Frisky Larr is a Nigerian Journalist and Writer based in Germany. He is a well-known public affairs commentator on burning national issues affecting Nigeria since 2006 in various reputable media platforms.
Tony Ademiluyi had an exclusive interview with him where he bared his mind on why he chose the unpopular route of studying in Turkey and Germany, his experiences as a journalist in Germany, life in the Diaspora, his passion for Nigeria, and his career as a writer.
Buzz Times: You did your First Degree in Radio/Television Journalism in Turkey and followed it up with a Masters Degree in Germany. Why did you choose those two non-English speaking countries and how did you cope with the language barrier?
Frisky Larr: I moved to Turkey at a time when the passion for studies was very high in Nigeria given the rewarding outcome of a university education in the public service. Turkey was one of a few foreign countries at the time, which offered free education also to foreigners. Obtaining its visa was pretty easy as it seemed to have encouraged the inflow of foreign students and foreign exchange as well. Learning a new language and culture was a glorifying challenge.
Buzz Times: Please share your experience as a freelance radio journalist in Germany. Did you encounter racism?
Frisky Larr: Working exclusively as an entertainment journalist, there is hardly any room for racism since the music industry is dominated by black people. A black, Rastaman as a journalist is a perfect blend. Covering political issues would've been a different ball game.
Buzz Times: Why don’t Nigerian and even African journalists really break into the world of international journalism? For instance, in Germany where you reside, the only notable Nigerian name that broke into journalism there was the late Peter Enahoro when he worked with Deutsche Welle.
Frisky Larr: Peter Enahoro's prominence lies in the pioneering character of his times. Today, the Deutsche Welle is populated by many black and African journalists. Mola Adebisi is one, who also made it big on TV in the entertainment branch in Germany. Another Gambian-root colleague (Mr. Jobartey) also featured prominently in TV current affairs journalism. As minorities in society, the chances of Africans gaining above-average prominence can never be a matter of course.
Buzz Times: The buzzword on the Nigerian streets is japa – the Yoruba word for permanent escape. What is your advice to intending migrants who want to relocate abroad lock, stock, and barrel?
Frisky Larr: The Japa syndrome seems to be predominantly visiting the environments that call for it. The United Kingdom seeks to plug a manpower hole in its health sector and, therefore, permits the influx of qualified foreign labor force. Canada seeks to bridge a demographic gap in its productive population and permits a controlled influx like the Americans do with the green card. Prospective Japa candidates do not need to be told that the beginning can be brutally hurtful to the point of total frustration and capitulation. Alongside perseverance to survive the subduing and humbling odds, a plan B centered around a return to the base will always be helpful in the extreme event of reaching a breaking point. Strategies can be reviewed thereafter.
Buzz Times: You were privileged to have an exclusive interview with former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Can you honestly say he really left a worthy legacy having been twice lucky to lead Nigeria?
Frisky Larr: I have spoken with President Obasanjo several times and I am happy at the privilege he grants me to pop in at any time to talk with him whenever I have any probing questions. President Obasanjo is Nigeria's most misunderstood leader with the most hostile media rating induced by the prejudice of vested interests. Please find the time to read my book "Nigeria's Journalistic Militantism" to have a detailed grasp of this explication.
Buzz Times: Can you say his leveling of Odi and Zaki Biam were akin to war crimes for which he deserves to be hauled before the International Criminal Court?
Frisky Larr: If it was, action would've long been taken and threats would have been made. Nigeria was not in a state of war and no war crimes could have been committed in that context. I'm afraid the circumstances were much more complex and diffuse than the media showed them to be. There was too much politics at play.
Buzz Times: Nigeria has had a debt crisis for decades. Will you say Obasanjo goofed by appointing Okonjo-Iweala as Finance Minister who handed over a whopping $12 billion to the London Club of Creditors and Paris Club in a controversial debt buyback and also insisted on being paid in USD thereby undermining the local naira?
