Photo: With Mrs Betty Egbuna
‘..he was more than a mentor, he was my friend. I visited his home often and chatted with him endlessly about sundry intellectual things. We talked leadership, management and more… He was an esteemed co- traveller in my life’s journey who I have sorely missed since I pivoted from Radio Nigeria’
YESTERDAY (April 12) at the book reading A Destiny Fulfilled, written by former Director General, FRCN, Mr. Ben Egbuna (MNI) who passed on several months back. That little speech of mine was difficult and emotional for me.
Mr. Ben Egbuna was more than a mentor, he was my friend. I visited his home often and chatted with him endlessly about sundry intellectual things. We talked leadership, management and more.
He, it was, who ran into me at the CNN African Journalist of the Year event in Capetown, which I was attending as a category finalist, and asked me to interview Nigerians living in South Africa.
It was not an order, it was a request. He said it had always been his dream to create a programme like that, even while in Voice of Nigeria but he couldn’t because he was looking for the right personality to handle the programme. He gave me the contact of a popular restaurant owner to start with.
When we returned to Nigeria, he asked the Dir. Programmes then, who later became Ag.DG FRCN, Mrs. Maria Odeh, to supervise the production. That was how, Nigerian Pride on the Network Service of FRCN was born. I produced and presented it for years until I left for South Africa again, that time for a Masters degree in Journalism & Media Studies.
He was an encourager when I maintained columns with Newage newspaper and the Guardian on Saturday. He would engage me on some of the pieces I wrote. And when I ran into barriers with applying for a fellowship in Netherlands, he resolved it for me. I went on to win that fellowship through which I became a certified media trainer.
I can go on. Memories came rushing back at me yesterday at the reading, especially when his wife, Aunty Betty Egbuna stood up to speak. They were so close, such friends. I wondered how she has coped without his affectionate self.
When I got the FRCN award for my production for street children, Voices from the Streets, which ran on the FRCN Network conceptualized and commissioned by UNICEF and an NGO, he it was, who presented me that award. I had that photo framed. It hung on the wall of my office in FRCN and after retirement until recently.
I was @ Oga Ben Egbuna’s 70th birthday. He always called when I was GM, Radio One to commend and to share his thoughts on some of our programmes. I was fascinated about his Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPS) sojourn and was never in a hurry to leave his home.
He was an esteemed co- traveller in my life’s journey who I have sorely missed since I pivoted from Radio Nigeria.
Sleep well, dear distinguished sir. I will give in to the tears that threaten treacherously now. I celebrate your life of integrity and honour now and always.
#Sterlingboss #uncompromising #MrBenEgbuna
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