Femi Adefila, Ph.D. is a broadcast Journalist, Mass Communication scholar, Media Entrepreneur, Television Presenter, and political communication expert. He was the presenter of Insight; a popular television program viewed by millions of Nigerians on the Nigerian Television Authority, the largest television network in Africa.
He was at different times Special Assistant Media to the Nigerian Minister of State for Defence and acting Minister of Defence between 2011-2013 and Executive Assistant Media in the Osun State government between 2003-2010. He was a Newscaster, Reporter, and News, magazine program anchor person on Osun State Television1993-2003.
He is a board of trustee member of the Support Our Troops Foundation; a foundation committed to galvanizing public support for members of Nigerian Arm Forces, wounded soldiers Orphans, and vulnerable children of the Armed forces as well as widows and widowers of members of the Armed Forces.
A multiple-award winner, Femi is a gifted broadcast journalist and public speaker. He has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from Adeleke University and holds a Master of Science Degree in Peace, Humanitarian, and Refugees Studies from the University of Ibadan and a second master’s Degree in Communication and Language Arts also from the University of Ibadan. Femi had earlier read Mass Communication at the Polytechnic Ibadan, he is also a scholar of the prestigious Institute of International Education, Washington DC.
He was awarded a scholarship to study Accountability and Ethics in Government and Business at the Institute by the United States Department of State under the International Visitors Leadership program in 2006. He is a fearless Journalist and an efficient media manager. He is presently the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Felicia Daniel Communication, owners of the award-winning Rave 91.7 FM and Western Spring Television, WSTV based in Osogbo, Osun state capital.
In this rare interview with Mediaandmarketing, he talks about his dive into business ownership, broadcast journalism, AI, unforgettable moments and more.
He is married to Bimbo, a Consultant Family Physician, and the marriage is blessed with three Children.
Excerpts
Can you share your journey as a Newscaster and Reporter at Osun State Television to become a prominent Television Presenter?
I actually started working at the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC) in 1992 as a Youth Corps member upon completing my Youth service in 1993, I was one of the best three corps members in my set. I was rewarded and the reward package came with automatic employment. I tell people that by the grace and mercy of God, I have never applied for a job in my life. I have never written an application for job, because I finished service on a Thursday and started full Civil Service life on a Monday. Like I said, it was an automatic employment; and I was in the service of OSBC for ten years; from 1993 August till 2003.
I was a reporter and I was privileged to cover sensitive beat, especially the governor’s office, I actually reported five governors. I started with Governor Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, who was the first executive governor of the state, but when the Abacha regime sacked the democratic dispensation in 1993, I reported Alkali. Alkali was the first military officer that took over the reins of power from the ousted Governor Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke government. I was with Alkali as State House correspondent. Not too long after, Commander Anthony Udofia was posted to Osun and I also had the privilege to cover his assignments.
He was followed by Late Colonel Anthony Obi and Colonel Theophilus Bamgboye. When Baba Bisi Akande came on board, another reporter was asked to cover the governor’s office.
So I was back in OSBC as a Desk Editor, as a Newscaster, Radio and Television, and as a Reporter. In 2003 I joined the government of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and I was detailed to report or to coordinate media activities in the office of the Deputy Governor, Erelu Olusola Obada. I did that for 8 years. That government was sacked 2010. Then I went to Abuja where I became the SA media to Olusola Obada as Minister of State of Defence for two and half years. From then I left for Nigeria Television Authority where I was an Anchor person of a programme called Insight, viewed by millions of Nigerians.
In the course of that, in 2010 I developed this appetite to be a Media Entrepreneur, I felt that I wanted something different from being an employee, I wanted to transit to be an employer of labour and I chose my area of core competence which is broadcasting for my business. So I started prospecting for licence, I actually made my application during the time of Dora Akunyili, when she was the Minister of information.
I went to National Broadcasting Commission when Engineer Yomi Bolarinwa was the Director General. I didn’t have my license approved till 2015. I returned to Osun and I started Rave 91.7 FM. It was commissioned on the 26th day of November 2015. That has been my journey.
It has always been part of me to be a businessman. I never wanted to be a civil servant. With due respect to those who love civil service, I considered it a bit too boring. I’m not a routine person, I am very boisterous and I am very gregarious. I love challenges and I am very adventurous.