Frisky Larr: Jesus! This is a most disingenuous assessment that is characteristic of the hostile media world that surrounded the Obasanjo administration. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was and remains a blessing to Nigeria any day. It may not have been strategically beneficial to her personal image to have demanded payment in dollars. That is a negative point, no doubt. Yet, her services to Nigeria under Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan were exemplary. The zeroing down of Nigeria's debt with the Paris Club was a milestone that is criticized only by hate-filled, unqualified wannabe economic analysts. Well-meaning observers all over the world hailed it as an unprecedented achievement that offered Nigeria a reset opportunity to put its house in order. Yet, massive corruption and incompetence – the type experienced under Muhammadu Buhari – threw us right back into the debt trap once again. Bear in mind that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala would not be where she is today if she was smeared by administrative misdeeds in her days in Nigerian politics.
Buzz Times: President Bola Tinubu came to power with the mantra of renewed hope. Will you say his decision to yank off fuel subsidy without palliatives is a satiric antithesis of that hope?
Frisky Larr: Well, if anything is certain, it is the fact that subsidy removal is the easiest action to take to confront the filth in the oil sector. Much more difficult and demanding of courage and resolute leadership acumen is the resolve to confront, prosecute, and punish those criminals of the oil sector, who rendered subsidies unworkable. Unfortunately, these criminals have become more powerful than our elected nominal leaders. What stopped Presidents Jonathan or Buhari from recording any single achievement in the turnaround maintenance of refineries? President Obasanjo sold the dilapidated refineries to Dangote at a symbolic price to make his investment in the sector much easier and provide a quick fix to the lingering problem. President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua reversed the sale and offered no alternative solution. With the infrastructure of the old refineries in existence, Dangote would have long finished with the upgrade works and long reinstated domestic refining of crude oil. Unfortunately, hatred for Obasanjo and the inordinate need to demonize whatever he did, drew back the hands of the clock disastrously while selling the public a dummy that Obasanjo only sold government properties to his friends and cronies. Today, the brutal and inhumane removal of fuel subsidies is the price the people are paying.
Buzz Times: You studied in Europe which has top-notch education. What is your view on the student loan act that President Tinubu signed into law?
Frisky Larr: I do not have all the information on that issue yet to make an informed assessment. In the end, every project in Nigeria boils down to judicious implementation vis-a-vis corruptibility.
Buzz Times: Should the government still continue to largely fund Nigeria’s tertiary education? Should it be left to market forces backed by scholarships, student loans, grants etc?
Frisky Larr: Our haste to place ourselves on the pedestal of Standards in developed countries that rely on market forces, is one foolhardy trend that exposes deliberate deception and diabolic malice. The countries we cite as examples have a huge network of ameliorating welfare systems that the Nigerian protagonists of the hardship-inclined market forces will never talk about. In Germany, an unemployed citizen has his rent paid by the government. Pocket money is given on a monthly basis to sustain a minimum living standard and is measured according to the number of persons living in his household. His use of public transport is subsidized for as long as it takes for him to find a new job, and government offices actively assist in finding him a new job. So, what use is it to talk about the price of fuel in Germany or market forces in England determining school fees when the requisite groundwork is not laid in Nigeria in the first place?
Buzz Times: All over the world, the educational system is shifting from certificates to skills. How best can the Nigerian educational curriculum reflect this new reality from the cradle?
Frisky Larr: Unfortunately, I am not aware of this shift. In serious countries, skills are always certificated and certificates are always trusted. That a fraud-infested Nigerian society has almost always prioritized paper qualification over skill acquisition does not have a bearing on occurrences on the world stage.
Buzz Times: The economy is in dire straits with massive youth unemployment. KPMG puts it at about 41%. How best can President Tinubu revive the economy and also attract the much-needed foreign direct investments?
Frisky Larr: The current hike in the costs of production in fuel and power is only counterproductive in the short term. Sitting on a keg of gunpowder with the fear of social unrest currently looming, will not invite a foreign direct Investor as a serious clampdown on corruption would have done. Subsidy removal will take quite some time to yield confidence-building results for investors. Filling the gap in the interim is a waste of crucial time. A series of firework attacks on subsidy thieves, collaborating bureaucrats, illegal refineries, corrupt judges, rogue ships lifting oil illegally, etc. would have jolted and unsettled the criminal vested interests and attracted much more positive interest of foreign investors in one fell swoop.
Buzz Times: Thank you very much for your time; we greatly appreciate it.
Frisky Larr: You are welcome.
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