Jimi Disu’s The Discourse has been making waves for over a year. The radio programme format is a refreshing departure and captivates a wide audience. TheNiche takes a peep at the host with the most…
What on earth propelled a scion of an established old-Lagos family in the direction of the media? The old-Lagos family alluded to are the Disu’s. The family has long embraced the professions producing in the process a long generation of educated and enlightened people.
Jimi Disu’s father was a successful lawyer. Jimi was born in London when Disu senior was reading for the bar.This means that the law profession should have come naturally. Or so implies the conventional wisdom. Jimi recalls watching the old man taking up a lot of cases gratis on a point of principle. The old man was also a member of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s defense team during the 1962 treasonable felony trial.
Jimi recalls that- “funny enough even as a teenager I used to enjoy going to court to watch proceedings as the courts then were people friendly.”
Jimi’s journey into journalism started from primary school at Corona and then Methodist Boys High School, editing school magazines. And then came the game changer. The venerable guru, the late Babatunde Jose, gave him a vacation job at the age of 17 in the Daily Times. He got his first by-line in a national newspaper, and “it was beautiful.”
The programme
The journey started under the sage’s watchful gaze has now led to The Discourse.
In an era dominated by personality profile interviews, certainly the need to have a platform for ventilating views bothering on Nigeria’s political, economic and social problems has become inevitable. Indeed, the country today is grappling with the issues of what constitutes the national question, credible elections, poverty and good governance. But how do we start and how do we sensitise Nigerians on these fundamental issues?
Perhaps it is in this context that one should appreciate The Discourse which is a weekly interview show on current happenings in the country facilitated by Jimi Disu, a veteran journalist whose career experience spans media work as Assistant Editor of The Punch, Business Editor of Vanguard and media consultant to blue chip companies. He maintained that what motivated him was the need to talk about issues rather than people or discuss what he considers newsworthy.
Jimi has had a wealth of experience in conducting interviews which are manifest in his “60mins column” published both in ThisDay and the Vanguard Newspapers. But with regards to The Discourse, he said “I have always done something on this interview thing. You know on anything that you do, you must decide on which area you specialise in. I also write a column, and do newspapers review. I just decided that I like a programme where you talk about issues rather than talk about people. That is why you will find in
that I don’t necessary talk to what you call “big people”. Rather I focus on the subject or on what the person has done. That is the focus of The Discourse. It is not a personality programme.’’
Indeed, the programme has attracted a lot of followership within its short existence. But this has not surprised the media consultant for in his words “we should thank the internet for the new awareness in Nigeria over the past 15 to 20 years. The people now are much more discerning. Even from business perspective you can make good money by producing an original or good content. People don’t know that you can make money by doing well. If you have a publication that people feel it is good in terms of content you can even get a followership of 200,000.Nigerians know what is right and wrong. “For the media guru “Nigerians are yearning for good content, information and analysis”. Thus, he is of the view that the programme will bring a lot of things to the fore and help to improve public discourse and build a better society.
For him this is precisely what he intends to achieve with The Discourse. “I don’t intend to achieve anything. I don’t have any political ambition. It’s just my calling. For me it’s just like asking an anointed man of God what he intends to gain from his spiritual relationship with God. The only job that makes me happy is this thing that I’m doing. I have very little choice in it. It is my hope that it will bring a lot of things to the fore and help to improve public discourse and build a better society”.
Choosing the guest
The interesting thing about this Discourse is that one is never too sure of who or what is coming on next in the programme. According to him, “Something just catches my interest, then I just decide. What you will not find in The Discourse and I also wish to emphasize is personality profile. I don’t believe in it. I think there is too much grandstanding on those things that we do”. The subject for him ranges from politics, business, and health to social issues, any serious issue which is newsworthy.
Sadly, Disu is quite worried about the political future of his country; Nigeria. He believes that “the Politicians have messed us up completely. You don’t even have any issue based discussion. It’s all about power. You don’t have any issue-based political group or movement or party. And that is worrying because in all these, you will find that the current crop of politicians do not have this country at heart. It’s all about power, it’s all about grandstanding, it’s all about corruption, and it’s all about stealing money”. The Public Affairs analyst expects “the President by now to have a ceiling on the type of vehicle a minister can drive because ministerial appointment is not an adventure. It is not about holiday, it is not a cruise. You are there to serve the Nation. The Nation cannot be providing luxury for public servants”. He is of the opinion that “this country if care is not taken will collapse. In fact, I can almost say that it has collapsed because the fabric that is holding this country together is so thin”.
He also has some harsh words for the media for non-performance. For him; the media is not different from the society. Hear him; “the media is not different from the society. The media performance is very bad in terms of ethics, in terms of the will to do what is right. We know of newspapers in the country now that cover to cover, back to front, almost everything is paid for. Yes, because where you have a publisher that tells his staff I’ve not paid you for one year, but I have given you a meal ticket, what does that tell you? He concludes that “the media has been a dismal failure. The media is supposed to be the conscience of the Nation. Can any of the practitioners say boldly that he is the conscience of the people?”
Next year’s elections at all levels will be decisive. Having established a reputation for itself, The Discourse will be at the epicenter. We give the last word to the host the most.
“We will provide a platform for various candidates to profess what they have in store for their voters and by the same token allow their voters take them on. All this will be done in a balance so as not to favour one candidate against the other. We will also educate our listeners and potential voters on various issues raised. And by the way, may I add that “Gassers” will not be allowed to get away with the usual campaign rhetoric so potential guests on our programme had better be well grounded before they come on.”