Nigeria Abroad
If you’re working in a bank, you’re sitting on a keg of gunpowder,” Donatus Owa, known by his creative name Elder 101 tells Nigeria Abroad from his home in Canada’s Nova Scotia. For a man who worked as auditor at Nigeria’s Diamond Bank before moving to Canada in 2018, Elder speaks as an analyst who was once an insider.
“You can be sacked without notice,” he continues. “You’ll just come to work one day and won’t be able to log in. If you’re earning well—living in a highbrow area with kids in expensive schools —and that happens, you’re finished.”
That uncertainty, Elder says, haunted him until he embraced Canada’s Express Entry opportunity and left, wife and son in tow. He is a permanent resident in a country boasting a bubbling Nigerian community, where he is cutting a new path as a radio anchor—hosting Africa’s first Pidgin English show in North America.
A graduate in Accountancy from Delta State University, Agbor-born Elder grew up in Sapele, a fertile source of Nigerian Pidgin. His creative talent first surfaced during his Youth Service days as an MC to several events, and as a drama coordinator in the Redeemed Church of God. When he got his banking job, friends and well-wishers who believed in his art felt it was a wrong move.
“Banking was dulling my talent,” Elder says, a crease of smile upon his face. But banking also helped unleash his genius.
Many may recall a video that went viral on social media in 2018, in which a costume-made elder was advising Nigerians about ATM fraud: how fraudsters operate, how to safeguard the famous money card, and how fraud can lead the innocent to jail. Someone downloaded it off Elder’s Korna TV on YouTube and shared it across other platforms. The response was massive.
“Working in a bank as an auditor exposed me to what was going on at the ATMs,” Elder notes. “So, I decided to educate Nigerians about it using entertainment.”
Success of that clip and the moral support of friends and church members inspired hilarious Elder to deepen his career as a YouTuber.
“I was also deeply into forex and I’m still doing it,” he shares. “So I am working here as a YouTuber, and a forex and cryptocurrency trader. I had to teach myself video editing too” to give his new career the self-reliance it needs.
One day in foreign land, Elder was listening to the radio and heard a French program on air. And it hit him: despite a growing West African presence in Canada, there was no radio program for the people.
“Pidgin is the most dominating language in Africa,” he says. Perhaps. Much of West Africa and other parts of the continent speak the language that appeals to many, including those who can’t speak proper English.
“So I Googled radio stations in Canada and started speaking to them one by one, telling them that something was missing in their programming. Some appreciated the information but were not interested. One invited me over, inducted me on broadcast ethics and right there asked for a demo. I posted on my WhatsApp that Pidgin was about going live in Canada and I went on air. The station was amazed at the volume of call-ins from Nigerians and others on that first day.”
It was late 2019 and history had just been quietly made.
“Someone called in and said, ‘Wait a minute, have I been deported?’ Even Canadians at the station were dancing to the Nigerian beats I was playing. Some people called from the US. Sometime later, a Spanish-Canadian who found the language interesting, called in. I have taken birthday calls from Nigeria. You never can tell who is listening or watching what you’re doing.”
In the age of the internet, people can tune in to Elder’s Korna live from any part of the world.
The big bucks have not started rolling in yet, admits Elder, who recently launched a slew of content, including guest appearances—starting with Nigerian-Canadian architect and artist Boma Nnaji.
“We will be discussing the issues that affect us here. Culture clash and many things. For instance, patriarchy. This is not a place you come to and be doing hierarchy; so that you can live long.”
Meanwhile, Elder’s dream is beyond North America. “I hope to one day anchor Pidgin content of CNN, CBS, or any of those big media.”
Read the full story in Nigeria Abroad
