I have had cause to examine various radio stations and the quality of their programmes. I have had occasions to contemplate stations in Imo State from their impact on the listening public. I would implore some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to step forward and conduct a survey to establish preferences of the listening public and consequently motivate commitment of foundations and donor agencies to support such media. Without strenuous investigation, I find Radio Nigeria (Heartland FM) head and shoulder above other stations in South East Nigeria in terms of social engineering content of their programmes.
All early morning programmes broadcast between 5am and 5.55am are loaded with well-contrived information and reports, uniquely presented and delivered with individual particularities that evince copious research and record of events as well as peculiar methods of presentation that accommodate personal factors and habits that promptly identify the presenter as a unique human being. That is the message of this piece.
Ifeyinwa Akubue takes her programme with commendable zest. She picks up certain family issues with well-rounded observation, statistical ranking of facts, and delivery of guidance towards solution with empirical data in particular cases that endear her to families with behavioural problems. In this, she acts like an oracle. Her clients may come from her own experience or the experience of her close friends. Even this shows that she is not insular like positive academics who spend so much time in self-mortification, research and publication. She is on the ground, as they say, socialising at various levels and gleaning programme-worthy material painstakingly for delivery to prepared human spirits early in the morning when day has not encroached upon receptivity of positive values.
It is clear she knows about homes. She garnishes her main thesis with live examples and proceeds to analyse impact of the conduct of various kinds on relationships in the family with unusual aplomb and merit. Credit should go to top Heartland FM managers for putting square pegs in square holes of similar cross-section. It is one thing to have competence and another to be given vent to show up that competence. It is shameful that certain broadcasting top-notchers fear to be outdone by more talented up-comers.
I have kept tab with Heartland FM long enough to establish that it is a rare family of complimentary relationships that resulted in upgrading of the quality of broadcast delivered to catchment area listenership. It pleases me to give credit to this station from my casual observation, howbeit tailored by five decades of conscious acquaintance with Redifusion Broadcasting first created by Obafemi Awolowo in Lagos of the late 1950s, and emulated by Radio Nigeria; until now in my status as a senior citizen.
I believe that Ifeyinwa’s command of Igbo Language is commendable. She flows in her emotions as in her expression of such emotions in Igbo. She may not be as proverbial as some exponents in the same house, but she is expressive of her basis for making prudent judgement about a featured problem. She resonates in Igbo and is bound to feature in its ultimate revival for our children, and our children’s children.
The long and short of her message comes to: love builds and does not destroy. Respect your partner and yield some room for the other party to freely air himself or herself. Banish suspicion and forgive some trespasses to preserve the family and ennoble the homestead. Nothing should be hidden between a married couple, especially when it concerns the common task of balanced upbringing of children and resources for so doing. No room should be allowed for deterioration of relationships. Say ‘sorry’ when you offend and mend fences when matters have not degenerated beyond repair. Share in love and care for all with whom one relates. People must be responsible for others for the world to roll on happily into fulfilment. I hope I have not overshot her impeccable content.
She comes through as a great voice for change in our suffocating degenerate trend of craze for material benefits, as if no other value exists for choice of use of time.
Women issues are key to regeneration of humanity from the slide into perdition that has become our common lot. Anyone who shows adroitness in this area arrests my innermost fancy. I have not met the subject of this essay in flesh and blood. But I certainly feel close to her and her mission to spread doctrines for preservation of our own species in better quality than current aberrations drive us to. In that content, I salute ‘Adaoma Heartland’ for her name richly earned. For goodness flows richly from her presentation at Azaraegbelu, I salute Ifeyinwa Akubue. I urge all men and women to listen in to programmes of Radio Nigeria. I find them sufficiently cognate to our re-invention as a unique people.