I don’t really know what hurdles the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) is facing that have made it impossible to bring back the imperatively sensational good slot, the Hotel De Jordan to thousands of its viewers in Edo State to sustain the station’s old age self-praising slogan, “the award winning station”.
It started back during the years when creative producers, like the late David Orere and others, enhanced its image right from its infancy in the then Midwest Region as MTV (Midwest Television).
This spectacular slot, to the glory of humanity, is a creation of Mr Jonathan Ihonde and the then seconded Programmes Manager from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Mr Peter Jarvis, who was solely recruited to Benin City by the late General Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, who established the station.
I specifically went down memory lane to recall the birth of the station to let those who now call the shots at the helm of affairs at the NTA to realise that they are killing the hen that laid the golden eggs.
They should be told in clear terms that an ageless slot like: “Hotel De Jordan”, gave birth to the station’s chest-beating slogan of the “award winning station”.
May I ask what the NTA Benin Production Centre would miss if it devotes 30 minutes free to air this slot?
Marketing a slot would certainly make prospective advertisers fall over their heels to be given the chance to sponsor such a slot and not the idle slogan of “it has to be a sponsored”. A good and popular product never stays on the shelf for long as keen prospective buyers rush to the location to try getting it and this makes a corporate body popular and increases the public demand for its product(s).
To date, no single sponsored slot of the NTA can stand the aged long popularity of “Hotel De Jordan”.
The producer from its infancy, Mr. Ihonde is an erudite activist, a creative disciple who knows the elite Nigerian politicians, their dress colour, attitudes and endless pranks in sucking the blood of the Nigerian crop of masses and he tells the story bluntly through this slot and the sucked masses see it as they suffer in the hands of the elite class: this is the mission of the slot.
Good enough, leading cast of a play depicts its realistic and thought provoking deliverance: the major cast member, Chief Ajax (Sam Osemede) is alive, roasting away at a flower garden around Ugbowo, the house boy clown Idemudia is around, Madam Brefa is around, so also Gbewan, the sarcastic village beauty and of course Bob Allan ( now a legal academic man at Uniben, he certainly would gladly take a script, I am sure) while the Professor of Jaw breaking grammar Prof. Milo Moro, has groomed a son of his to step into his role.
Perhaps the NTA needs to be told that this slot draws fans much more than those of foreign football league matches.
Joe Ihonde is ageing, but his creativity in assessing the Nigerian society through his scripts for this slot should be tapped now before he passes away as no one would be tickled with the usual governmental after – death tributes to his memory.
I have in the past written on the creative disciples like Kokori (David Ariyo) Casino Manager (Ray O’ Slater) and Osiobafo (Emmanuel Oni).
The script writer Joe Ihonde has even gone to the extent of recruiting a producer, Joseph Okhomina to handle pre rehearsals production on standby awaiting NTA’s decision.
I can climb atop the Kukuruku hills to sing the lyrics of Hotel De Jordan that it should be rescued by the NTA for it knows not what it is missing in programme contents.
It helps human beings to know their personal and individualistic short-comings, echoed loudly to an enemy – as this would disarm such an enemy wanting to abuse one as one had already unfolded what is to be used in a battle of words – this is the unfolding realism contained in “Hotel De Jordan” by Joe Ihonde.
This writer is rather facing a hard knock to crack.
What is the problem between Joe Ihonde and NTA? The two sides must speak out and let the fans of this slot know.
Should the Federal Government that owns NTA call the parties for a solution? Or are the operational executives of NTA playing a shielding game to protect their masters, which the scripting of “Hotel De Jordan” is unfolding through harmless deliverance of creative acting?
“Poor man dey suffer, monkey dey work, babu dey chop” is a line from the sing tune of the opening of the slot as delivered by Segun Alile – another highly creative musician, who saw it all here in Benin, sojourned to Lagos for years and relocated to his root in Benin City with a full band.
I hear Joe Ihonde and NTA are talking – I hear about marketing hurdles and inexplicable grammar from one side, bothering on getting the slot sponsored. Must “Hotel De Jordan” die?
Abudah, a journalist/writer and founder of Afenmai Heritage & Cultural Studies wrote from Benin City, Edo State
