Abubakar Jijiwa & Tunji Bello @ 51:
Toast to My Mentors
06 June 2012
By Abdul-Warees Solanke
Mentors come as rainbow, in different colours, all
appealing. Their roles in our lives remain the same.
They give us direction. They bring out the best in us.
They lead us out of the maze of life. They give
meanings to our dream. They give us stability in our
quest to reach our full potentials, the potentials we
may never know lie in us were it not for their
discernment. They provide the walking sticks and the
braces we need when our knees buckle or weaken from
the pressure of life. They give us the binoculars to
scan the horizon for threats and opportunities. We are
falcons in their hands and they as the falconers are
never without their whistles warning us of dangers in
our flights above the sky to reach the highest
firmament imaginable.
There are mentors we pick from the books. They are our
dry mentors. Their lives and successes, their words in
gold on marble lead us to perfection as we read them
like bible and memorize them like the Glorious Quran.
There are those we pick by ourselves in real life.
They are the ones whose edifying conduct in private
and public life cannot be missed as they stand out in
the crowd of their chosen career. In them we see our
dreams, who we want to be and we model ourselves
according to their words and character, we want to
live our dreams according to what they teach us. There
are mentors who pick on us or who tap us for their
mentoring. They see our potentials before we realize
it and so they ensure we discover our worth before
other forces erode us. They believe in us, invest in
us and lament if we are not reaching the height they
envisage of us. But they never give up on us even if
we don't appreciate their love for us.
There are mentors picked for us. They are the
godfathers and the godmothers our parents carefully
chose for us at our cradles so that in the absence or
limitations of our real parents, they take charge of
our life. And there are mentors the society has
pre-picked for us. They are the teachers and the
guides the state or our parents pay tuition and
salaries so they continue the socialization process of
the young ones until they come of age either as
students or as apprentices.
Now at twenty two and reaching adulthood in the mass
media, I can reminisce and count all my mentors, my
masters in the mass media, from Akoka where I was
conceived to Sokoto where I was baptized and to Yola
where I began crawling. I can look to Ibadan where I
gained mastery and back to Lagos where I am
consolidating on the teachings and mentoring of my
masters in the private newspapers that had been my
school, in the private commercial broadcasting house
that was my city of refuge and in the public service
broadcaster that is now my pride as a home, the Voice
of Nigeria. The Authoritative Choice.
The list of my masters, my colleagues and juniors who
gave me inspiration and fired my imagination to think
and write is so long that I don't know who to salute
first or who to give ultimate credit for who I am. But
I can only say Alhamdulillah that Allah haz wa jal
brought them on my path. Between my fatherly brother
in law Alhaji Salahudeen Ariyayo Azeez who retired as
director of personnel at the Broadcasting Corporation
of Oyo State, the very versatile and mobile Hadj Liad
Tella who has been everything in journalism from a
reporter to a publisher and into politics, Late Ladi
Lawal who worked tirelessly for DAAR Communication
till death and to the least of my juniors in the
trade, the diminutive Idowu Bakare who came to
National Concord in the 90s as an industrial attaché,
but who I have lost contact with. I discover strength
and pride in media practice.
Today in this force field however, I will pick on two
of my masters for the simple fact that they are 51, a
very unique age of arrival and assignment in public
leadership, this year and are still available for me
as mentors in their own march in public management and
leadership. Between the duos is a difference of just
some one hundred days. I present Mallam Abubakar
Bobboyi Jijiwa, the incumbent director general of the
Voice of Nigeria who turned 51 on March 15. I showcase
Barrister Olatunji Bello, the present commissioner for
the environment, Lagos State whose own 51st birthday
is on 1st July.
Both were born in 1961, the first in rural Fufore in
the far North Eastern State of Adamawa, the second in
cosmopolitan Surulere, Lagos, South West Nigeria and
the commercial nerve centre of the country, one
thousand kilometres apart shaping the life of an
Oke-Foko, Ibadan boy whose homestead is at the foot of
the Olumo Rock, Ikija, Abeokuta, the Ogun State
capital. While Jijiwa studied accountancy at the
premier university in North East Nigeria, Maiduguri,
Bello bagged a degree in Political science from the
premier university in the whole of Nigeria, Ibadan.
Both were student activists in their university days
and sharp writers on their campuses, recommending them
for easy employment immediately after graduation and
youth service in two of the nation's most powerful
newspapers, New Nigerian and National Concord.
