all times , even when the government of the day does not satisfy me , do you understand ? So it took away my freedom of expression . I could no longer speak publicly about issues .

It also took away my freedom of movement , because now you do not know the person you interviewed the last time , who's fan , whose follower has something against you and will just meet you up somewhere and beat the living they like you know . So I I had to again trim my movements to areas I know I feel completely safe . I could not speak publicly .

I no longer could Go anywhere I I desired . So those are the two things it took from me , the most painful things . But those are not too much sacrifices to make In making the right impact I should be making within society . So , again , has it been ?

I have met , I told someone , I said I have met every meaningful political leadership state , every single one of them , and I have relationships with almost every single one of them .

Now it has broadened my scope of understanding of politics because , trust me , whatever a potency is to you on set Is different from what is when you say to you after the program it's going to tell you the truth After the program . They love to talk , really , but you will never see that truth on here .

So I've had , I've gained insight into A lot of things I would never know about , about the politics of Nigeria and the political election state . So when I give insight nowadays I'm coming from the place of very deep knowledge . I told you my dad was a politician for a died .

There was a time we had an argument about the governor's election in the ocean and after the , after the act , I told the man when next I give you an information , don't doubt it . I deal with people who are not aware of the fact that I deal with people who conclude on these issues . Sometimes they will lie to you because you have both politicians .

They won't lie to me because they assume that I'll keep my mouth shut anyway . You can't push the knife you get . I'm also a time to tell me because a few I need to know so I know how to protect them on here . So for me it's been a mixture of realities , some very beautiful ones and some that I less desire . I Love to speak my mind .

I don't sense all my thoughts . I love to Boldly assert . I love to move around freely , but I can't do all of that .

In lessons I've learned , he bravely calls out the perception of the Nigerian society . Oh , it's suddenly . The message , though , is clear Virgin must flow both ways always for you and then back to you , yeah . Yeah .

Now , in planning your life's journey and in being intentional about the kind of people you relate to it , you must also be planning what you give to those people who come into your life .

So if I expect that journalism is going to make me , broadcasting is going to make me what I want to become , then I must be prepared to give it what it is going to take from me , do you understand ? So value must flow from me to the industry , and that industry will give me the value that I'm looking for .

It must , virtue must flow both ways , or it is why my I always say that everything in life is not action .

So , in spite of the lessons this journey taught me , because you know the creative industry , you must be giving value , otherwise Value is gonna go is gonna go , and that leads to the other part of the book , the gifts of people , and so , that we don't give everything away about .

Mm-hmm , let's just let them minding for a bit . Talk about it just for a bit .

Yesterday I had one very , very deep conversation with a friend in Lagos yesterday and then we're talking about a public servant who goes into office and began to misbehave and I told my friend . I said he was not Prepared in the , in the room of process .

I said if he had seen process , if you had gone through the normal process of life and Found himself in that public office , I am sure he would have done better . Now , protocol does not necessarily mean you have to Stay long on the queue . No , but protocol , when we refer to protocol , is actually process .

If you are not going to sweat it out on the queue to get to the front , you must sweat it out inside your room preparing . You have to . You have to because what only frogs you from the back of the line to the front of the line is higher value , is higher value , you understand .

So when most Nigerians think that , okay , god will just show up swords blazing and then say this might take out to the front , god will not promote you , empty you . You have to be coming to the table with value , you understand .

And then also we all know the story of how he decided that he was going to fight Goliath and all of that . But I'm using the skilled musician part because when , when , when ?

Um , when Saul was chrysophonic , and you know he was and he needed to calm down and he said find me a skilled person that skill was what broke broke oh , yeah , yeah are we balanced ?

I told those ones , but I think I've said it in the last one for hours . I said I'm going to still do three more career changes yeah , you said it in my lifetime and I told you what is next in my journey , that very show . I'm sure , when I step out of the radio business , what is next in my journey ? I ready to . I knew it . I'm glad about it .

You understand . Now , that was me telling myself that there's going to be a lot more memories to create , a lot more to do . Now we can flip it and say that it's also a letter to upcoming journalist . For two reasons . Number one my book . Let me tell you why I wrote that book .

Number one the book was written because I want people to understand that within the media industry , you can rise for as long as you break value to the table yeah and some persons would say I first had to go and learn from one or four years and then one day we pick the date and we had free dawn and then I next . I prayed for me and all of that .

I think you can do well into this broadcast the industry , without having to go and need down for freedom . Someone came to me recently and said she wants to learn broadcasting and she wants to be attached to me and I asked I have a very silly question . I said did it teach you how to talk ? She said no , I grew inside talking .

I said the only thing that you learned along the line was what to say , not how to talk . That's a biological . You will talk at a certain age of your life . You have no biological defects . But what you learned along the line was what to say . You acquired knowledge , you go wisdom and then you knew what to say when you say it and how to say .

