TAYO BALOGUN A SPORTS ADMINISTRATOR WHO COULD HAVE BEEN A SOLDIER

A few media personalities command respect like him. He remains iconic as one of Nigeria’s broadcaster extraordinaires – a godfather of screen. Tayo Balogun belongs to the golden generation of Nigerian television veterans. His in-depth analysis of the round leather game often draws sports enthusiasts to his tent. For 45 years, he dominated the screen with his firm voice. Versatile and innovative, his position as the anchor of the popular Bournvita Sports Classic brought him fame and fortune. Recently, Balogun turned 70 years old. Funke Olaode explores the life of Nigeria’s latest septuagenarian on and off the screen.

Till date, legendary Tayo Balogun is regarded as one of Nigeria’s celebrated sports/radio administrators and finest Nigerian columnist. He displayed his varied talents for 45 years and became a household name to sports enthusiasts. He charmed the sports world with his firm voice on and off the camera; for his world revolves around sports. For several years, he was with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) where he shone brilliantly.

Balogun has tried his hands on several beats while at NTA and other establishments. As a versatile person, his brilliance preceded him. For this, he took on leadership responsibility at a very young age.

Arriving at his home in Ogba, Ikeja Lagos home, Balogun cut the image of a casual figure in his native ‘Atiku’ attire. Looking sharp and robust, he is aging gracefully. He was in great spirit as he settled down in his cozy office within his household. He looked happier following a successful career spanning 45 years and also attaining the age of 70. But admitted jokingly that ‘he is not that excited’ turning 70 because it reminds him he is not getting younger.

“I have never been so excited being 70 because it reminds me that I am getting older. Now at 70, I see the responsibility to be more forthcoming with the truth. I know that our society is one in which the truth is missing in every aspect of our lives. At the level of my life, I see the responsibility of having the privilege of speaking your mind and not caring whose ox is gored,” he said.

Balogun was born in Lagos on December 21, 1951 at No. 152, Clifford Street, Alagomeji Area in front of Alagomeji Railway Station, now Murtala Muhammed Way, Ebute Metta. Recalling his younger days growing up in the Lagos of ‘old’ where life was peaceful, he called it ‘fun.’

“I enjoyed growing up. It was fun. We were living in Alagomeji. I was originally schooling in Ladi Lak on Akinwunmi Street. We walked from Alagomeji to Ladi Lak and walked back. We played on the way to school and played on the way back. We had fun, we stayed in front of the house looking at the vehicles passing by and sometimes had tales by moonlight, played cowboy and Indian plays. And then of course we would go to play football. I still remembered some of my friends that l grew up with.

“I wish we could replicate it now, because in those days when my mother was going to look for me, she would say: ‘Please assist me in looking for Tayo at the railway compound’ where we play football or where we play table tennis. It is either of those two places or sometimes, she won’t even have to send anybody to Evans Square but I will always be around. We just grew up in a way that we never knew we were growing up and we had fun,” he recalled.

Balogun’s father worked at Nigerian Railways which was known then as Loco (locomotive). “He was a technician, and in charge of maintaining and repairing. And he learnt everything he knew about the job on the job. My mum in the sweet sense of the word could pass as a housewife. And of course you know most housewives will have one or two things they are doing by the side. She was into petty trading.”

Balogun began his early education in 1958 at age of seven and in his first test as a pupil, he came first. And this came with its reward. “Having come first in my test my father made sure that any time that I am pretending to be reading, nobody touches me. He will just tell them, ‘Don’t you see he is reading his book?’ So, I came first in my early years, all through my primary, secondary and even in the university. With modesty I was a brilliant child.”

As a child, his brilliant performance in school often earned him a visit to the cinema, a gift from his father. “Anytime I did well in my examinations, my father will take me to the cinema. He will guarantee me four cinemas during the week. We used to go to a casino or Odeon which was around Yaba. So, he was always taking me to the movies and in those days he liked Indian films. So I liked Indian films and I got fascinated to live on the screen. It didn’t quite mean anything to me back then as a child.”

Having excelled at his Common Entrance Examinations in Lagos, his uncle persuaded his father to send him to St. Augustine College, Kabba, Kwara State which was founded in 1958. According to his uncle, it was one of the best schools in Kwara State then.

“In his own assessment, he said the students behaved perfectly like gentlemen and gentle boys. They attract morals, they have a dance school, they have all these social activity programmes.”

At St. Augustine College, Kabba, Balogun became a champion that broke the jinx in 1971 when he did his West African Examination Council (WAEC). He became the first student in the history of that school to score a distinction (A1) in English Language. With a sense of pride and accomplishment, Balogun recalled that defining moment of over five decades ago.

