Call him mister innovator, you may not be wrong. Even call him a man of many firsts, one may not be entirely wrong. This writer is referring to Mr. Kunle Onime, the tall, dark son of Edo State, who was one of those behind a musical concert named Lekki Sunsplash founded in the mid-1980s by Dapo Adelegan.
Modelled after Reggae Sunsplash in Kingston, Jamaica, Lekki Sunsplash, also had a talent hunt section that gave music loving Nigerians, acts like Blackky, Alex Zitto among others before it went under in 1997 like most things in Nigeria; but not without featuring the best of Nigerian musicians of that era. One remarkable thing about Lekki Sunsplash was its ability to deliver on what it promised to do ( especially in those era when it was the vogue for promoters to promise and fail in terms of artistes on their line-up). Fela Anikulapo-Kuti who was known for his eccentric behavior never failed to attend the yearly edition of its shows – thanks to Onime and other foot soldiers who kept faith with every terms and conditions in the late musician’s contract.
But like every good things that never last forever, Lekki Sunsplash went under after almost two decades. Onime who was the face of the concert before then had also ran Lekki Sunsplash side by side with his own concert, Xmas Jams, worked with then front line acts like late Ras Kimono, Tyna Onwudiwe (Africa Oyibo) and Arthur Pepple, Daniel Wilson
From Lekki Sunsplash that pioneered development of what is today known as Lekki, the highbrow residential area of elite Lagosians, Onime set up in activation activities by establishing what was then known as Market Jams before moving to Group Africa, the popular South Africa experiential marketing concern, to try his hands on how to market brands. He joined the group as its pioneer Operations Manager in Nigeria and left as Operations Director for West Africa in 1999. There (at Group Africa) he honed his skills in experiential marketing. Learned the rope in experiential marketing before throwing in the towel, to re-established his own outfit, MPC, in 1999 and became one of the first, if not the first Nigerian, to venture into the business of experimental marketing. He became a pathfinder in that area, threw the light that others followed. His foray into the sector opened the eyes of a lot of others who jumped into it and it began to boom until 2020 when COVID-19 scattered the world and arrested the world’s economy. Before then, he had ran the company for a decade plus, contributed to the economic development of Nigeria, touched lives with his philanthropic gesture by providing for the poor and needy, taking youths off the streets, providing jobs for them among others.
As a winner who never quits, Onime refused to be held down by the crisis of COVID-19, he ventured into broadcasting same year and today, he is the proud owner of Roots FM; an over 90 percent strictly reggae music station based in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. That made its appearance on the airwaves on August 19 2019.
At Roots FM, we play strictly reggae music – Onime
Four years after and still going strong, Roots FM, he told this writer in a 2022 interview, ” running the station has not been easy.”
” We face the same challenges of lack of electricity, high cost of diesel among others, like any other business outfit,” he said.
Onime did not also fail to let us into the choice of Abeokuta as the base of the station saying that that is the city his spirit directed him to just as he said that the experience he gathered working with reggae acts like aforementioned acts above and the fact that he was deeply involved in a reggae music organisation inspired him into establishing a reggae music station, the first in Nigeria
That decision and the location of the station has paid off as Abeokuta that is considered as the home base of Apala and juju music, having produced eminent musicians in both genres, has embraced it.
As the station marks its fourth anniversary later this year, this writer cannot but wish it a very happy belated birthday!
