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    Saturday, November 9, 2013

    I Got Married at 20, Had My Last Baby at 23 –Director, Current Affairs LTV8, Funke Moore


    Mrs. Funke Moore, Director, Current Affairs with Lagos Television, tells ’Nonye Ben-Nwankwo about her career as a broadcaster and being married to a Jamaican
     
    You don’t look like a grandmother, could it be that your daughter got married very early?
    No. She was 25 when she got married. She is 29 at the moment. She is a lawyer. She is a state counsel with the Lagos State. I feel good when I’m told I don’t look like a grandmother. I am 50 now but I became a grandmother at 46. But being a grandmother hasn’t changed anything. It is just that everybody wants to see their children’s children. I am happy that I am seeing mine and I hope more will still come. I play my grandmotherly role. I babysit for hours and I enjoy it.

    Why do you like cropped hair?
    I have had it for about 11 years now. I am comfortable with it. It is low maintenance. I don’t have to do a lot of things. It saves money and really, I feel comfortable. The intention wasn’t for it to make me look younger. When I did it about 11 years ago, I was just fed up with going to the salon. From time to time, even when I was younger, I used to have low cut for a while or braid it or do some other thing to my hair. I then decided to stick to this look. What am I struggling for?

    Have you always wanted to be a broadcaster?
    Yes. I have never done anything else anyway and I started at a very young age. I started at about 20 years. It was something I had wanted to do. Incidentally, the people who inspired me those days were reporters with Punch Newspapers. There was one guy I used to know- Adams Aliyu. He was a reporter with Punch. Back then, I used to live with my uncle who was a former Commissioner for Agriculture in Lagos State. Aliyu came to interview my uncle about the crisis in Epe back then. I was very young. I think I was about 12 years. From that interview, Aliyu was able to shed light on the things happening in Epe. That made a big impression on me.

    And just because of that, you decided to become a journalist?
    Not only because of that. Some of my cousin’s friends were reporters as well. I liked what they were doing. I liked reading their reports. I fancied myself as an investigative reporter.

    How come you didn’t go into print journalism then?
    I actually wanted to. In fact, I did. I went to the Times Journalism Institute. Then it was known as Daily Times Training Centre. I had stint with Daily Times. I worked briefly with the Evening Times. Thereafter, I went to Nigeria Institute of Journalism for a diploma course. It was while I was there that somebody told me they were recruiting at the Lagos Television. I came and I just veered off.

    Just like that?
    Oh yes, it was just like that. I was young and I was adventurous. It was a job and I decided to do it. I didn’t think of branching off again. It never occurred to me. I am in the public service. I am even a member of staff of Lagos State government. I am a career public servant but I chose to work in a TV station. I have been working here for the past 30 years.

    Really?
    Yes. People say it has been a long time but there are still people who have been working here for a longer time. I have found it exciting. No two days have been the same. If I found it boring, I would have left. I love myself a lot. I wouldn’t torture myself by doing something I don’t enjoy. I enjoy my job a lot.

    You must have done some self-development in the course of your duties…

    Oh yes. When I left NIJ, I went to Lagos State University for a degree programme in English Literature. I also went to University of Lagos for my Master’s in English Literature. I was even thinking of doing a doctorate programme but I had to reconsider. I spent more years in the classroom than most people because I ran all the programmes bit by bit.

    How were you able to manage your schedule being a worker as well as a student?
    With the benefit of hindsight, I still ask myself how I did it. I also got married at 20. I had my last baby at 23. I was in school. There was even a time I was pregnant while I was in school. In 1983, I was pregnant with my first child and I was in school. I was a full time student and I was also working. I just had to combine everything. My bosses were understanding. I think it was just God’s favour. I wouldn’t ascribe all the efforts to myself. God was just on my side.

    There was no time you got depressed and felt like quitting?
    Why? I had my children to provide for. It didn’t even occur to me to give up. I knew I was working towards a certain goal. In this profession, if you don’t have a university degree, you won’t get ahead. We attach so much importance to paper qualification. Even if you can write well and speak passable grammar, you have to keep developing yourself even aside from the paper qualification.