Now , if you want to learn anything in this industry , it's just how to say it . I would not to see you bring content to the table , content that is valuable to the audience . The radio wants to listen to you and then you bring that to the table . You know how to say it and not get into trouble and you are fine .

So I wanted it to be clear to young people who would read that book that it is possible to come from outside of the circle when I came in , people considered me to be an outlier from outside of the circle to now make impact within the industry and that could be taken into every other industry everything in life .

Yes , if there is a will , you can get it done first , don't guys ? You go through process . That's the one

number . Two reason I put that there , and which is also a reason for which the book is written , is to document myself , and that comes from a place of emotion .

One of things he did not do right was I did not document himself how you grow from being a farmer in the village to go into school , to study banking and finance , to go into all of that as a barber as a word of what , the word what did in the hospital and then rising to become the principal accountant in the same hospital where you were awarded is worthy

of documentation . You should tell us how it happened that you were just someone cleaning the floor in the hospital and some years after you came back to that same hospital , you mentioned us with white men and became a principal accountant in that same hospital . You should document yourself . You should tell us how your life went .

At the same time you were having kids and balancing all of that and then you met some of us from that into a full blown politicians . At a point you were special advisor to governor on health and social services . You managed the health sector in this state as a banker and you navigated that properly .

At the same time you were a music composer for several churches . At the same time you wrote several books for several people and you know , document yourself . So someday I woke up and told myself nah , I will tell the story of my entire life to the last minute . Oh yeah , because people need to wake up one day and pick lessons from how I navigated .

There are several points in my journey that a lot of young people are facing right now . You have studied the course that does not give you fulfillment . So you are asking yourself what do I do next ? I say stay back , review what you want to become and go on for it , even if it means dumping us somewhere . I have been .

A while ago I was insulting my wife . Well , it was a joke anyway , I was just messing with her . I said that's the money and she said no , I am not taking this girl , I have a master's degree , young man . And then I said which master's degree would you like ? What ? are you using . I knew it .

And then she said or they get out of job , but the idea for me is you have gone to school and she has almost my story . She went and she went down to guidance and then studied this , studied that and then came back and found out that she is on me now .

So I was sitting there and she was making herself up for a show and it was the second her she had been on it and I said ah , ah , ma'am , ma'am , how long do you want to stay on this ? She said hey , see me , you have a daughter . Okay , when she grows up and likes makeup , come back and talk to me .

And then I said if she's truly my daughter , her priorities will be different . She said ah , why can't you be sure ? I said ha ha , if anybody meets me today , you can easily tell without me telling you my name . You can easily tell I'm the son of my father because I embody him . You understand , I embody him fully .

Do you know , since when I've been typing documents for my dad and he will say go back and make sure you don't bring any around to me , and then I will head it live as I type , and we head it live by live , and then go back and say , hey , perfect , this is how to type .

I want her to be able to understand that these things in life are urgent . These ones are not . These are the important things , these ones are not important things , so that when she gets to any point in her journey , she can easily stand aloof and say , okay , this is the issue , is this urgent , is this important ?

And be able to see about what is important to her and what is not important to her . My intention is we raise her as intentionally as possible and make her as intentional as intentional as possible and kind yeah as possible .

I think those who make the books , those whose lives are worthy of studying , where people who decide to blaze another trail , who decide to go this way while the world went this way . So for me , the book is about my story of resilience , it's about my story of intentionality , it's about my journey to fulfillment . It's about my decision to stick with my gods .

You know , there are those times when it doesn't make sense to any other person . They just look at you and say you should get down . What are you looking for ? And then you just know within you that this is where I want to be . I have absolute peace here .

I took a decision recently to exit my assignment on ReviveM and then I discussed with someone and they looked at me like are you mad ? And I said , guy , it is time . He said , hey , but you are at the height of your relevance . I said don't worry , it was myself at the dial there that built that relevance , and where I'm headed , I'm going to build another .

And it takes me to . Let me say this a friend of mine , a photographer . He parked his car in front of a bank and then tips when they are broken to his vehicle and took it with his camera . And then he called and was crying . You know , he had invested all of himself . I was crying , all of my life investment gone once and once .

And I said , slow down . Was it nature that gave birth to the camera or was the camera that gave birth to nature ? He said it was nature that gave birth to the camera . I said , ok , is nature dead ?

I am not a prophet , but I know that I will walk my way , one step , two step , three step , four step , and get there , because that's my intention . You get , and I'm going to travel one baby step after another and find myself right in the midst of what I wanted , you know .

So it's my story of intentionality , my story of self-motivation , it's my story of paying the price for what I want and , finally , it's my story of motivation to those who are behind me .

What if I get there and they say I look at the country now , what you were facing there , you will come and face it . Victoria Assata , we do Victoria Assata . Here we go again . We fall down , we rise , we go , we fire again . We're here . Oh my , my , my .