The Best is Yet to Come in the Media

Seun Awosika is the producer and presenter of Daily Guide, a magazine programme broadcast on Star 101.5 FM. In this piece, he bares his mind on his passion for the media industry and his hope to see young creative minds given the chance to exhibit their creative talents. He spoke with Buki Oyedemi.

I am a producer and sometimes a presenter. I never thought the media would be a core career for me. I just wanted to get into the arts because I am multi-talented. I sing very well and I love to write. I am also an artist as I love to draw and paint. This I do very well.
I was hoping to work somewhere I can combine everything I know and since I knew I would not achieve that working in a bank or as a lawyer, I opted to study Mass Communications at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. There, I was the TV director for the department right from ND1 till my final year. I got into MiTV and after 6months of internship I secured a job as a producer. Thereafter, I went to FRCN Training School and Yaba College of Technology to study publishing. Presently, I am the producer and presenter of Daily Guide, a magazine programme on Star 101.5 FM.
Producing has always been my passion. I love doing the background job because it allows you to do what you want to do and say what you want to say. My journey into presenting began when people kept telling me I have a good voice and that I should not waste it. Heeding to the advice and with the help of a couple of friends, I went to FRCN Training School for training on basic radio presentation and afterwards became a producer and presenter. Though I started producing eight years ago, I began presenting in 2003 on a programme called Talk Back and it has been a good experience. This is not to say it is without challenges. The major challenge for me since I ventured into broadcasting is presenting. Every morning when I have to go on air, I talk to myself, I encourage myself and tell myself I can do it and that is what has brought me this far.
I have been in the industry for some time and I don’t seem to be fulfilled with the level of creativity showcased. We have a lot of talents out there but the truth is that the Nigerian environment does not create a level playing field for everyone. For example, I have several movie scripts and ideas to do different things but after going here and there and not getting any sponsors, the scripts are dumped and the ideas probably go down the drain. I have come to realize that innocent and hard working people in this country don’t make it. Except you know someone somewhere, loans or sponsorships don’t come your way and this is taking its toll on young creative minds in the industry. We have great talents but the end product is still very bad. Many creative guys don’t get money to do what they want to do. For me, this is shocking and challenging. Nigerians deserve the best from the media; practitioners deserve the best from what they have committed themselves to do and that cannot come if we do not devise a way around it.
I see people in the media, especially producers, as mad people because you are looking at an image but they are seeing something beyond that image. They look at the image and what they see is ideas. I, for one, generate ideas from anything. I think of what I can do at all times. I go about with a big diary so that whenever an idea comes up, I put it down.
I have great future plans. I believe I am not there yet. I’m just like a dynamite waiting to explode. I know there are talents and I long to discover and showcase them. How? By establishing a communications village where people will come to train and develop their talents. It will be a village where you can do anything that is related to broadcast and print media including editing, publishing, TV and radio production and others.
I plan to do this not just for profit but also to develop talents in the media industry and the arts in general. We have skilled writers, brilliant artists and creative minds that have not been discovered. There are a few of them who are making the rounds but there’s room for more. The Nigerian media industry is developing and the young and creative minds out there are ready to develop it. All it takes is a little help from here and there and things will take a better shape. I can’t wait for that to happen!