“I was the first person to have A1 in the English Language. That was because I started reading newspapers early. Of course, our teachers encouraged us too. My father would bring his Daily Express. I will take it and then I will look at it and see A, N, T, and I will say ant. And from there I started getting it.”

Prior to his academic landmark at WAEC, Balogun had always seen himself as a gifted child. “I was conscious of the fact that I was gifted. As I was growing up, I took up some extracurricular activities, I became a footballer. When I went to Saint Augustine, I was the head boy, I was the school goalkeeper, I was the president of the debating and literary society, I was the person in charge of the photography club, and so I was involved in so many things. So I knew from the word go that I have to spread my time and know what time to allocate to studies. I read one and a half hours every day from day one until the examination time.”

Balogun’s journey into broadcasting was accidental or sheer providence. His dream after secondary school was to go into the army and he applied to the Nigerian Defence Academy. Having boycotted the Higher School Certificate (HSC), he opted for both NDA examinations and University of Ife concessional examinations. Passing both in flying colours, his next step was a detour: his stellar performance in English literature altered his career trajectory.

“When I was in secondary school because I was basically regarded as an all-rounder, at that time the governor of Kwara State, the late Bamigboye wanted us to embrace science subjects. Despite the fact that I know that I was gifted, there is no novel that I have not read. I read just about anything. I still went ahead to do Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Additional Mathematics, that was what I offered in my secondary school. But as soon as I dropped my pen for my WAEC, I knew that I was not going to go to HSC. So I rejected going to HSC and I said I was going to change course and read English.

“While my mates were going for HSC, I went to my sister in Kaduna where I spent the next two years reading for some ‘O’ level papers to be able to get to the university.”

After that, he applied for NDA and passed both at the same time, sat for the concessional entrance examination of UNIFE and passed. “I wanted to be a soldier; I really loved being a soldier. But I chose UNIFE.”

At Ife, his failure to do Literature in English would have truncated his ambition of studying English Language. “I was about to be registered at Ife when they discovered that I did not have Literature and I didn’t offer Literature in WAEC. It was a very confusing situation but God was with me. A 3-man panel was raised and one of them on the panel looked at my results and said ‘this young man scored 76 marks in Literature in English in our own exam, but he didn’t do it WAEC. But he had A1 in English, so why are we stopping him from reading English? By scoring 76 in our own exam it shows that he is as good as anybody that we would admit to study English.’ That was why I was allowed to study English.”

Fired by the comment of the panel member and determination to succeed, Balogun plunged himself into UNIFE and immersed himself into what it would offer. He changed the face of campus journalism.

“I did not like the way the campus papers were going because it was always negative. Girls were wrongly presented and usually came out with things that were not true. So a group of us tried to change the face of campus journalism. We took it to a higher level. We delved into societal issues. We formed some serious newspapers – The Black Struggle. We also have X-ray, which were serious minded newspapers which talked about ills in society, governance and inadequacies in government.

Also, with the help of the Press Council, we insisted that we are not going to defame any girl or man. It became something that was very popular. We had what you call a vibrant press club. Sam Ohabunwa was one of us. He was actually my vice-president when I was the president of the press club. We set out to change the face of campus journalism and I think we tried.”

Balogun graduated from Ife in 1976 and carried his vibrant flame of journalism outside Ife. Again, providence played a key role.

“I was going to go and teach during my NYSC. When the posting came out, they said I was given a posting to People’s Girls Grammar School in Ibadan. So, I took a piece of paper and a pen and I went to the chief inspector who is everybody’s friend. And I said, ‘Madam, sign that if I impregnate any girl, I will not be held responsible. She looked at me and said, ‘What did you just say? I repeated myself. She said I will be held responsible. She said, in order words, I don’t want to go there? So, she asked where I wanted to go. And I said anywhere. Sketch, NTA Ibadan. Eventually I was posted to WNTV Ibadan, now NTA. This was in 1976.”

Balogun joined WNTV in 1976 and for the next 18 years, he traversed different beats under his boss, Biodun Sotunbi. Balogun tried to learn from the establishment at NTA. How would he describe his first day on camera?

