Once a year, we had drama competition and the programme that I picked, Moment of Truth, produced by Peter Ighodaro, was the best in Africa and we had to go to Algeria for this programme. So, apart from working at the local level here in Nigeria, we also reached out to other parts of the world. Moment of Truth became a household programme in different parts of the world. Peter Igho, who was a producer in Sokoto, was brought to Lagos to head the department of drama. That was the beginning of Nollywood if you would like to look at it from that point of view. We began to produce programmes like Mirror in the Sun. I was, as Programme Co-ordinator then, picking the programmes, vetting the scripts and getting sponsorship from government and corporate organizations. Peter, on the other hand, was getting the actors. That was how the film industry in Nigeria started.
When we started, it was a small and humble beginning, offering what we had to people. Right now, it has gone beyond our wildest dreams. Look at Channels TV for example, standards have improved a lot. We were models for other people to emulate; we build a career, and allow you to go and start your own station.
When I went to read the news at Channels TV during their anniversary, I was very surprised. They were very professional in the way they handled news. The standard had improved a lot beyond our wildest dreams. I was amazed at the studio. If I had to compare our studio in those days, it was like being in one classroom and going to Channels TV was like going into the university. Everything was different: the makeup department alone superseded what we ever dreamt of. I studied makeup at the BBC and I was a wardrobe mistress at some point.
But what I found there was different. They invited you to a special room for make-up. It was like a school teacher going into the university. NTA has a lot to learn from some of these stations. They need to send people to some of these places to learn, just like I had the opportunity to go and read the news at Channels. I don’t know if they used the teleprompter. In those days, I had to cram the first few paragraphs and, sometimes, pages. Before going on air, I will look at the script and, in no time, deliver it in front of the camera. This was before the days of the teleprompter. So when I got to the studios along with other legends like Anike Agbaje -Williams, Victor Adeniyi, they said they were not conversant with the use of the teleprompter. I said ‘well, I can use the teleprompter but, at the same time, I can look at it and cram it’. By the time I finished reading the news, there was applause from the control room. I didn’t know I was doing anything special because that was the way I was trained to deliver. So, as a Presenter, there is a difference in the way we deliver the news now and then.