‘I threw soul, spirit into media and always looking over my shoulders’

Lady Ejiro Umukoro’s passion for the media dates back to a very young age and still blossoms. Now, General Manager, Mega FM, Warri in Delta State, she tells Daily Trust on Sunday her inspiration and award-winning investigation stories, among others.   Give a brief background about yourself. I was recently nominated for International Center for […]

Lady Ejiro Umukoro’s passion for the media dates back to a very young age and still blossoms. Now, General Manager, Mega FM, Warri in Delta State, she tells Daily Trust on Sunday her inspiration and award-winning investigation stories, among others.

 

Give a brief background about yourself.

I was recently nominated for International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Awards and named Cultural Leader (British Council UK), Code for Africa MPV as well as an Award Recipient and Fellow of Wole Soyinka. I was also interviewed by the BBC in London because of my contribution in the Creative Economy of Nigeria. I discovered and sponsored Timi Dakolo to emerge 1st West African Idol. Mark Angel Comedy is also one of the protégé from my mentorship programme among others.

What inspired you into the media?

It is a very long story and one that will require me telling you the full story on a rainy day. I will say this, though, I think right from the womb I was meant to be in the media space and I don’t mean just broadcasting and journalism, but across the creative media economy, even though it took me and those around me a while to fully grasp with certain clarity that this is the path I was meant to follow growing up. I remember quite early on I had the habit of listening to radio. By the time I was thirteen I self-published my own short story. The only regret I have is that I can’t lay my hands on them because they got destroyed when we had to relocate.

All of these were clear signs I was supposed to be in the field of arts and communication even though I ended up with a BSc in my first degree. The irony, however, was that, at the time, going to the media as a woman was frowned upon by many parents.

The general consensus and perception in the mind of many at that period however, was that media women were seen as prostitutes. It made me ask the question: so men who are in the media, what are they called?

It was a tough place to be at the time. Did you know that because of this fear instilled in me, when John Momoh offered me a job in Channels, the fear of being seen on TV as a reporter or host discussing forbidden topics and in knowing the condemnation, criticism and complaints that will follow, I fled from Lagos. When I got to Port Harcourt, a wonderful man and his wife after trying so hard to get me other jobs spotted my strong yearning to be in the media. They also noticed how I love listening to radio and watching news channels. So I was driven to Treasure 98.5 FM while it was test transmitting. I walked in, did my demo and got the job. I was told over 300 persons had applied for the job but I got it in that instant and that was how I threw my soul and spirit into the passion of my life with my head always looking over my shoulders.

You were recently nominated for the International Centre for Journalist Awards, how does that make you reflect on the value of your work?

It means what I do matter. And most importantly that impact is the greatest measure of what a journalist or broadcaster does. The nature of our job is not just to tell untold, shocking stories, bad news or sensational stories, but in telling these stories, there is a concomitant desired impact as the result of telling such stories. And for it to have maximum impact, how we tell it, the angle of how the story is spun, the data driving the story, the humanness and the end goal of the story all weave together to bring the call-to-action to it. I am now more conscious of why I am telling a story, making me sensitive to hidden, under-exploited issues that may have been overlooked. I dig deeper into stories. I question data. I question my hidden biases too.

After representing Nigeria at the Global IYXE Awards in the UK when you first emerged Regional Winner, what has been your journey like since?

I have had to retake stock of a lot of areas in my career life because it is important to put your professional power where it belongs. The experience opened my eyes to the great possibilities existing in the Nigeria Creative Economy space across the media, communications, advertising, graphics and the arts. There are still so much untapped potentials in our industry and with the digital age already upon us, many have keyed their digital footprint with sophisticated media tools and in the field of journalism, a lot more disruptive innovations are taking place. We have seen an increase in community radio in Nigeria, which is a good thing as it speaks directly to specific issues affecting specific communities in a manner typical FM radio and TV stations doesn’t focus on like developmental stories and solutions journalism.

It is coming to a point where media owners now think it is quite okay and business sensible to collaborate in sharing the overhead loads in technical manpower, tools, equipment, personnel and even content production. Business is about saving cost and making more profits or else you go out of business.

Your investigative work on female cultism which got you an award and fellowship at the Report Women Leadership Programme with the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism created an impact in your state. Tell us about that.

What I found shocking was in regard to a strong recruitment drive for secondary school girls between the ages of 10 to 15 years who are being lured into secret cult gangs by boys and girls alike in Delta State. During initiation, the girls are forced to sleep with 10 to 14 boys ages between 14 and 28 at a time as requirement. I was reliably informed by the police that a student in Enugu did it with 42 boys. They recruits are given alcohol, drugs or sometimes beaten until they bleed during the initiation. They also pay weekly dues of N200 to N400 with a one-time registration fee of up to N3, 000 to N5, 000. Until I investigated this, many of us did not know that this was happening at this rate. After I broke the story and was interviewed on Nigeria Info Lagos and Bridge Radio in Asaba, the St. Patrick’s Church where I uncovered as the hidden spot where the initiations were carried out, took a proactive action by clamping down the use of their wide untapped lands by raising the perimeter of the fences and rebuilding cracked holes that served as ease of access into the premises by miscreants, hooligans and secret gang cults.

Cults have become a menace. They ravage, rape, drug, abuse and plunder students, workers, and even businesses. Students need safe schools to learn. Teachers need safe work places to do their jobs of teaching and enhancing the quality of education for our children. This menace is as bad as the impact of the Coronavirus on our social fabric, security and safety, not to mention how they are used as thugs during election campaigns skewing our electoral processes.

And since then what other investigative stories have you unearth?

I recently did a story on Yahoo Plus Boys who confessed that ritual does not give money. This angle has never being reported in any media prior to now. It demystifies the true source of money as coming from executing scams that pulled through. If they can’t scam anyone, money won’t come no matter how many rituals they perform. Scamming is the real source of how they get money.

Is Nigerian media holding government accountable enough?

We can do better than we are doing now. If we say we are watchdogs of the society that means calling government to account. If we say we are a professional industry, it means not being partisan. It means you can vote but that doesn’t mean because you voted for someone and in the face of a crime or wrong doing committed by the person, you defend the person or cover up for the person. And to be truly independent, it will mean not being controlled by any political individual or body with strong investment in your media.