“We had a lot of training before you go on air for any programme. My immediate boss then was Biodun Sotunbi. He was handling ‘Speak Out.’ He would always tell me to understudy him until I perfect the act. To go on air wasn’t automatic during my days. So, it is not like now when people jump on air and call themselves analysts.”
Balogun had an eventful career at NTA anchoring programmes, meeting who’s who. “I was successful. I was meeting the right people, I was enjoying whatever I was doing. I had opportunities to meet everybody that is anybody in Ibadan. I was close to Bola Ige, close to Victor Olunloyo, Akinjide, close to Akinloye, close to almost all the movers and shakers and it falls on both sides, both UPN and NPN.”

But his move to the NTA Sports in Ibadan by his manager to take over from Fabio Olanipekun who was moved to Lagos changed everything. Before NTA Sports, Balogun had worked in different sections within the organization such as current affairs, investigative section, personality interviews etc. He admitted it was NTA Sports that opened his window into his world. “I went into NTA Sports and I discovered one thing that before I got into sports towards 1979 and 1980, I was doing political programmes, I was doing some important television programmes that brought me in contact with the likes of MKO Abiola who were the movers and shakers. But when I got into sports it was a different ball game. It was like all the mails I received during my days as a reporter, political correspondent, an On Air Personality (OAP), if you put them together, it falls insignificant from the recognition I got in sports. I handled the sports unit for so many years and travelled to over 20 countries.”

Dedicated to duty and committed to his employer but as an upwardly mobile young man, Balogun tried to accelerate his income and at some point tried to veer off camera for a greener pasture in corporate establishments such as NTC as a corporate relations manager and Leyland Nigeria Limited in Ibadan, an assembly plant that assembles Range Rovers. He always came tops in the interview. But destiny has always played a fast one on him as those opportunities often slipped away.

Resilient and focused, opportunities may elude him in corporate establishments but didn’t allow his spirit to be dampened. After 18 years at NTA which kick-started in Ibadan, Lagos and later Kwara State, he threw in the towel by resigning his appointment.

“It was like running two homes. My family then was in Lagos and I was based in Kwara. I resigned my appointment in 1993.”
A visionary man, Balogun rebranded and decided to focus his energy elsewhere within the same profession. It was during the second phase of his career that he had a breakthrough.

“I was contracted by Whitewood Production headed by late Osayande Osunde to anchor Bournvita Sports Classic sponsored by Cadbury. It was a ‘heavy pay’. All the money I earned for 18 years was not up to what he was paying me for six months. So, I thank God that whatever I would have earned earlier on in NTA God compensated me.”

The Bournvita Sports Classic debuted and was syndicated in 20 Television Stations across the country. This time, Balogun relied on a variety of factors including his days at NTA and contacts made on the job to succeed. This of course gave the show a lot of visibility and within a few weeks, it became the talk of the town. This he did by mixing personality with sporting activities by focusing on a specific set of people.

“At Bournvita Sports Classic, I saw Nigeria. There is nowhere that I have not been to because the late Osunde would insist that we must bring out people who have made their mark playing for this country. People who have made us laugh, people who have given us joy. I got to know so many people who have made their mark, like Dejo Fayemi, Henshaw, the family of Teslim Balogun etc.”

Committed to his callings, Balogun soared on the show for two years and by the time it ended, he was in high demand. The legendary this time veered off the screen for good. He was invited by the owner of MITV as a Consultant/ Chief Operating Officer to start Star FM. Balogun brought his wealth of experience to bear in his new assignment. And again, he delivered.

With the benefit of hindsight, Balogun can give a few pointers on what it takes to be a successful broadcaster.

“A sense of adventure, a desire to know. I always want to be the first to know. In all the programmes I have handled and all the people I have mentored, I have always told them to be the first to know. Be the first to broadcast any information that is accurate. You should not allow anybody to beat you to any scoop. And in this particular case, your loyalty is to your viewers for television. And you want to give the best that you can give.”

Balogun has been married for over four decades to his university heartthrob, Subuola Tayo Balogun whom he met in his final year at Ife.

“I met my wife in Ife. I was in my final year when we met. We were in the same department sort of because I read English and she read English Education. Like most marriages, we have our shortcomings. We have our minuses but somehow we have managed to stick to each other. She is a very kind woman and very supportive all the way.”

As he attains the age of 70, Balogun is not tired as he continues to be an inspiration and willing to be of help to the upcoming ones. Giving tips on life lessons he said life is beautiful.

“We just must open our eyes to see the beauty in it. We wrap ourselves in so many don’ts: don’t do this, don’t do that. It is crazy the way we allow peopl e to impose on us, to tell us this is the way to run your life. They tell you don’t eat this, don’t drink this. We must learn on the inner mind, your body tells you what you want, it tells you what you need. I want a situation where we look at life in a more pleasant way because it is not about don’ts.”