In How To Fight Your Husband, humourist Shogo comes full circle

Dr. Oluwashogo Oyeniyi, generally known as Dr. Shogo, is not a newcomer in the entertainment and mentorship space.

From taking part, as well as, anchoring comedy shows in his university days at the Ogun State University (OSU), now Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, the humourist, for almost a decade now, has added new feathers to his cap: Venturing into training so as to make people maximise their potential in life.

To make his knowledge on diverse issues reach a wider group of people, he has documented his teachings in different books. His latest book, How to use social media to promote goods and services, is on how to increase sales and make a profit on the different social media platforms.

According to the author, the world is now in the digital age and “we all need to play the game of our lives and businesses in the digital space to be relevant.

“We now live in a global village and the Internet is the market square. When we were growing up we had the physical and spiritual world, but today, we now have the digital world. A lot of people do not know how to do basic social media marketing and for this, they are swindled. The book talks about the basics of social media marketing and how to use social media platforms to sell one’s products, irrespective of the industry.”

On his other book, How to fight your husband, Oyeniyi says the society is becoming too busy and noisy, and many are engrossed with phones, laptops and other gadgets to notice if someone’s countenance is pleasant or not or even ask how he/she could be of help to him/her. He reveals that the book highlights essential nuggets any woman can apply in her home to live happily and avoid unnecessary arguments that could generate to the crisis.

“Sociological speaking, women are always more than men in every society, even in my classes. Women are multipliers and amplifiers. We need to give them a chance because they have the potential to impact on men, their children and the communities they live. I call for women to be given a voice and a place in society.”

He points out that he now teaches life skills that will make people including the youth be effective and highly productive in the society, especially now that the COVID-19 pandemic has destroyed the world’s economy.

“We teach skills that will enable people to survive in business, open new vistas in life and improve the ones they are already doing, irrespective of the situations,” he says.

Oyeniyi says talent without the right training is meaningless, adding that everybody needs the training to be a better person either in the entertainment industry or any other sector.

According to him, there is a difference between talent and skill, stressing that people do not pay for talent, but they have to pay for the skill that accentuates the talent. He discloses that it is through training that you acquire the skill.

For him, “learning is a lifelong thing. It is not a destination, but a journey. Dynamics and consumer behaviours are also changing and we have to get new knowledge to be relevant. The value of information and access to new information will influence one to make new decisions.”

Commenting on the youth, the trainer-cum-humourist says African youths are not lazy, but rather calls on African leaders to create the enabling environment for them to bring out their potentials and contribute to the growth and development of the black continent.

Is a life coach really important in a man’s life?

“Yes,” he continues, “a coach guides, gives clarity and direction; these are very important.”

“Talent is like a spume that brings out our best when skill is added. Look at crude oil, as good as it is, it is when refined that it commands a high price, then you get petrol, gas, kerosene, among others. So, talent is not enough. Without training, the best in us cannot emerge. It is training that increases our market value.

“We all need a coach. A coach helps to find the answers that are locked within us by asking specific questions. Coach serves as a guide, signboard and teachers. They help unlock our innate potentials. A coach has analytical minds that could see one’s blind spots, gifting and strength, and help put them in the right perspective for the individual’s growth and development in life,” he explains.

Commenting on recent happenings of youths using drug and suicide, as a way of escape to the profusion of challenges facing them, Shogo who is also a Drug Prevention Officer notes that the family, schools, society all have a very important role to play in checking the menace.

He equips that peer pressure, low self-esteem, kids experimenting with something that is not morally right are some of the causes of drug abuse and urges families to bring up their children properly to shun these social maladies. According to him, drug abuse and suicide do not happen overnight, stressing that victims always show some clues of which those around them might be too busy to observe them.

“It starts from a state of cluelessness about life. When one starts having this feeling then he/she needs to talk to someone, as a problem shared is a problem half solved. If you do not speak out, the situation will generate from cluelessness to helplessness and down to hopelessness, and the moment it gets to hopelessness, then the depressed individual will start asking questions like: ‘What is life?’ and ‘Why must he/she still be living?’ Suicidal thoughts would take over and the person would start entertaining thoughts like, ‘jump into the lagoon, take pills, kill yourself, among others, because life is not worth the living,” he notes.