The amazing times of “Mr Radio”, Ben Egbuna
A review of A Destiny Fulfilled by Ben Egbuna by UZOR MAXIM UZOATU.
IT seems stranger than fiction that Ben Egbuna visited a prophet of what he called one of the "quick results churches" shortly after he was a teenage soldier in the Biafra war and received the prophecy that he would be famous. Ben Egbuna eventually became the managing director of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
Born on February 13, 1949, in Sapele, in what is now Delta State, to a police officer father from the town of Enugwu-ukwu, in what is now Anambra State, Egbuna spent 35 years in radio as a journalist, presenter, analyst, editor, administrator, first executive director (News) of Voice of Nigeria and managing director of FRCN.
He was barely 20 when the Biafra war ended and hadn't finished high school. Unexpectedly, he traveled to Lagos to find that Nigerian soldiers had taken over his father's house. He had no documents proving that the house belonged to his family. A few former classmates in Lagos rehabilitated him somewhat and gave him money to return to the East. He returned to secondary school, but his best subject, fine arts, was mysteriously replaced by physics, which he had no stomach for, during the school leaving certificate exam.
He got a job at the Department of Posts and Telecommunications (P&T) in Lagos. In April 1973, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation offered him a job as a trainee news assistant. He testified to Colonel Bukar Sukar. Musa Dimka's "broad daylight coup" led to the death of the head of state, General Murtala Muhammed.
His first official international assignment was at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) conference in September 1977 in Arusha, Tanzania. He interviewed legendary President Julius Nyerere off the cuff.
Related News
At FRCN, Lagos, he met and married his idol, Betty, after an upsetting wedding cake incident.
Egbuna had to go through difficult times at the broadcasting house when military rule ended in 1979, and civilians took over with their overriding politics. In October 1983, he was sent to "Siberia" called the Special Program Unit of the Esteemed Section of the National Network News Service, where he had excelled.
He was so frustrated that in 1985 he seriously considered disengaging from the FRCN and taking a job at the fledgling African Guardian magazine as an associate editor. Incidentally, after Egbuna didn't come to the African Guardian with the story of his coverage of the 8th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Nassau, Bahamas, I was given a test to write about the conference , which led to my employment by the magazine. !
The then Chief of the General Staff, Commodore EbituUkiwe, wanted Ben Egbuna roughed up for a story on the IMF, but he was let go by Ukiwe's men who saw that he had done nothing wrong.
Egbuna headed the reporting unit at the Constituent Assembly. When Voice of Nigeria (VON) was established as a stand-alone unit of FRCN, it took over the 'Sixty Minutes' programme. He survived the dangerous times of the cancellation of the June 12 presidential election. He fought with the new general manager of VON, Taiwo Alimi.
He was nominated for the senior staff course at the influential National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru in 2001. NIPSS Director General General Joseph Garba gave Ben hell Egbuna, even ordering him to get legendary retired broadcaster Ikenna Ndaguba, who was on vacation abroad to host the graduation ceremony - otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to graduate! Somehow, Ben Egbuna survived.
He was appointed Executive Director (News) of VON in October 2005. The crowning achievement came in 2006 when Information Minister Frank Nweke Jr. announced that President Olusegun Obasanjo had approved his appointment to the post. 13th Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. FRCN officer.
He retired as DG of the FRCN in July 2008, "thanking God for having protected and guided me through a demanding career and its many treacherous currents, towards a successful, glorious and meritorious end, and the fulfillment of my professional destiny.”
Ben Egbuna died on January 28, 2021. His memoirs had to be published posthumously when they were planned to be published and presented during his lifetime in 2019.
A Destiny Fulfilled by Ben Egbuna, which editor Lanre Idowu had given me the opportunity to read first in manuscript form, is a gem - lively, insightful and well-written.
READ ALSO FROM THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE...
A review of A Destiny Fulfilled by Ben Egbuna by UZOR MAXIM UZOATU.
IT seems stranger than fiction that Ben Egbuna visited a prophet of what he called one of the "quick results churches" shortly after he was a teenage soldier in the Biafra war and received the prophecy that he would be famous. Ben Egbuna eventually became the managing director of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
Born on February 13, 1949, in Sapele, in what is now Delta State, to a police officer father from the town of Enugwu-ukwu, in what is now Anambra State, Egbuna spent 35 years in radio as a journalist, presenter, analyst, editor, administrator, first executive director (News) of Voice of Nigeria and managing director of FRCN.
He was barely 20 when the Biafra war ended and hadn't finished high school. Unexpectedly, he traveled to Lagos to find that Nigerian soldiers had taken over his father's house. He had no documents proving that the house belonged to his family. A few former classmates in Lagos rehabilitated him somewhat and gave him money to return to the East. He returned to secondary school, but his best subject, fine arts, was mysteriously replaced by physics, which he had no stomach for, during the school leaving certificate exam.
He got a job at the Department of Posts and Telecommunications (P&T) in Lagos. In April 1973, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation offered him a job as a trainee news assistant. He testified to Colonel Bukar Sukar. Musa Dimka's "broad daylight coup" led to the death of the head of state, General Murtala Muhammed.
His first official international assignment was at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) conference in September 1977 in Arusha, Tanzania. He interviewed legendary President Julius Nyerere off the cuff.
Related News
At FRCN, Lagos, he met and married his idol, Betty, after an upsetting wedding cake incident.
Egbuna had to go through difficult times at the broadcasting house when military rule ended in 1979, and civilians took over with their overriding politics. In October 1983, he was sent to "Siberia" called the Special Program Unit of the Esteemed Section of the National Network News Service, where he had excelled.
He was so frustrated that in 1985 he seriously considered disengaging from the FRCN and taking a job at the fledgling African Guardian magazine as an associate editor. Incidentally, after Egbuna didn't come to the African Guardian with the story of his coverage of the 8th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Nassau, Bahamas, I was given a test to write about the conference , which led to my employment by the magazine. !
The then Chief of the General Staff, Commodore EbituUkiwe, wanted Ben Egbuna roughed up for a story on the IMF, but he was let go by Ukiwe's men who saw that he had done nothing wrong.
Egbuna headed the reporting unit at the Constituent Assembly. When Voice of Nigeria (VON) was established as a stand-alone unit of FRCN, it took over the 'Sixty Minutes' programme. He survived the dangerous times of the cancellation of the June 12 presidential election. He fought with the new general manager of VON, Taiwo Alimi.
He was nominated for the senior staff course at the influential National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru in 2001. NIPSS Director General General Joseph Garba gave Ben hell Egbuna, even ordering him to get legendary retired broadcaster Ikenna Ndaguba, who was on vacation abroad to host the graduation ceremony - otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to graduate! Somehow, Ben Egbuna survived.
He was appointed Executive Director (News) of VON in October 2005. The crowning achievement came in 2006 when Information Minister Frank Nweke Jr. announced that President Olusegun Obasanjo had approved his appointment to the post. 13th Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. FRCN officer.
He retired as DG of the FRCN in July 2008, "thanking God for having protected and guided me through a demanding career and its many treacherous currents, towards a successful, glorious and meritorious end, and the fulfillment of my professional destiny.”
Ben Egbuna died on January 28, 2021. His memoirs had to be published posthumously when they were planned to be published and presented during his lifetime in 2019.
A Destiny Fulfilled by Ben Egbuna, which editor Lanre Idowu had given me the opportunity to read first in manuscript form, is a gem - lively, insightful and well-written.
READ ALSO FROM THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE...
What's Your Reaction?
