one permanently befuddled or just plain angry all the time. The latter is what
happens to me mostly, so I stopped listening to most radio stations for some
time. The television stations are not any better. The cause of one’s linear
anguish is not hard to find. Confusing accents of the presenters! Yes, one
cannot really tell if the presenters on radio and television are from Miami,
Manchester or Mushin or if they are just a bunch of clueless upstarts mouthing
words which seem to make them happy but leaves the listener with a terrible
‘earache’.
Tracing the history of radio and television presentation in Nigeria, who can
ever forget the glorious days and diction of Soni Irabor, Jim Lawson Madueke,
Bimbo Oloyede, Tony Abolo, Donald Everedjo, Sienne All-Well Brown, Ruth
Benemesia Opia, Lola Alakija, John Momoh, Silver Oforgu and so many other
articulate and fantastic presenters who shaped the entertainment industry with
their style and panache of presentation?
What these names have in common is a clear and distinct presentation style with
a pleasant-sounding smattering of perfect Queens English and intonations, mixed
with the distinct mother-tongue of the personalities ( if you will) . These
guys made millions of people shape up their articulation. We wanted to talk
like them, to present like them, in the very clear and African-tinged
intonations they had. We loved them and still do.
Being a former colony of Britain, it was only natural that our Spoken English
as citizens of Nigeria, had to be a bit uppity and middle class even when many
of us were of a lower rung in the society ladder. But that helped many people
aspire to change their destinies in their chosen fields.
Sadly, in the mid-nineties, the sweeping American culture crept into our
mainstream radio and things changed, albeit horribly. Before we knew it, the
‘Yo, Yo, Yo!’ presenters hit the airwaves. Sounding very American ( and most
times Ghetto Americanese too) became the fad. So, the beautiful accents we have
as Africans just disappeared with the ‘dash monkey banana’ borrowed accents.
Almost every Presenter came on air sounding like poor imitations of Hollywood
Black Gangsters or rap artistes. These days, you just have to strain your ears
to hear anything they say on air. Words like ‘alright’ has given way to
‘aight!’ and so many examples. It’s not so much the fake accents that pisses me
off but the lack of a true identity by these presenters! Some are confused and
don’t even know if the accent they speak with are American or British or just a
horrible cacophony of both. All these ‘gonna, wanna, burra, berra’ Presenters!
Una nor go kill person.
I have visited South Africa a few times and one of the things I like about
their Presenters on radio and television is the NATURALNESS. The Black South
African Presenters don’t attempt to hide their MOTHER-TONGUE accents with the
English Language. In fact, it makes them so distinct and wonderful on air. I
like Supersports Presenters on DSTV from SA like Thomas Mlambo and even the
Ivorian Football Analyst ( can’t remember his name now). You feel so at ease
with them.
You hear them. ( I must also commend Charles Anazodo and Praise and the female
presenter on Supersports Nigeria. They are superb in their presentation). And
that is not to say that we don’t have presenters in Nigeria at present who are
superb. We do have but they seem to be in a minority compared with the horde of
fake- accented elephants who have assailed the Nigerian airwaves. Some of them have
so perfected the art of ‘forming’ so well that they can’t even pronounce
Nigerian names at all on air!’Okoro Feeling Funky’ jockeys! As Basket Mouth the
comedian would say ,’Their Father!’
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