    Modern day Nigerian broadcasters tend to speak using foreign accent. Is it ideal that these days broadcasters talk as if they are not Nigerians?
    I don’t know where such people come from. Where I work, we don’t have such. We try to speak as naturally as possible. You are not an ‘oyinbo’ person so why do you have to sound and speak like them? How many of them can speak like us? Even the white people don’t want us to speak like them. They understand us better when we speak naturally. We are Nigerians. I can never sound like a foreigner. I have never lived abroad anyway so where would I have picked the foreign accent from? It would be artificial.  But then, you cannot afford to speak like a market woman or like the ordinary woman on the street. Your training must reflect in the way you speak. You just don’t have to overdo it.

    Can you still remember the first time you were in front of a camera?
    It was an accident. We used to have the 2 o’clock news on Saturdays. The person that was supposed to read the news didn’t come. I was a reporter and I would voice my reports then. So one of my bosses suggested I go and read it. I told him I didn’t have a scarf and somebody offered to give me her scarf and blouse. It was the house style then to dress African when you were in front of the camera. So I went and I did it well with one or two stumbles. That was how I was given the opportunity to be doing it once on Saturdays. And thereafter, somebody suggested that I should be sent on a course at FRCN. I did that and over the years, I have been developing myself.

    Television made you popular, how have you been able to handle stardom?
    I don’t see myself as a celebrity. I still go to the market. Some people would recognise me and that is it. It doesn’t mean anything to me. When you see yourself as a celebrity, you will live above your means. You will live a false life. I am a woman who is working in television and that is simple.

    What has been your experience working in a male dominated environment?
    I have learnt one thing from my male colleagues. Men don’t keep malice. They would quarrel now and the next minute, they are drinking together. I learnt that and I do that. In the board room, we can argue and have heated debate on a particular issue. But when we come out, I am your friend. That is one thing I have learnt to emulate. Even when men don’t like one another, they don’t let it affect their work. They gossip as much as women do anyway.

    Are you closer to the men than women?
    When I was younger, I used to say I preferred the company of male friends to female friends. But as you get older, you need your female friends more than anything in the world. Who will you discuss your children with? Of course, it is with a fellow woman who has gone through that. When a man is 50 years old, his female friends are not 50, they are 18. My friends are women. I love them.

    You lost your father when you were young. How did you cope especially when you needed your parents?
    Growing up, I didn’t see it as a challenge. I didn’t have a father and it meant I didn’t have a father. It didn’t occur to me that I should mourn about it. My father died when I was four and half years. I didn’t know him. There were difficulties. But the extended family society we have helped me. I cannot rubbish that. My father had a brother. Remember I said I lived with my uncle who was a commissioner. He did try to take care of me. He lost two of his brothers- my father and another brother of his. Many people didn’t know he wasn’t  our father. He did it so well.

    Was it by choice you got married at 20?
    It was by choice. Nobody forced me. When you are at that age, you think you know everything. I met my husband at 20. He was a foreigner. That was a point against him. He was 20 years older than me and my people felt he was taking advantage of me. But I didn’t listen.

    Why?
    I was so much in love with him and I am glad I didn’t listen. If I had listened, I wouldn’t have had these wonderful children I now have. When people see me and my children, they don’t believe I am their mother. At the initial time, it was rough especially with what people were saying about my marriage. But all things work together for good to those who love God. I had my last baby at 23. Since then, I have not had another child.  Imagine this, what if I had waited till I was 23 before getting married? Maybe I wouldn’t have had children.

    Where did your husband come from?
    He came from Jamaica.

    Was it love at first sight?
    Oh yes. I was young and naïve. I loved his accent. It was interesting. He was mature. He had schooled in England and Poland. I liked his outlook. I liked his composure. He wasn’t a loud person. But those are not the things that matter when you are looking for a life partner. He wasn’t a bad person anyway.

    Would you allow your son to marry a foreigner?

    I would allow them to follow their dreams and marry who they want to get married to. It is not about where you come from. My husband left eventually but he is late now. I have seen people who married fellow Nigerians and their marriages didn’t last one year. I have seen people who married childhood friends and it didn’t last. You marry out of love. What do you hope to do in future?

    Retirement is not so far away. You can make plans but God directs your paths. I might have a TV station, who knows? If God says amen to all of that, I will not starve. As long as you are alive, the best is yet to come.
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