Osasu, one of the daughters of the former Governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion, is the brain behind the Osasu Show which interrogates issues of governance at both the state and the national levels. In this interview with Deputy Editor, Nation’s Capital, YOMI ODUNUGA, she delves into her forays into the broadcast media, the challenges and how her parents had initially objected to her career choice. Excerpts:
With your background and parental influence, you could have easily secured a well-paying job without much hassle. Why did you go into the media and independent production?
Basically, I started the Osasu Show at the heat of the 2015 election. This was at the end of 2014 actually but the first episode did not air till March of 2015 which was when they were rounding up the elections anyway. What I wanted to do was bridge the communication gap between the leaders and their constituents in the sense that I take words directly from the mouths of Nigerians, to the ears of their leaders and vice versa.
So, at that time, I had people running for political office and who decided to come on the show and tell Nigerians what they will like to do when they get to that position of power. The real essence of the Osasu Show is to bridge the gap, the communication and social and economic deficit between the elite and the masses.
Some people believe that you injected some dint of political propaganda into the programme, especially with some of the guests on the show. How would you react to that allegation?
Anyone who watches the show ought to know that we are quite objective. Sometimes, when I interview an All Progressives Congress minister, he will say I was asking him the hard questions and it is the same thing with guests from the Peoples Democratic Party. For me, that is the measure of objectivity when both sides tell us we are APC or PDP. We know we are doing a good job and we are objective enough regardless of who we interview. I am objective enough to ensure that I ask questions that the people would like to ask if given the opportunity. It is very objective and direct. We don’t take side. We ensure that we get to the root of whatever issue it is we are discussing. For the records, I don’t belong to any political party, so I don’t see any reason to take side with one person, candidate or political party or the other.
Knowing how difficult it could to invite such important personalities to such shows in Nigeria, do you leverage on your family’s influence in sourcing guests?
We will be three years in March and we have done a fantastic work so far. Funny enough, only one person has reached out to a familyA member of mine so far to be on the show. I have reached out to everybody else or meet colleagues and ask for contacts. Most of them who know the show and those who don’t ask for information about the show and the rest is history. If you are doing a good work, you don’t have to leverage on anybody or anything. Your work should be the tool of judgment that people use to decide whether or not to support you.
I’m sure you know that my grandfather is the first individual to setup a private university in the country and a private airline. So he is basically an industrialist who started from nothing to something. That name is not only national but internationally-recognised. So it is not something that I can shy away from. Obviously the first question people ask me is which of the Igbinedions I belong to. Some people are attracted to the sheer fact that they can see themselves in an Igbinedion, saying if she can make it, I can make it as well. They can say okay I like your grandfather, I like what he has done for himself and yes I’m interested in helping you or watch your programme to see how you are able to push or elevate women and the country. Obviously it has its negative side as well.
Some people say no, I don’t like your family or no your dad was in office and failed or succeeded in these and these aspects. And that is unfortunate but that is life for you. Not everyone can like you. Fortunately, we are starting to live in a time where the sins of the father and mother do not necessarily translate to the child and I think more Nigerians are becoming more open minded and more people are becoming more understanding. As long as you are an individual with passion, intelligence, intellect and something to offer, they will give you a chance to proceed or show your capacity to them.
What line of business were you into before the Osasu Show?
I moved to the country in 2014. So I got my undergraduate degree and Masters and went to the school for film productions before I moved back to the country. My Nigerian work and living experience all started in 2014 and as soon as I came back, I went into the media. Although I was doing TV and film advertising before I ventured into my television show, when I saw the deplorable state that the country was in, especially given the Internally Displaced Persons situation, I decided that I was going to use the Osasu Show as a vehicle to change that situation for them.
What is the thrust of your NGO?
That is my heart. I run the Osasu Show Foundation, which is an extension of the Osasu Show because, when we kicked off in 2015, I found myself always doing charity work on the show. So most people will ask ‘is this a television show where you are interviewing politicians or doing philanthropy?’ So I decided that we would have to distinguish both. We will have our interviews on the Osasu Show while the foundation will be specifically geared towards helping women and children because I believe they are the most vulnerable in the society. So, for the children, we give them scholarships to go to school wherever they want in the entire country.