Jijiwa joined New Nigerian as a special correspondent
and member of the editorial board on finishing his
NYSC in the tin city of Jos, writing himself to stupor
and confrontation with the military junta. Bello was
employed as a staff writer on the Features Desk of
National concord producing biting analyses and reports
that easily recommended him to the post of Group
Political Editor of National Concord. Widely travelled
in their media odyssey and in their public service
career, both have been two time commissioners in
strategic ministries of their respective state
governments. Jijiwa served as Commissioner for budget,
Finance and Economic Planning in Adamawa State twice
pre fourth republic while Bello is in his second
coming as the commissioner for Environment in Lagos
State in this fourth republic.
In line of duty as a public sector manager, jijiwa has
delivered so many firsts for Nigeria in the
broadcasting firmament while Bello is scoring so many
firsts in transforming Lagos to a Singapore, the
beautiful city-state at the tip peninsular Malaysia,
an Asian Tiger.
When shopping for a mentor, look out for these
gentlemen. Their humility is astounding. Their charity
is exemplary, their thirst for knowledge is
unquenchable; their simplicity is legendary. Both are
neat and highly organized with sharp eyes for colours
and beauty, with passion for flower and love for
nature. I've entered the inner recesses of their
living quarters, prayed with them and played with
their kids at infancy. They have written references
for me, recommending me to high places locally and
internationally. They have given me tasks others are
jealous about, trusting in my capability. They have
mobilized me in difficult times and consoled me in
trying moments. They have put me in strategic career
spots.
Sometimes, they drive me beyond my mental capacity,
but somehow I do cope to deliver what they wanted
exactly. Most times, they don't have a second opinion
of what I produced for them; it just satisfies their
intellectual palates, meeting the requirements of
their pages as editor or as public speaker. They
pushed me to think on my toes; they taught me to
always think ahead of the pack. In those days, if
Bello as the political editor assigns me from Lagos,
political insightful jijiwa and General Manager of
Gongola Broadcasting Corporation becomes my first
source and contact. On the wings of both gentlemen, my
orientation in public affairs journalism was shaped.
Their insights gave me strength in public policy
analysis and discourse. Bello tapped me into the
editorial board of the defunct National Concord,
placing me in the hands of Pastor Segun Babatope, who
we all called the headmaster, while Jijiwa attracted
me in to Voice of Nigeria professionally as a senior
editor, but intentionally as his special assistant.
I can therefore confidently say that I flew to the
rich South East Asian nation of Brunei Darussalam to
bag master of Public Policy at the Faculty of
Business, Economics and Policy Studies of the
Universiti Brunei Darussalam through a fellowship
offered by the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association,
fulfilling a prophecy of the headmaster, Babatope,
Chairman Editorial Board of the defunct Concord and a
pastor of the pastor W F Kumuyi led Deeper Christian
Life Church. Babatope in his magisterial style had
called me aside sometimes in the late 1990s and told
me prophetically: If I had my way, I would have just
sent you abroad to go and do strategic studies. What
is the difference between Public and Strategic
Studies? Just semantics.
How best can the world celebrate these men of
influence with me as they reaching this glorious
milestone, beginning a journey into their sixties. My
only recommendation to them is to begin the journey to
attaining the pleasure of Allah in all they do now
serving selflessly. They have done a lot not only for
me, but for so many. They are just Allah sent to
people like me from nowhere as they just led me ahead
in life like an orphan into the glory land.
Alhamdulillah these great men came my way since 1990
fresh from mass comm. Akoka, and just landed from NYSC
in sokoto that I launched into my writing career as a
journalist, starting with National concord, through
Daar Communications to the defunct National Guide and
the Monitor in Ibadan and now Voice of Nigeria where I
am, in the words of the Corporation's mission
statement, committed to reflecting Nigeria and African
perspectives in our broadcasts, winning and sustaining
attention, respect and goodwill of listeners
worldwide, particularly Nigerians and Africans in the
Diaspora, making Nigeria's voice to be heard more
positively in the shaping of our world. Allahu Akbar!
Abdul-Warees is the Head of Training, Voice of
Nigeria, Ikoyi, Lagos,
(korewarith@yahoo.com
korewarith@voiceofnigeria.org ,
abdulwarees01@gmail.com ) 08090585723
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