The Rare Builder

There are very few people who consider building people a worthy venture. I had few weeks ago written about one of such men. I have every reason to be grateful to this man. I however never knew how much impact he has made on people until comments started coming in on my postings. The people who have so far made comments and corroborated the assertion that Bolanle Bolawole is a rare builder of men are some of the finest I have come across in the profession of journalism. below is the original posting.

One of the things we rarely do is speak or write about people who have made some difference in our lives or made some impact on us. Appreciating such persons from time to time is one of the things I have decided I will do.

One person I keep thinking about every time, and I have to thank for many things that followed his insistence on employing me is BB, as we call Bola Bolawole (Bolanle Bolawole). He taught me many things about self confidence, self belief, dignity, principle and what leadership entails.

I had walked into The Punch Features room early February 1992 without what I would consider an impressive record in journalism and he took the risk of employing me. Yes I had samples of my writings, mostly reviews for Aura Magazine, a Nigerian Tribune publication, which I contributed as a freelance writer. Bisola Osuntokun who was editor of the magazine though could not employ a new writer when we met in 1990 had encouraged me to write for the magazine so I could build a profile. I also had some cuttings from occasional contributions to Sketch and Guardian newspapers. I also had clippings from the rested Diran Fagbougbe's Ibadan-based National Interest newspaper and another Ibadan-based magazine, African breed, both of which I had walked out of pissed off by their owners who I was convinced had no business running newspapers.

The only connection I had with PUNCH were stories done about me and some other friends when we made some failed attempt at running a professional theatre company in Ibadan between 1989 and 1990.

In spite of this limited experience, BB took his chance. Joe Dudun, who was the Assistant Features Editor just resigned. What he needed then was another writer with experience close to Joe's. When he asked that I be employed, I later learnt that he was told a flat no, I didn't have required record. But he stood his grounds. He was convinced I was what he needed. In spite of my determination not to pass through the test many newspapers subject new entrants into, since I have employment records both in the newsrooms and in the civil service, BB's decision to vouch for my competence in spite of not knowing me before that February 1992 encounter made me agree on a compromise. It was that if I am found wanting and not good enough after one month, I should be asked to go. I didn't want to waste my time waiting to be employed by a newspaper not keen on employing me. I had said no to same proposal by The Guardian about the same time. Some few weeks after resumption, I was asked to take over the newspaper society page, PIZZAZZ. That page had a history of being one of the few society pages where people don't just splash photographs of self-indulging rich people or write trite pieces. It had been anchored by some good writers like FAJ (Femi Akintunde-Johnson), Nseobong Okon-Ekong, Tunde Kolawole, Yinka Odumakin and Goddy Godwin Ofulue.

I was scared of what I will do with the page, not after Tunde Kolawole and Nseobong both of whom seem to literally carve with words. The first feedback from BB on my first outing on the page was a morale booster. I went home that evening believing that I could not get it wrong, not as a writer in a newsroom. He never stopped giving honest feedback. And at every turn when he could boost your morale, he would do that. I recall about two months after I took over the page he walked in to the features room and announced to me "Chairman likes your style on PIZZAZZ". Whoever knew Chief Ajibola Ogunsola back then would know that he was not only frugal with praise but was distant from reporters at the Punch.

When I started experiencing patronage on the page, BB did what many editors never remember to do, or had no moral courage to do. He called me into his office and had a brief discussion that will define a lot of things for me later. He warned me that as I gain more recognition on the page and get invitations to big events there would be several temptations. he told me some would offer me as much as 5,000 naira for just a mention on my page. My salary in a month when i started with Punch was 880 naira per month. All I needed to rent a 3-bedroom flat at Alagbado where I first shared a flat with another colleague, Alex Ogundadegbe was 3,600 per annum. But he warned that as i take that money, so would I be forfeiting credibility. He also warned that all I would only be able to do things with the first three 5,000 naira brown envelopes. He said after making my furniture and buy a TV and probably some music set, all that money would do was purchase of shoes and clothes. And he added that as those get worn so would my credibility and integrity. Lastly, he warned that if I depended on bribes, I will never be able to look beyond that. it would define journalism for me.

Some two years later, I would be grateful to BB for that talk. Former Premier Music GM, Dean Disi had resigned his job. There were obviously some crises there. He was to start a new music label with ken Calebs Olumese, Guvnor of Niteshift Coliseum. However, some people in the entertainment sector, led by Charley Boy had decided he would not practice in the industry again. There was a media campaign, very damaging against him. And almost everybody anchoring a page that could be used for that project was mobilised. I refused to publish anything about the man without hearing his side of the story. I looked for him. I recall him telling me in his sitting room at Adeniyi Jones street in Ikeja that he had decided not to grant an interview to any journalist as there seemed to have been agreement by all to trash his image. He said reason he agreed to talk to me was he could trust me because of the encounter we had when I was asked to take over the Saturday Highlife page over from Tunde Kolawole and Jude Arijaje, both of whom had been promoted Assistant features Editors. I had been invited to a meeting by Dean Disi, Dayo Olomu, Bukky Campbell, Peteru and the man about replacing Disi as Premiere GM and offered 500 naira per week to write at least four stories about Premiere music and its artistes in a month. That would fetch me 2,000 naira per moth. My salary back then in 1994 was 1,200 naira per month! But I told them not to bother, that I actually needed them to retain my job than they needed me. Dean Disi said that that encounter decided for him he could trust me as not having come to do an hatchet job for some people. He made revelations that day that were shocking about certain persons I had held in high esteem. Some of the things he said I later confirmed from other sources. One thing that I also learnt is that people who offer you bribe for favours would reveal such at places and to persons you never thought they would speak to. I left Dean's house not thinking about the revelations he made, not about the story I went for, I left his house recalling that advice BB gave me. That incident meant a lot for me.

