Interviewing Mrs Yar’Adua is my greatest desire for my TV show –Nike Oshinowo

Nike Oshinowo is not someone who needs much of an introduction. A former beauty queen, she’s been in the limelight for decades and she tells OSEYIZA OOGBODO BLOG about her latest venture, her TV show, Late Night With Nike Oshinowo. Congrats on the success of season one of your highly successful TV show, Late Night With Nike Oshinowo, and the takeoff of season two. How has the journey been so far? Would you say difficult or easy? You know, the funny thing is, every time I am congratulated on the success of season one, I still do a double take, because yes, we’re now in season two, I think we’ve done about five episodes of season two, and the journey so far has been quite remarkable. It hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be. If I have to use the word, hard, I think it’ll have to be on my schedule, because obviously, I think everyone in Nigeria know that I run a lot of organizations, but when Late Night With Nike Oshinowo starts, when you’re filming, you can’t do anything else, because everything is scheduled and you just have to be focused for that season, which means everything else suffers, everything else has to wait. Apart from that, I’m still amazed at how remarkably smooth the journey has been. So what inspired you to come up with Late Night? You know, I don’t think people believe me when I say this, but television. Television inspired me. I have this great love of anything within that box that is called a television. I love TV, I love watching TV, and I just found out that it was almost depressing the lack of good content on TV, and once we’re done with the soap operas and reality shows, there’s nothing else. I wanted a programme where I could get my fix of current affairs, comedy, music, fashion, politics, a little bit of fun, and there was nothing like that on Nigerian TV. Everything was just so serious, so lackluster, so boring, and I was like life isn’t this hard, life isn’t meant to be boring, so I looked for a way to put together a serious-minded show, but with me hosting it, because I’m a very tongue-in-cheek funny person, and I know that with me hosting it, even when we’re discussing serious topics, it would still be fun. I don’t want to mention names now, but is there any particular person, in terms of presenters, that inspired you? There are a lot of presenters out there in the world. You know, the world is a global village, so I don’t limit myself to watching just Nigerian TV. So what I intended to do is mash up of everything. Incidentally, the show is called Late Night With Nike Oshinowo. It could be called just The Late Night Show. I put Nike Oshinowo so that people can know that I will lend my personality to it. And since I’m lending my personality to that show, it means it really can’t be about any model, it means it can’t be that I’m trying to copy Oprah or be like Ellen Degeneres or Jimmy Fallon. It really means that it’s late night with Nike Oshinowo and I’m sitting on my couch and we’re having a discussion about anything, your work, your attitude, your influences when growing up, how you got to where you are, what you like about the country you’re living in, and that leads us to politics, and we could talk about marriage, that could lead us to your wife and on and on like that, so I can’t really say I’ve been inspired by one particular person or show but lots of them. Let me be specific now. Are you trying to challenge Mo Abudu? Well, you know, life is a constant challenge. I love challenges, but I don’t believe that you go about your business or projects challenging any one person. What I do is welcome the opportunity to be able to provide a platform for Nigerians to come on board to share their views with the world, not just Nigeria, not just Africa, but the world. For as long as they are watching, I want to give them what they want to watch. What do you enjoy yourself about the show? You know, I actually enjoy the learning experience. The season one, really, was a learning curve for me. And in season two, I was able to be myself a lot more and enjoy the whole process which I think is actually amazing and I’ve been able to enjoy the guests, the topics. And it’s a perpetual learning process and everyone in Nigeria know that I love learning and the more I learn from the show, the more I enjoy it. Who is your dream guest that you would totally go out of your way to bring on the show? I’ve had a few dream guests, but I really wouldn’t want to name names. I would however love, love, love to interview Mrs Yar’Adua. I truly believe that Nigerians haven’t appreciated all that she’s about, so I would love to have her on my show.