We particularly focus on the North because the level of girl child illiteracy in the North is deplorable like nowhere else in the entire country. We made it a conscious effort to start from the North and we have sent over 20 girls to schools through primary and secondary levels. As for the women, we give them startup capital to begin small scale businesses. We teach them skills acquisition; we have empowered over 200 women to date. We just want to create a just society where children can grow up and have hope in their country; they can have aspirations to be anything they want to be. It is hard to see that nowadays when you interact with five-year-old children who will tell you how they had to flee their hometown in the North-East because Boko Haram came, locked their parents in their house and burnt it down. They had to run inside the bush, drink their own urine and eat leaves for weeks on end. When you see children like that just abandoned in IDP camps and not given education, you ask yourself, what is the hope for this child? And the larger picture is that what is the hope for Nigeria? Because if children are left hopeless, then what is the hope for the country?
So, I believe through education, scholarship and empowering the women, we can make a difference. When you empower a woman, you empower the entire community because she sees how to trickle down the finances not only to her immediate family but to other people she will buy stuffs from. I decided to focus on women and children and we hope to expand outside the country when we feel like we have reached a certain level of positive impact across the six geopolitical zones.
Did you have any opposition from your family?
Not really. I didn’t ask permission from anybody before starting the show. I am the type of person that when I set up my mind to do something, I just do it and I didn’t ask for support from my family and they did not have the opportunity to tell me no or yes. When I started, I told them that I was looking to start a show and I highlighted the objectives. I wasn’t asking do you think I should start or not. I already weighed the risks and benefits and I decided that the benefits outweighed the risks, so I told them I was starting. Although my mum later confessed to me that my dad was worried that most women on television are not married and was reluctant in allowing me to go ahead.
But, right now, my parents are extremely proud of what I am doing. My grandfather calls me at least once a week to reiterate how proud he is of me and the work that I am doing not just for myself but the society at large and also him, knowing that of all his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, someone is out there exhibiting the passion he has for the people, furthering the name and the foundation that he has built. He is very proud and that makes me happy as well.
What is your philosophy of life?
It is to do more when I feel like I’m doing enough. I tell myself, do even more. That is my slogan and philosophy. Then I impact lives by simply being compassionate in the sense that I don’t sympathise with people but rather empathise with them. I remember when I was young, about seven, and being driven in an air-conditioned car in Lagos, I saw this young girl hawking food items. She was dirty and looked really haggard; she leaned on my window, gesturing and advertising her wares and, just for a moment, I thought I could be the one selling the wares and she going to school. With a role reversal, that could have been me you know. That is how I see life. I think we must all empathise. My philosophy is to do more and when people tell me I am doing fantastic, I tell myself, do more.
What will you say is your greatest challenge since you started the Osasu Show?
I do have challenges but I am not really disturbed by people that try to challenge my efforts because I ask questions that Nigerians want to hear. There was this minister I interviewed and, ever since my interview with him, he has stopped picking my calls. He told one former governor that he doesn’t talk to me anymore because I drilled him on my show as if I was working for the opposition. The former governor told me that Nigerian leaders don’t like being questioned and I said if they don’t like being questioned, that means they are trying to run me out of my job because my job is to question them. As journalists, we are gate keepers of our democracy and if we are not able to hold leaders to account, if we are not able to question them, then why are we journalists? He said well you are probably right, if it was in the international community you will probably be given an accolade but this is Nigeria. There have been a couple of interviews where I have been a little combative but, at the end of the day, the people love it because it is getting to the root of issues and not pandering to the dictates of politicians who were elected to serve us.
Another minister had threatened to walk off and I kept quiet. After that, I continued with the questions. In any case, why would you grant an interview if you don’t want to answer questions? If you want objective line of questioning knowing that the same line of questions I ask you is what I will ask your opponent, come to the Osasu Show. But if you are looking for sycophants, look for someone else.
