Eddie Iroh is the former Director General of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). In this interview with IBRAHIM RAMALAN, the seasoned journalist and writer lets loose his musings on the state of the media in the country in relation to what obtained in the past, believing that the proliferation of newspaper outlets in the country is bad omen because the reading culture of Nigerians is poor
What is the way out?
What I am saying in essence, in relation to my work as a writer, is that if Nigeria is a nation that plans, and transforms and reforms, and where things are planned methodically, ‘Without a Silverspoon’ and similar character building books by other writers for young readers would have been integrated in the curriculum for young children in schools, some ten to fifteen years ago. Similar books on ethics, civic responsibility, etiquette etc would have been the building blocks of a new generation of Nigerians that would have been coming in on their own now. That would have helped us to begin to build a new nation. I give you an example. In 1984, when Buhari and Idiagbon tried to ram queue culture and discipline down own throat of grown men and women who were already set in their ways, anybody born in that year would today be at least 30 years old. Those in primary school then would be about 35 years old. If Buhari and Idiagbon had taken their War against Indiscipline out of the streets and into the class rooms with the right kind of curriculum, a new generation of more disciplined Nigerians would conceivably be in place today. Unfortunately the campaign was not focused mostly on old minds. It is said that old habit are difficult to break. So if Buhari and Idiabon had said ‘let’s go back to basics, to the primary schools and begin to build a new Nigerian person, with new ethos and values,’ today we would conceivably have had a new Nigeria. And if Babangida had said oh! ‘I have overthrown these people but let me keep this aspect of their policy’, today, conceivably we could have had a new Nigeria. Unfortunately, we in Nigeria we are used to throwing away the baby and the bath water. I believe that given this scenario it is possible that today in Nigeria there could have been millions of people who are raised differently, educated differently, structured differently and transformed differently.
Are you still writing sir?
Yes, after having done a sequel to ‘Without a Silverspoon’ called ‘Banana Leaves’ and the other three novels before, I am currently working on a book that would see me and Nigeria put our legs in one trouser leg. I want took at the nature and character and psyche of the Nigerian person. I want to understand what makes us the way we are: why we are garrulous, contentious, obnoxious, crude and corrupt. Nigerians don’t like to be told what they are and that is what I am going to in this book. We need to know the truth about ourselves. For instance do we know that Nigerians are generally not liked abroad. Two deaths in Dubai recently involving Nigerians should tell us something. Dubai is not a city where mysterious deaths happen often. I believe somebody is trying to tell us that somebody doesn’t like us in Dubai. Dubai is not a place where somebody dies with trace of those behind such deaths. That is because it is a city that is being managed microscopically so that they can maintain the virtue of their tourism. Dubai has more CCTV per square meter than any other city I know. Yet two Nigerians have died mysteriously without any prosecution of culprits. It may shock you to know that a lot of countries changed their laws because of Nigerians. It used to be easy to go to Ireland and have a baby and that baby would automatically become Irish. But Nigerian abused it so much that the Irish changed the law. Britain was like that before my own eye but they changed because of Nigerians. When I went to study in the UK in 1975 I did not need to apply for a visa. I simply turned up at the airport and my passport was stamped. And it was like for a long time. And if you had a child in Britain at the time, the child automatically became British. But now you have to sweat to get a visa and of course your child cannot be British unless either parent is British. Why, largely because Nigerians abused it. This aspect of our character is one of the many reasons i want to take an in depth look at what is the matter with Nigerians. Because I believe there is nothing wrong with Nigeria but Nigerians. It will cover politics of course, leadership, followership, the full Monty.
Sir you have retired but not tired. What is the secret?
I didn’t retire. I was not a civil servant. I came in for a tenure, served that tenure and moved on. The man who owns Sky news and The News Corporation Empire, Rupert Murdoch, is 83 years old and he still runs his conglomerate. I am nowhere near his age. And I am blessed by God with a good health and youthful energy. I would like to boast that there is no task that you would give me today and I would not do it better than the next person. I don’t care what challenge it is. I will tackle it with gusto and competence. Tell me to go and clean the streets of Abuja, I will clean it better than the man who was there before me. That is the way God made me. That is the way my father raised me. I don’t do second best.