Civil service life won’t give me the opportunity to live the life that I actually wanted to live, I had always wanted to step out of the Civil service. I know it’s a very noble profession, they are very professional people, but will be restrictive for a boisterous, restless spirit like Femi Adefila so I had to step out so I can fulfil my dream and live my life.
Insight was a widely popular television program during your time as a presenter. What strategies or elements do you think contributed to its success in reaching millions of Nigerians?
The truth of the matter was that I was invited to actually anchor Insight. Insight was an initiative of a group in Abuja. You see, most often than not, it was discovered that most Nigerians preferred to watch private television stations than public owned television stations. That was at a time that NTA was losing preponderance of viewers. So they did a review and discovered that the channels viewers were switching to were critical and more objective in their style of reportage and they wanted a programme on NTA that would be critical and give opportunities for people in the opposition to come and air their views on NTA.
As the pioneer host, I told them, if you want to bring traffic back to NTA, NTA must change its content orientation. People perceive and view NTA from a subjective point of view. They see that everything on NTA is government, about government, nothing critical, and that Nigerians want a critical media that will report objectively and give opportunities to people from the opposition.
That was exactly what I did to bring the traffic. Opposition parties with their different views and opinions came. I made them understand that there is always two sides to a coin, especially when it is political. Looking at issues from diverse perspectives gave us robust content. They gave me the opportunity to make it work and I’m so happy that Insight is still very much on NTA as we speak, so it’s the legacy that God led me to start and to bequeath to NTA as a television industry.
As a political communication expert, what role do you believe media plays in shaping public opinion and influencing political decisions in Nigeria?
My political communication expertise is from the fact that I have been a spokesperson for a Deputy Governor or for a Minister of State for Defence or for Minister of Defence. You see, every government needs an intermediary between the government and the people. There is a problem of trust between the people and those in government. People don’t trust people in government especially in Africa, even all over the world. They see people in government as the privileged few who are responsible for their woes, problems, poor education system, health system and they are right to think so. This is because once they vote for people they have given you the franchise to represent them, so it’s the duty of the political communication expert in government to communicate all these agendas, objectives and programmes to the people. In America they call them spin doctors, they spin things.
In Nigeria we call them spokespersons, but often, people don’t seem to trust them, because they feel like they are doing subjective public relations. I try to go beyond superfluous public relations to really let those in government know that you can build trust, you can build confidence in your government if you engage the people regularly. You don’t put issues under the carpet, you speak to every issue whether palatable or non-palatable, whether positive or negative, regardless of the nature of the issue. Public office is a public trust, because people surrender their franchise to you when they elected you as governor, as president, as senator, as house of reps member, as house of assembly member, even as chairman of local government. It’s the duty of the political members in government to communicate government ideas to the people and in turn create a feedback mechanism to communicate the will, the wishes and the grouses of the people back to people in government, so it’s a two way communication thing.
There should be true spirit of professionalism in political communications job. You should be bold enough to tell your principal the truth and communicate what people think you are and also to be bold enough to communicate government program and agenda.
In your career, you’ve been involved in both government roles and media entrepreneurship. Can you discuss the challenges and opportunities you’ve encountered in these different spheres?
Life is a rollercoaster. The roads to success is never paved with gold or with diamonds. Life has its ups and downs. You have your low moments and you have your high moments. If you are working with the government, you have this security, your daily bread is guaranteed, and you don’t have to worry so much.
I see so many people working with the government and once they step out of that space, they can’t sustain the kind of lifestyle they have been enjoying.
In America, Barack Obama is now a private citizen after being the president for 8 years. He is doing other things. Hitherto, he was a lawyer; a professional before he went into politics. Now he is writing books and giving speeches all over the world and he’s living his life as a private citizen. That’s the true spirit of democracy. Now as a media entrepreneur, I’m actually living my dreams. I love broadcasting, broadcasting is my life. My degrees are all communication related. In the mass communication field, broadcast is my core. Coming to work is not work for me, it is a playground.
In Nigeria, being a private entrepreneur is not an easy task, because there’s no electricity, no social infrastructure that supports business, and government is bringing tax every time and nobody cares how you are paying salaries. For instance, I have about 62 people in my employment on Radio and Television, I am contributing my quota to the GDP.
