Ogunkomaiya: From having nothing to eat, to having millions is still a dream

From having just N2, 000 in his account with no hope of having the next meal, Prince Adeleke Ogunkomaiya, on Sunday, March 20, 2022, became the lucky winner of N2 million on the Wheel of Luck TV game show.

The game show hosted by Mike Mesikenor takes participants through quiz sessions where they were tested on general knowledge about Nigeria’s history and current affairs. As they advance on the show, they get to spin the Wheel of Luck (a wheel with different amounts of money inscribed on it) that gives them the chance to either move on to the next level or win instant Cash Prizes.

Intermittently, random questions are thrown to the audience who can win mouth-watering prizes such as TV sets, fridges, phones, generators, others.

Though the television game show had about 12 other participants that won different prizes, Ogunkomaiya emerged as the biggest winner of the maiden edition of the show launched last Sunday at Terra Kulture, Lagos by Bi Communications, organisers of the novel television programme.

Aired live on LTV Lagos, the knowledge base television programme drew participants from various regions across the country with age consideration from 18 years and above, having applied online on www.wheelofluckng.com with a token of N500.

Ogunkomaiya, who said he had only N2,000 prior to his journey to the venue of the event, was delighted upon receiving his cash prize at the Captain House, Sabo Yaba, Lagos.

Ogunkomaiya said: “I never believed it’s a genuine show until I got here. I struggled to attend the show, because I only had N2000 in my account when I participated. But now, I have N2 million. From having nothing to eat, to having millions is still a dream.”

Speaking during the cheque presentation ceremony, Managing Director of Bi Communications, Dr. Aisha Tosan, said the reading culture is fading in the country, especially among young people, to a shameful extent that people do not have the slightest idea about things happening around them.

“Everyone is a winner in the show; we didn’t just limit it to knowledge base on IQ. There are some people also that are not also quite educated; we allow them to roll the wheel. And if you roll the wheel where your wheel stops, you get something.”

Dr. Tosan added: “Apart from that, we have general questions that were thrown at the audience. A woman won a fridge just for answering the questions.”

She, however, expressed her disappointment at the level of decadence in Nigeria’s education sector, adding, “The student couldn’t answer a simple question of who is the Speaker of the House of Representatives; it was as bad as that.

“We had another one that was asked who is the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, he couldn’t answer, and then the third one was asked who the two-time governor of Lagos State who is now a Minister. You would expect the ordinary Nigerian to know, but unfortunately, they missed such questions.”

Dr. Tosan, who is also the creator of Crime Fighters, stressed that the essence of the television game show is to close the gap among Nigerians.

“We have realised that a lot of us, not just children, are totally doing away with quiz competition. Growing up, one of the things we did then was to challenge ourselves, and then we throw questions to ourselves. And we answered these questions, even when we were on the playground. You know you could just throw a question at your friend and said ‘who is this?’ And then the person answers. Perhaps, I think the introduction of social media is responsible for that, or because we are too busy chasing after money. We seem to forget the very basic necessity of being a Nigerian.”

She continued: “Most times, people go to the embassies to get visas and a simple question thrown at them pulls the visa off their feet. So, we are trying to get back to that level. We are doing it by ensuring that we win the heart of people by giving something that will attract them to participate. So, we came up with a product called Wheel of Luck. Let’s begin to test the intellectuality of that individual, which is why we brought the Wheel of Luck.”