What is the way out?
What I am saying in essence, in relation to my work as a writer, is that if Nigeria is a nation that plans, and transforms and reforms, and where things are planned methodically, ‘Without a Silverspoon’ and similar character building books by other writers for young readers would have been integrated in the curriculum for young children in schools, some ten to fifteen years ago. Similar books on ethics, civic responsibility, etiquette etc would have been the building blocks of a new generation of Nigerians that would have been coming in on their own now. That would have helped us to begin to build a new nation. I give you an example. In 1984, when Buhari and Idiagbon tried to ram queue culture and discipline down own throat of grown men and women who were already set in their ways, anybody born in that year would today be at least 30 years old. Those in primary school then would be about 35 years old. If Buhari and Idiagbon had taken their War against Indiscipline out of the streets and into the class rooms with the right kind of curriculum, a new generation of more disciplined Nigerians would conceivably be in place today. Unfortunately the campaign was not focused mostly on old minds. It is said that old habit are difficult to break. So if Buhari and Idiabon had said ‘let’s go back to basics, to the primary schools and begin to build a new Nigerian person, with new ethos and values,’ today we would conceivably have had a new Nigeria. And if Babangida had said oh! ‘I have overthrown these people but let me keep this aspect of their policy’, today, conceivably we could have had a new Nigeria. Unfortunately, we in Nigeria we are used to throwing away the baby and the bath water. I believe that given this scenario it is possible that today in Nigeria there could have been millions of people who are raised differently, educated differently, structured differently and transformed differently.
Are you still writing sir?
Yes, after having done a sequel to ‘Without a Silverspoon’ called ‘Banana Leaves’ and the other three novels before, I am currently working on a book that would see me and Nigeria put our legs in one trouser leg. I want took at the nature and character and psyche of the Nigerian person. I want to understand what makes us the way we are: why we are garrulous, contentious, obnoxious, crude and corrupt. Nigerians don’t like to be told what they are and that is what I am going to in this book. We need to know the truth about ourselves. For instance do we know that Nigerians are generally not liked abroad. Two deaths in Dubai recently involving Nigerians should tell us something. Dubai is not a city where mysterious deaths happen often. I believe somebody is trying to tell us that somebody doesn’t like us in Dubai. Dubai is not a place where somebody dies with trace of those behind such deaths. That is because it is a city that is being managed microscopically so that they can maintain the virtue of their tourism. Dubai has more CCTV per square meter than any other city I know. Yet two Nigerians have died mysteriously without any prosecution of culprits. It may shock you to know that a lot of countries changed their laws because of Nigerians. It used to be easy to go to Ireland and have a baby and that baby would automatically become Irish. But Nigerian abused it so much that the Irish changed the law. Britain was like that before my own eye but they changed because of Nigerians. When I went to study in the UK in 1975 I did not need to apply for a visa. I simply turned up at the airport and my passport was stamped. And it was like for a long time. And if you had a child in Britain at the time, the child automatically became British. But now you have to sweat to get a visa and of course your child cannot be British unless either parent is British. Why, largely because Nigerians abused it. This aspect of our character is one of the many reasons i want to take an in depth look at what is the matter with Nigerians. Because I believe there is nothing wrong with Nigeria but Nigerians. It will cover politics of course, leadership, followership, the full Monty.
Sir you have retired but not tired. What is the secret?
I didn’t retire. I was not a civil servant. I came in for a tenure, served that tenure and moved on. The man who owns Sky news and The News Corporation Empire, Rupert Murdoch, is 83 years old and he still runs his conglomerate. I am nowhere near his age. And I am blessed by God with a good health and youthful energy. I would like to boast that there is no task that you would give me today and I would not do it better than the next person. I don’t care what challenge it is. I will tackle it with gusto and competence. Tell me to go and clean the streets of Abuja, I will clean it better than the man who was there before me. That is the way God made me. That is the way my father raised me. I don’t do second best.
Comcluded