No Nigeria bank is supportive but I want to celebrate the Bank of Industry, they supported me and helped when things were difficult. If not, my business wouldn’t have seen the light of the day. I went to different parts of the world to buy my equipment and supervised the construction. I didn’t have the luxury of giving the contracts to anybody. I just used consultants that were professionals. I paid them what I could afford. My company is Felicia Daniel’s Communications. My mother was Felicia Olayonnu Adefila, Daniel was my dad. So I formed the company to honour their memories.
Another thing that helped with the growth of my business was the fact that in 2010 my wife won American lottery. Having the American citizenship assisted us a lot in getting some funds to inject in the business. There are packages that support entrepreneurship dreams, and so we leveraged on that.
So that assisted me a lot in making my television and radio station a dream come true.
How do you see the role of Artificial intelligence and technology evolving in the ecosystem and if it has impacted your business in any way?
AI hasn’t impacted on my business, but AI will impact the broadcast industry and I’m afraid for humanity. I just returned from Las Vegas, specifically from the National Team of Broadcaster Conference that holds in Las Vegas in America. I saw that AI will take over the broadcast space in the next 10 to 15 years. I have a problem and I have a challenge, what becomes of us as human beings? Before, I can just program something and get a voice and the machine will make the presentation on Radio and Television, but it’s the next phase I am concerned about. We have had several revolutions, now it is AI revolution. It is reality, and the world must be ready for it. Everywhere you turn now, AI is in the conversation within every sector. AI has advantages and disadvantages. About three weeks ago, American top hierarchy convened a meeting with AI companies that they wanted to dictate codes of ethics to preserve humanity. By this, humanity will be saved from the rampaging AI. However, in a true sense, AI is the next phase.
Some companies in America are already sacking people, because what humans were doing, AI will do it cheaper and efficiently. This is because it works with precision, the machine is not a human being, and therefore no emotion is involved. So people prefer AI to humans, but that will come with a collateral damage. We are crying that there are no jobs out there, now you are manufacturing machines that will take over the existing jobs.
I think intellectual laziness will be on the increase. We should always remember though that AI too is a product of intellectualism. Some people sat down, talked out of the box and brought up this idea. We can be too sure that something will come after this revolution of AI.
Could you share some of your memorable moments or stories from your career that have had a lasting impact on you personally or professionally?
Working as a reporter I have memories I can’t forget in a hurry; memorable moments. Once, I had breaches with the military government and I was suspended. This affected my supervisor, my director of news and current affairs. I was not suspended or sacked for unethical or unwholesome activities but for doing my job excellently. I did a report for Nigeria Labour Congress during the era of Commander Anthony Udofia in Osun and he considered it too antagonistic for the government and I was labelled a pro June 12 reporter, so I lost my job for two months. That was in 1996.
Then again during Colonel Anthony Obi I was also suspended for doing a report on how government cars were developing wings and disappearing in government house. I did an investigative report on how those cars became gifts for visiting generals and colonels who came from Abuja. The report was aired over the weekend. The audacity and tenacity I had to do the report was queried. I was arrested and again suspended.
The third experience was a report I did during the Ife/Modakeke Crisis, when some police men brought down to Ife turned checkpoints to ATM, extorting money from innocent passers-by. I went there with my camera and secretly filmed how the mobile police were extorting money from commuters and drivers. It was aired too, I was arrested but it was resolved same day. These are memorable moments in my career path.
When I ventured into entrepreneurship, the gestation period was low. It was a tough start. We survived and here we are now.
What do you have to say to an upcoming broadcast journalist?
Broadcasting is a content driven business. If you want to be a broadcaster, if you want to go into entrepreneurship you must get it right. I believe in mentorship. When I got my licence, I went to John Mommoh, whom I have great respect for, for his success. I love success, I don’t despise success. Success is like a magnet that attracts me. He told me that content is the king, don’t sell your conscience or your content to any political party, politicians will come and go, they will use you and dump you, be focused. Don’t sell your soul to political devils or gladiators. He also told me that gestation for media is very slow and that I needed to build viewership. He made me know that it is the trust that I build from the viewership that will earn me money.
So, what I will tell any broadcast entrepreneur is, you must be focused, you can’t afford to involve politics with ethics and professionalism if you want to survive.
What are your hobbies? What do you do when you are not in the office?
I love to play tennis. I play tennis thrice a week, it keeps me in shape. I also love my red wine. Life is about living good life. I love seeing new places too. I think I have been to about 6 of the continents, but I want to see more African nations. I want to go to countries like Rwanda and the Gambia
