Follow Us on Google
20 Questions is an all-media Parlour Game notable for the uncanny way it dispenses life, knowledge and wits. This is the 25th year I’ve been involved in the programme that used to be only on radio. Since taking over as chairman, I have kept the programme also on television and online. You can follow the Bush House Nigeria production from anywhere: via Facebook and YouTube.
It was my mentor, Mr. Eddy Ekpenyong, who as chairman inducted me as panelist. Two of my co-panelists that I remember from that genesis are Akparawa James Edet (now Permanent Secretary at Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Information and Strategy as well as international president of Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio) and Mary Essien, an iconic broadcaster on Radio Akwa Ibom, who is no more. May her soul rest in peace. Plus and minus, I spent about 3, 4, 5 years (max) as panelist.
What that means is that for about two solid decades, I have held the office of chairman. In that time, I have in addition to taking it on television and online also grown the radio stations that broadcast it from one to four. I’m thankful for the strides but more importantly to the founding family (I think, BBC). 20 Questions is one programme everyone should look at, listen to, watch, follow, participate in and support -anyhow.
20 Questions is a total package. It has something for everyone. As chairman, I learn leadership, patience, tolerance, friendship and of course, how to laugh at myself. The panelists tell me the programme teaches them sense, teamwork, loyalty, consensus building and love.
As for the audience members who form a critical part of the recordings, it is not difficult to see that they cherish those 30 minutes for the education, the information, the entertainment not forgetting the relaxation and new friends they glean every time. I always am grateful to them for the rapturous applause and great company they provide gratis. The panelists and audience are indispensable on 20 Questions. Then, there’s Mystery Voice who supplies all the objects which the panelists must uncover within the limits of 20 Questions -or lose the round!
Having been on it for a quarter of a century, there’s a chance of declining productivity and interest. No way. Rather, every new episode offers me -and I guess, my team, panelists, partners, audience members and fans- one new vista after another. 20 Questions renews every time.
Is it about what Akwa Ibom state First Lady, Dr Martha Udom Emmanuel, calls the intellectual content (of 20 Questions)? Is it about the irresistible humour that flows seamlessly and ceaselessly from every episode? Is it the razzmatazz, the suspense, the drama to mislead? Is it about how to ensure teamwork, or how to build consensus, or how to ask questions, or how to throw a joke or how to take one, or how to … ?
Sssh, 20 Questions is the it. I really, really, really love it and I know you know I know you love it too. At this juncture, let me take out time and thank all those who at one point or the other especially over the last two decades helped out as Crew, Panelists, Audience Members, Sponsors, Partners and Supporters. You all are legends, you helped in the making of impact and sweetness.
Enough said, let’s turn our attention next to both our caption and the future of the programme. Of course, we have had trailerloads of objects all these years. All sorts of objects; from the ridiculous to the sublime to only-God-knows. However, the one that shattered me deeply is the first ever time my name came up as an object.
Coincidentally, the panelists on this edition were three people in my inner caucus; people with whom I dine, wine and play every time. Yet, when it came to something as simple as naming or acknowledging me, none of them thought of/about me let alone ventured to mention me -even by mistake. As I said, during that last recording of last year, that is inside life. Hardly would those closest to you remember to recommend you on the day of opportunity.
Life is silly. Go on Facebook, for instance. Your friends in real life who are Facebook friends with you as well hardly engage with you like that. They play blind or dumb or form busy with your post per time. Those who offer you more traction thereat are people you hardly know, people who have hardly gained from you.
I expect Messrs Saviour Ekpe (my friend of 23 years), Stephen Godwin and Chukwu Agwu (my mentees of at least six and 16 years, respectively) to come clean publicly and argue their case, if they are man enough. This is not about them entirely, though: after all, Rev. Osondu Ahirika, an A-list panelist, once sat there and named everyone else but himself. Alas, he was the object. God, may we never fail to recommend ourselves the day nature is looking for who to favour!
On that day, Lord, may our so-called friends be forced by the forces of nature to mention us, even against their will -the same way someone reading this shall help the programme to national television. Amen! Please remember to follow 20 Questions on radio, television, Facebook and YouTube. If you can, please participate in the 20 QUESTIONS Clinic that opens periodically in Uyo-Nigeria.
God bless Nigeria!
Electricity or education?
Yes, that is the question. Don’t be in haste though, to field it. You need first to understand its context, which can only happen when you are conversant with the background.
Here you are: last Thursday on live radio in Uyo-Nigeria, an emerging big thing in broadcasting, Oluchi Arisa (Lulu), threw a challenge to this writer. Lulu was presenting the segment -Infotainment with Lulu- on the programme -Michael BUSH PLC- which broadcasts weekly from 6.30 to 10pm on XL 106.9 FM and globally @ www.xl1069.fm. While reporting the decision to call off the planned industrial action by National Union of Electricity Employees of Nigeria (NUEE) even before it started, Lulu -in a veiled reference to that of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has been running since 14th February 20022- wondered if electricity was not more important in Nigeria than education.
Well, clearly, it is. Just a little notice of impending darkness, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and rushed to not only listen to NUEE but also meet their demands. In Nigeria, electricity is more important and therefore more respected than education.
A rather eerie Nigerian reality. Electricity is so expensive Nigerians even pay for darkness plus. Electricity sits on the head table while education brings up the rear like the backbencher who’s praying and waiting for crumbs to fall.
However, these things ought not to be so. Electricity is important, but education is fundamental. Without education, American scientist, Benjamin Franklin, would not have in 1752 discovered and understood how to better deploy the natural force that electricity is.
Nigeria must learn to treat education as a first-classer, that it is. Government at every level should cut down emoluments of politicians, if that’s what’s needed to raise the take-home pay of teachers and generate funds to update the decrepit infrastructure of the education sector.
Many thanks, Lulu, for this window that you opened. I always wanted to vent on the perennial Federal Government/ASUU imbroglio. Lastly, ASUU boss, Professor Victor Emmanuel Osodeke, and his men must ensure this time round they get so much from President Muhammadu Buhari because we shall only tolerate another campus disruption by lecturers after at least a decade!
