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Uncle Wole, creator
and host of the long rested popular children’s programme on TV, ‘Animal
Games’, is one of many Nigerians excelling in fields other than their
course of study. The graduate of the British Boot and Shoe Institution,
England, and holder of a postgraduate diploma in Management Studies, is
famous as a TV presenter.

His journey into
fame started while studying in England in the 60s. He used to watch
Australian, Rolf Harris’ show but didn’t know the programme would
eventually inspire him. Back in Nigeria, he told his friend, Dejumo
Lewis, actor-producer who played ‘Kabiyesi’ in ‘Village Headmaster’, of
his intention to create a programme for children.

“He said: let’s go
to the Children’s Department at NTA. When we got there, I met the then
head of department, Ola Edu. I told her I have the mind of creating a
programme that has to do with animals, games and music for children.
She said she would buy it and gave me an appointment for another
meeting,” he recalls.

In what appears an
initial setback, Edu was transferred to another department. But luckily
for the former choirboy, Edu’s replacement, Frances Adebajo, also
bought the idea. Akinosho proposed two programmes, ‘Yankari Safari’ and
the then unnamed ‘Animal Games’ to Adebajo but she preferred ‘Animal
Games’.

“She said I’m
listing down the programme for next quarter’s production. That was how
we started and the very first programme we had, we had the lion as the
star animal because for each programme we always had a star animal for
the week.

“I had already
prepared information about lions, so I invited a school and we had a
rehearsal. I brought a school the following week but I just noticed
that some other children already were there. I asked who invited them
and they said they saw it on TV; that they are interested in it. In no
time, the audience was gathering. At a time, there wasn’t enough space
to contain all the children. We had to drive some of them to the
canteen to watch TV and they kept crying.” A generation grew up on
‘Animal Games’, which eventually ran on NTA for more than a decade
before it was rested. During the course of presenting the programme,
Akinosho picked up playing the guitar and organ. He was also able to
express his creativity with the challenges of churning out fresh ideas
weekly. The entertainer – who had previously worked in shoe factories
and thought combining his job as a civil servant with the Lagos State
Government and presenting the programme was going to be easy – had a
rethink when the stress became unbearable.

Fine spirits

While some swear by
the entertainment caution, ‘Never work with children or animals’, the
opposite is the case with Akinosho who loves “playing with them because
they are innocent, they have fine spirits. They are easy to train and
they give you good attention. They learn quickly and they respond
positively. I enjoyed being with them. They make you happy once you
make them happy. That was our focus, to make everybody happy.” However,
it isn’t a one way thing for Uncle Wole. “A lesson I learnt is that
you, the presenter, must be interested in what you are doing because if
the animal for this week is lion, I will look into books to get all
necessary information on lions. After that I could write a script for a
short drama sketch and I could even write a song on it. So, for each
programme I will write the sketch, the script for the sketch, the song
that goes with the star animal for the week and even the games, I
created a lot of them myself. Then for that programme, I will go to
schools, rehearse the children and have dress rehearsal before going on
TV. It is interest that matters in anything one does. And I’m glad that
the programme turned out to be very successful.”

Perks of the job

Some of the
benefits Uncle Wole derived from presenting ‘Animal Games’ include
invitations to emcee events, including the Presidency during the tenure
of Shehu Shagari with Julie Coker and Sola Omole; enjoying preferential
treatment on planes and airports, greetings from fans and getting gifts.

One experience,
though, remains fresh in his memory. “I wanted to buy a Datsun. It was
with an Alhaji in Ilorin. That time, the cost of the car was N8, 000 so
I paid N6, 000; that when I get my original receipt, I will pay the
balance of N2, 000. Instead of the man to give me my original receipt,
he brought a policeman from Ilorin to threaten me to pay the money.
Then, if you are not careful, you will get a new car but within a week
or two, it will be gone because stealing was very rampant those days. I
was asked to report at Alagbon CID; that was the first time I got to
that place. When I got there, the Alhaji was standing by. The man we
were to see, we got to the room but he wasn’t there so we were looking
round for him. Suddenly a man in mufti saw me and asked if I was Uncle
Wole. I said yes. He embraced me and said I’ve been thinking of meeting
you; just come to my office.

“By then, more
police officers and others had surrounded us. When we got into the
office he asked what I wanted for breakfast and I requested for coffee.
He said: look, before I even go into your matter, my child is dying to
come to that programme. I said ask her to be there on Wednesday at 4pm,
she will be my guest on the programme. We settled that and he asked
what brought me. The officer turned out to be the then head of Alagbon.
I’ve forgotten his name now. He asked the Alhaji for the receipt and I
had already prepared a certified bank cheque of N2, 000. I showed it to
him and he asked him why he didn’t give me the receipt. He was trying
to give excuses and he told him you are one of those who sell cars and
go back to steal them. That I give you up to Thursday, if I don’t get
that receipt on my table here, you are in for trouble.”

Mr Emcee

Over time, Uncle
Wole blossomed into a full time emcee, anchoring events for companies
including Chevron, Mobil, Unilever, Cadbury, PZ and Nestle among
others. He also established an outfit which entertained weekly. “I had
this party going on every week and sometimes we had about six
programmes a week. Then I established the Animal Games Club, with
chapters in Lagos. During Easter, we entertained people and during
Christmas, we organised programmes like Telematch , carnivals and so
many things. I created Nido Games for Nestle, to promote Nido.” What
eventually happened to ‘Yankari Safari’?

“I just dropped
that idea because ‘Animal Games’ was expanding. It engaged a lot of my
time so I didn’t have time for any other programme. We even had our own
magazine.”

I‘ll be back

Uncle Wole, like a
number of people who believe things are on a downward trend, isn’t too
enamoured of current children’s television programmes. “Nowadays, most
of those that handle children’s programme, you don’t see any commitment
in their work. Our basic idea then was to entertain, educate and inform
the children. That was the philosophy behind our programme but
nowadays, the ideas are not so deep. The philosophies behind the
programmes are not so deep,” he states.

Though it hasn’t been on TV in years, the Sunday school
superintendent at African Church Cathedral, Bethel, Lagos, hasn’t given
up on ‘Animal Games’. “What we are trying to do is go back to TV and
continue with the production of ‘Animal Games’. I’m trying to see which
TV station will best handle the programme but we are trying to put it
back on TV. Technically, we still do party entertainment and schools
programmes.”