And some months before that BB had also taught me a lesson in leadership. He had become the daily editor. i was then secretary of the Punch chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ. I had a baptism of fire shortly after the elections, appointments of colleagues were terminated. Almost all of them, about 16 were from the daily newsroom. Their appointments were terminated based on the assessments made by the three titles editors. Anybody rated poor was asked to go. BB, in his frank way had rated some poor because he felt they needed to improve on their performance at the job. He said he was never told the assessment would be used to determine people's jobs. We went through a tortuous discussion and negotiation with management. What came out was that there was more than mere staff ratings involved. at the end of the day, we were told that the editor should write to officially withdraw those assessment. I had been in the civil service. i have parents who have good experience in labour relations, I had been in students' union and departmental associations' leadership. I had been reading about management. And I had been reading into psychological warfare. I knew what that means for a manager. It became a challenge who would go and ask BB to provide a rope that could be used to hang him one day. No manager writes such memo, say you were wrong rating as many as 16 staff poor, persons whose jobs had been determined based on that rating and expect not to suffer some repercussion for that at some point. It may not be used by persons there at that time. It may come up in future. Even if there were no political reason for that demand at that time, it could come up later. It became my lot to inform him. i was the closest to him in that exco. When I told him, I expected him to say a No. He stunned me when he shook his head smiled and asked me if I knew the implication of what he had been asked to do. I said yes. He smiled and said he would do it. He did not wait for me to ask him why he would do it. He said he would not in the attempt to protect himself let others suffer. I went home that evening sad. I should be happy, I was not going to be disgraced in the first test as a labour leader. I was sad because I was learning had reality of leadership.

As a manager, he knew his workers, he knew their strength, their limits and how to motivate them. And he was never afraid of taking responsibilities for their failings when he felt he could have helped. That I also learnt from him. He made it clear to me I was not an entertainment writer and had no temperament for it. When I took over the Saturday Highlife page, he was no longer the Features editor, therefore not my direct line manager. But he called me in and as he did in 1992, gave advice I would not forget. He told me of the risk of pretending to be Tunde Kolawole or Jude. And he also warned me there would be protest at stamping my own style on the page. True enough, after few weeks, I was told I was going to kill the page. I was an art writer on an entertainment page. I was more interested in reviews, in policy issues, in history. The regular entertainment stories held no appeal for me. And I also felt whoever thinks writings about entertainment should be stories that appeal to base instinct was wrong. I didn't last long on page. But I was happy leaving it. I was also happy BB had that talk with me. It was a warning that I should not stop being who I am because of a job. That was also a saving grace for me. When I decided it was time I leave Punch, one of the people I had to thank for my next move is BB. Perhaps the other person is Gbemiga Ogunleye, who also like BB believed I was gifted much more than I believed myself.

My next job, moving from features writing and arts reviews, was to teach other journalists and some development workers CARR - Computer Assisted Research and Reviews. A graduate of Yoruba/Drama building people's capacity in CARR in 2000 Nigeria! Today, there is no big deal about it. Some friends felt I was making a mistake with the move. BB felt it was regrettable I was leaving, he himself had left Punch by then. He felt it would have been better if I was leaving the newsroom at a higher level. But he felt I was moving into a good position. A discussion with him at his flat at Ogba in the company of Kehinde Bamigbetan was a morale booster for me. I wasn't sure I had not made a serious mistake leaving Punch or turning down an offer from another major newspaper that had asked me if I would be interested in an opening they had then.

Another decision he made on leaving Punch, was hard. It was one painful option I would be wary of taking. He made his choice, he never cried about it. He stood by it. At some point, I was afraid for him so much I could not even visit him. The details of that I can't discuss in an open forum, but I still marvelled at his courage. But I went away from that even with a lesson, there are certain decisions that could be painful, but they do not necessarily break you.

BB is not infallible. He has his flaws. But every time I wake up, some of the time I take some decisions, once in a while when I reflect on choices I have made and the results of those choices, BB is one of those people who played some role in it. Interesting thing is like other people who have influenced them, it was not intended. They have merely done a day's job or merely acted according to the dictates of their conscience.

BB still writes and can be followed here