Soni Irabor, Oladimeji Lawal: Where are they now?

At a time when it is very easy to forget the records of former public servants and those that once served the country meritoriously, it is important to recall the records of those individuals and their indelible performances; ELEOJO IDACHABA writes.

Patrick Ekeji

A former player and coach of the national team, The Green Eagles, he is a complete sports personality who was a delight to many, especially journalists, when he was in service. Before he was appointed national director of sports at the National Sports Commission in 1994, Ekeji was also a director of sports in Imo state. At a point, he became director of sports development at the National Sports Commission in 2001 and director-general, National Sports Commission in 2009, a post he retired from in 2013.

While commenting on the problem of sports development in Nigeria after his retirement, Ekeji who had seen it all in the sub sector said, “The first challenge is that of administration. When I say administration, I need to explain it. For the ordinary people out there, when they look at sports administration, they zoom in on the National Sports Commission as that is where the problem is, but the problem is not really at the National Sports Commission. NSC is a government body that is expected to come out with policies and these policies are now expected to be driven by other sub-players.

“For instance, at state levels, the state sports councils are not funded at all, not to talk of being properly funded. At the school levels, they have their programmes but the NSC, even as much as we try to admit them into our games, cannot make them align their programmes with what we have at the NSC. I can tell you that the National Sports Policy, which was passed in 2009, is one of the best in the world, but sadly, we cannot enforce those policies on these schools where the first talents are to be sourced form.

“At the state level, there are many unqualified staff. At the local government level, they have sports committees, which are non-existent. Now at the NSC, what do you expect us to do with the products brought by all the other levels of sports administration?”

Since he retired from service over eight years ago, nothing has been heard about this ex-footballer and sports administrator par excellence.

Soni Irabor

Soni Irabor is someone whose name would not be common among those in the age gap often referred to as millennials, even though he is not someone that can be branded as analogue. This is so because this former broadcaster with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) is someone whose voice is no longer popular in the tube. In Radio Nigeria Ikoyi Lagos where he and the likes of the late Zakari Mohammed, Mani Onumonu, Sidney Ufeli and Jones Usen worked, he was particularly noted for his regular Monday morning programme called Radioscope that was a delight to many listeners across the country.

Since he went into retirement, it was alleged that he and others who made Radio Nigeria thick left with the goodwill the station once enjoyed as not many of his likes were left behind to do what Soni and others were doing. He studied Mass Communications at the University of Lagos and later trained as a speech trainer with The Radio Deutsche Welle (The Voice of Germany) equivalent to the Voice of Nigeria. Beside this, he holds a certificate in Leadership and Governance in Media and Communications from Pan Atlantic University. He has handled many media and PR assignments like OAU and ECOWAS Heads of Government Conference and many corporate events since he began his private media practice.

According to a social media blog, Bella Naija, “Soni as his friends like to call him began his career with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation as a junior announcer in 1977 and served for a year before proceeding to the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) as a senior announcer/newsreader in 1978 where he rose quickly to hold positions such as controller presentation trainer, marketing manager and assistant director, marketing. He left the corporation in 2000 to start Ruyi Communications where he made the transition from his successful career as a public servant to his famous Soni Irabor Live programme that ran on Television for a while before becoming a radio talk staple where he has hosted leading public and business figures.”

Apart from this, not much has been known about Soni Irabor again.

Oladimeji Lawal

Dimeji Lawal as he was popularly called during his active days is a former Nigerian footballer who played as a midfielder for clubs in Nigeria, Spain, and Belgium at different times. He started his football career with Femo Scorpion Football club of Eruwa where he featured alongside notable footballers like Mutiu Adepoju before he moved to Spain at the youthful age of 18 and signed a contract with Real Madrid. There, he spent two seasons; one in the Segunda Division A and the other in Division B. Despite his impressive outing, he was never promoted to the main squad, the reason for which he returned to Nigeria and played for Shooting Stars Football Club.

Not satisfied with the football terrain in the country and in his quest to seek greener pasture in football, in 1993, he left the country and joined Belgian Second Division side KV Kortrijk for one season. At another time, he also played in the South African Premier Soccer League called Hellenic FC in 1994. Lawal is notable as one of the top most footballers that had given honour to the country; for example, he played for Nigeria in the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship in Canada and the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship in Saudi Arabia. He also made several appearances for the senior national team, especially during the 1992 African Nations Cup qualifier against Togo in 1990. It was rumoured that he was once a FIFA-licensed player agent, but one is not certain where he is presently and to what extent he still helps up-coming players to move ahead in their careers.