I attended the book launch of Deolu Folarin, a classmate and longtime friend a couple of weeks ago. Titled ‘An Odyssey of a life marked by grace’, the book was to capture the highs and lows of his journey of 75 years on earth. A couple of days later, I attended the book launch of Mrs Bimbo Oloyede, celebrated newscaster and allegedly the first female newscaster on NTA (Nigeria Television Authority). Titled ‘Communication and Media in Nigeria’ it was to mark her 50 years in broadcasting. It was her third book. The Chairman at Oloyede’s book launch was Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, another celebrated media personality who had recently authored at least three books – including a collection of interviews – in a fairly rapid succession.
While congratulating Bimbo, I told her that the fact of her having authored three books made me feel inadequate. Her reply twisted the knife. ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t done yours’ she retorted. Soni Irabor, another broadcaster who was within earshot confirmed that his own book was set for publication. Sola Omole, former TV news presenter and former DG of NTA, is also set for a book launch. It seems everywhere I turn, that many of my contemporaries have either written their memoirs or compiled their published articles. I have done neither. It isn’t for lack of pressure from colleagues and close family members.
For the better part of two decades now, Sonala Olumhense, author, journalist and colleague has urged, and even cajoled me at every opportunity, to compile my best interviews. ‘It is not about you. It is about posterity’ he says. He is, like I said, not alone. Some young friends recently offered to sponsor my compilation. Then last year, Dr Olatunji Dare, revered communication scholar and practitioner, sent me an email to commend an article I had written in my column. ‘It is one of your best. It must occupy a very prominent place in your book’ he said. Dr Dare is someone I genuinely like and respect in the profession. But honestly, until that email, I had never given a thought to compiling the articles in my current column. My preoccupation, if any, has always been on the interviews in my column of the 70s because of the role some of them played in shaping the Nigeria of that era.
For those who believe in coincidences, my coming across a devotional about the same time, must rate as one. The article in the devotional, was so uncomfortably close to home that I believe a divine hand must have directed me to it. It could be a wake-up call of sorts. It was about a journalist who had run a syndicated column for close to fifty years. When she died, her daughter requested the Editors to leave a blank space in memory of her. Just a blank space. There was a precedence. The syndicated journalist had earlier asked Editors to leave a blank space when her marriage broke down as a memorial to a once good marriage that didn’t make it to the finish line. This set me thinking. Really, how many of our projects, our endeavors, make it to the finish line? How many of them do we tidy up? How many loose ends do we leave?
The writer of the devotional then asked a poignant question ‘When you come to life’s end, will there be important things left undone’? Significantly, this was a question in varying forms, I asked many personalities during my interviewing years. Some were wistful, even nostalgic. But very few felt they had completed everything they set out to do in life. Years later, as a Publisher, our magazine had run a column titled ‘Past Perfect’ where largely retired personalities were interviewed. The personalities might be older, but the reaction was not remarkably different as very few again felt they had accomplished all there was left to be done. No one, in my experience, came close to Saint Paul who was quoted as saying ‘I have fought a good fight. I have finished my race. I have kept the faith. Now waiting for me is the crown of righteousness (2nd Tim.7,8). It could be that no one really wanted to admit that they were no longer useful or relevant – for some strange reason, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo comes to mind here. Or worse, that they were waiting for death.
But the question still awaits you and I, to be answered honestly, looking at the mirror. When we come to life’s end, will there be important things left undone? In other words, what blank space will be left for us in our last page of life? I know a respected Politician who played very pivotal and insider roles in the last two decades of the country’s political evolution. Sadly, he didn’t finish his memoirs before he suddenly passed on. It could be a bad habit that needs to be changed. Or a reconciliation that needs to be made. A project that needs to be finished. A will that needs to be written. An ancestral home that needs to be refurbished. Or like me, a professional or life experience that needs to be documented and handed over to the next generation. I have tried to be honest about mine because it jumps at me at every book launch and there seems to be many these days – Lade Bonuola, first Editor of the Guardian Newspapers and ‘my neighbor’ in Festac Town for years, is launching his book next month to mark 80 fulfilled years.
So, when all is said and done. When the fight is well and truly fought according to our ability, is there a testament, a road map we are handling over to the next generation? Is there a way to enlighten them and give them an edge over us in the scheme of things? Prof Duro Oni, one of the speakers at Bimbo Oloyede’s book launch, put it rather succinctly when he said ‘we owe it to ourselves and our profession, to document our experiences and share with others’. According to Mrs Bimbo Oloyede, the bulk of the books will be sent to schools. It is a step in the right direction and she has done her bit. She has also sent out a challenge to the rest of us. Every yawning blank space that is meaningfully filled leads to a more fulfilled individual at life’s end. It also leads, poignantly, to a more informed and enlightened society.
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