After many years of their exit from public service, not much has been heard much about these individuals again except for their records that have kept resonating; writes Sunny Idachaba.
Soni Irabor
Soni Irabor is someone whose name would not be common on the lips of the age gap called ‘millennials’ even though he is not someone that can be branded as ‘analogue.’ This is so because this former broadcaster with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) who is now into private broadcasting and PR is someone whose voice is no longer popular in the tube at the present times, but was a household name in the 80s.
In Radio Nigeria Ikoyi Lagos where he and the likes of the late Zakari Mohammed, Mani Onumonu, Sidney Ufeli and Jones Usen worked, he was particularly noted for his regular Monday morning programme called ‘Radioscope’ that was a delight to many listeners across the country. Since he went into retirement, it was alleged that he and others who made Radio Nigeria thick left with the goodwill the station once enjoyed as not many of his likes were left behind to do what Soni and others were doing. He studied Mass Communications at the University of Lagos and later trained as a speech trainer with The Radio Deutsche Welle (The Voice of Germany) equivalent of the Voice of Nigeria.
Beside this, he holds a certificate in Leadership and Governance in Media and Communications from Pan Atlantic University. He has handled many media and PR assignments like OAU and ECOWAS Heads of Government Conference and many corporate events since he began his private media practice.
According to a social media blog, Bella Naija, “Soni as his friends like to call him began his career with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation as a junior announcer in 1977 and served for a year before proceeding to the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) as a senior announcer/newsreader in 1978, where he rose quickly to hold positions such as controller presentation trainer, marketing manager and assistant director, marketing.
“He left the corporation in 2000 to start Ruyi Communications where he made the transition from his successful career as a public servant to his famous Soni Irabor Live programme that ran on Television for a while before becoming a radio talk staple where he has hosted leading public and business figures.” Apart from this, not much has been known about Soni Irabor again.
Oladimeji Lawal
Dimeji Lawal as he was popularly called during his active days is a former Nigerian footballer who played as a midfielder for clubs in Nigeria, Spain, and Belgium at different times. He started his football career with Femo Scorpions Football club of Eruwa where he featured alongside other notable footballers like Mutiu Adepoju before he moved to Spain at the youthful age of 18 and signed a contract with Real Madrid. There, he spent two seasons playing football. One in the Segunda Division A and the other in Division B. Despite his impressive outing, he was never promoted to the main squad, the reason for which he returned to Nigeria and played for Shooting Stars Football Club.
Not satisfied with the football terrain in the country and in his quest to seek for greener pasture in football, in 1993, he left the country and joined Belgian Second Division side KV Kortrijk for one season. At another time, he also played in the South African Premier Soccer League called Hellenic FC in 1994.
Lawal is notable as one of the top most footballers that had given honour to the country, for example, he played for Nigeria in the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship in Canada and the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship in Saudi Arabia. He also made several appearances for the senior national team especially during the 1992 African Nations Cup qualifier against Togo in 1990. It was rumoured that he was once a FIFA-licensed players agent, but one is not certain where he is presently and to what extent he still helps up-coming players to move ahead in their career.
Mani Onumonu
In Nigeria today, except a few individuals conversant with the radio in the 80s, only a handful would remember that name. He is however a contemporary of Soni Irabor, the late Zakari Mohammed, Jones Usen as they were all synonymous with broadcasting on the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (Radio Nigeria Ikoyi Lagos). He was particularly noted for his Friday morning ‘Radioscope’ programme that caught the attention of his listeners featuring contemporary music and current affairs.
Of particular interest about Mani is his baritone voice through the tube especially in those days when radio Nigeria was the only toast of listeners. Often called a SAN (Senior Announcer of Nigeria), he has criss-crossed the industry for over 40 years both in Nigeria and the UK. Mani is an Igbo man from Anambra state who never lived in Igbo land, having been born in Maiduguri, Borno state, where his father worked as a railway officer. He barely spent three years in Maiduguri before the family came down to settle finally in Lagos where he completed his secondary education at the famous St Gregory College in Obalende.
Mani studied broadcast journalism at the University of Lagos and Law in the UK and called to the Bar as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He began his broadcasting career at Ogun radio in Abeokuta and later the Voice of Nigeria in 1979. In 1980, after many outstanding performances on radio as a junior announcer, he got elevated to national prominence as the first among his peers to present the National Network News which was then the exclusive preserve of only accomplished broadcasters. Mani is best remembered today as the man with the honey.
He is a highly creative, profoundly analytical and multi-skilled individual with immense knowledge and practical experience of the media. He has an excellent communication skill with first class inter-personal skills developed from interactions with professionals and people from a variety of background, knowledge and education.
At the FRCN Training School where he was later posted to as a trainer, he is noted to have trained virtually all the senior management staff of present day radio and television stations in Nigeria. Since he left FRCN in the 90s, he went back to the UK on a BBC-sponsored programme for a number of years before he returned to Nigeria.
Although he is said to be around practising his public relations, not much is known about him again.
