At RED Summit Gala, rain of encomiums for Chude Jideowno, Adebola Wiliams

THE Habour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos, was the place to be recently, as media icons, politicians, captains of industries, celebrities and entertainers converged for the inaugural edition of The Red Summit Gala.

Anchored by ace comedian Ali Baba, the event which marked the 10th anniversary of Red Media Africa, was part of activities lined up for The Red Media Summit. It brought together stakeholders in various segments of the media across the African continent to explore new trends in a rapidly changing landscape. The event also created a platform for participants to exchange ideas about the future of media on the continent.

Present were former governors of Rivers and Ekiti States, Rotimi Amaechi and Kayode Fayemi, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Bisi Olatilo, Dr. Reuben Abati, Eddie Iroh and a host of other dignitaries that graced the event. It was rain of encomiums on Red Media Africa founders, Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams, for birthing an organisation that has brought change in the country’s media landscape, inspiring and empowering millions of Africa’s youth in the process.

Frontline advertising practitioner, Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, presented a comparative picture of cost of advertising in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari bared his mind on Nigeria media, saying extreme partisanship and lack of objectivity have negatively impacted the practice.

Buhari, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Malam Garba Shehu, stated that but for the belief of Nigerians and providence, it would have been impossible for him to win the 2015 presidential election. He alleged that full weight of state power and influence was brought to bear in the election to the extent that placing advertorials in two electronic media, including the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) was permanently denied him and his campaign organisation.

In his goodwill message to the organisers, Buhari expressed gratitude to Nigerians for making him win an election that many people thought he was not going to win.
“I remember on a particular night I called NTA, they had 16 slots of one minute adverts and I said I wanted to buy one minute for the Buhari campaign, they said all 16 had been sold. There are some other instances that exposed the partisan slant of NTA; money was returned to us from AIT. They simply won’t advertise for us,” Shehu said.

He thanked Statecraft, an arm of The Red Media, for “selling an unlikely candidate to a very skeptical nation,” saying that in addition to security challenges, the discrimination of the media proved frustrating during the electioneering campaigns.

Former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi recalled the role played by Red Media Africa in the last presidential campaign, which led to the victory of Buhari.
“I thank Adebola Williams and Chude Jideonwo for taking that responsibility of handling the presidential campaign. They sold our candidate to Nigerians against popular opinion. They got Buhari to wear a suit, something he hadn’t done for over 30 years and that was one of the biggest highlights of the campaign. Those images broke barriers and sold the man.”

Amaechi, who said he took a risk hiring the company to handle Buhari’s campaign, added, “we always say God won the election but their role can’t be overemphasised. They created an impression that we had money, made the other people afraid and think we could match them money for money, but we really couldn’t. It was their creativity. I thank them and wish them the very best”.
While welcoming guests, Jideowo observed that one of those cultural anomalies in the Nigerian society is the arrogant dismissal of the past.

It has never ceased to amaze me how every time someone wants to do something new in Nigeria, they start by dismissing what everyone else there has done before they. You hear ‘Oh, TV was rubbish! Oh radio was bad! Gosh, what have our advertisers been doing?’ There is also the epidemic of people – especially younger people – declaring that ‘XYZ has never been done before’, or ‘this is the first time this is being done in Nigeria’ or ‘I am finally going to do this right.”

According to him, this pervasive sense of disdain, of disrespect can only come from the collapse of perspective and the absence of history as an imperative.

And that is why Nigeria is stuck in a vicious cycle in many areas – without the benefit of history, of institutional memory, of learning what we did well and what we did not, of not knowing where the rain began to beat us, how can we know how to do better, what to stand on, where to begin to build? If we do not know where we are coming from, how on earth can we know where we are going to,” he quizzed.

To Jideonwo, it is the same gaps in knowledge that make young musicians feel that they are first to reach massive international audiences, and deal massive global collaborations, in a country where everyone from King Sunny Ade to Majek Fashek to, of course Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, have been there, done that, have the t-shirt, threw it away, bought a new one and then rocked it for years.
“We have a history so rich by success, by victory, by massive accomplishment in the media and creative industries. That’s not just something I say; that’s the philosophy that underlines our work – a deep humility and abiding appreciation for the history of our country, for the leaders who worked under extremely difficult circumstances at a time when very few people understood the media, at a time when it was yet emerging, to build this industry that we have now.”

While paying tribute to practitioners, who made their mark in the industry many years ago, Jideonwo said, “Maybe it’s because many of us in RED grew up on ‘I am Prince Jide Sokoya, the only son of the soil and by the grace of God, the youngest millionaire in the whole universe’, on Nigerian content, and therefore we have an understanding of what makes it special, of why what our forebears did was special.

Up until this moment, I remember I felt in the public relations activation of Onyeka Onwenu and King Sunny Ade preaching the message of birth control. I remember how perplexed my young mind was that every show on TV had on its credits Peter Igho and Grace Egbagbe; I grew up wanting to know how my former boss Levi Ajuonuma did that magic where he spoke to the camera and everyone watching felt he was talking to you directly.
“For the Red Media Africa Managing Partner, this generation is truly standing on the shoulders of giants.
“You, our mentors and forbears, icons and legends, across television, radio, print, public relations, advertising, are those giants. For sure, older people bear some culpability for the Nigeria that we have today, but you won’t find many of those ones in this room today. You are a different breed, truly worth celebrating”.

To him, the activities of the forbears of the industry, “made it possible for us to dream; you made it possible for us to imagine as far as our passions could take us, you took the path less travelled at a time when your peers chose the usual and the convention – banks, politics, oil. You created something truly special.”

On why the organisation resolved to houour some veterans in the media industry, Jideonwo explained that, “in a country where most awards are given to politicians, to billionaires, to corporate fat cats, and to anyone who can pay money for it, some of our honourees here were shocked when we called them.

The underlying question obviously was: In Nigeria, why would anyone do something so obviously not for financial gain? The answer is simple, and this is the simple answer truly: it is a decision of the heart and not of the head, driven by gratitude rather than balance sheets,” he said.