BOOK TITLE: MY DOSSIER<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AUTHOR: Wole Olarinde<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PAGES\u00a0\u00a0:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 132<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PUBLISHER: Benefits Media Ministry<\/p>\n\n\n\n
REVIEWER: Gbenga Osinaike<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As simple as it may look, writing an\nautobiography usually does not always come easy. The author is usually caught\nin the dilemma of writing facts about himself and what he wants the public to\nread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As much as the author would love to\nlay the facts bare, autobiographies are not usually 100 percent accurate\npresentation of a man\u2019s life or trajectory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, going through the length of the\nbook: My Dossier by Wole Olarinde one is saddled with the realization that the\nauthor is telling his own story from his own point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, the story of a man is either\ntold by himself or by others. In English parlance, a book that is written by a\nwriter on himself is called autobiography while the one written by a writer on\nanother person is called Biography. So on a broad scale, there are two\nperspectives about a person: The person\u2019s perspective about himself and the\nperspective of others about the person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I dare add that there is the God\nperspective which I will like to call Christography. That is what Jesus thinks\nabout us. That is a matter for another day. But let me say that at the end of\nthe age, there are only two perspectives from God that will summarize our stay\nhere on earth. It is either well done good and faithful servant or depart from\nme ye workers of iniquity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is for the age to come. My job\nhere is to review the book that chronicles the story of Wole Olarinde and how\nthe vision of Christian Benefit was birthed. Let me observe first that the book\nis not a full autobiography as it were as it does not espouse the early years\nof the author. From the title point of view, we are presented with a dossier\nwhich is more or less documentation of a series of events in the life of\nOlarinde and how those events tie to the Christian Benefit project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The book confronts you with a bold\nbut enchanting portrait of the author. It leaves you with no pretension as to\nwhat and who it is all about. As one flips through the pages one is held down\nby a seamless rendition of a twenty-year account of the life of the author in\nthe publishing world; with snippets from his school days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each of the 11 chapters has a\nhandful of nuggets and lessons for the reader. The first chapter gives the\nreader an insight on how the author was called into the publishing ministry.\nThough he felt inadequate for the task like Moses and some of God\u2019s servants,\nhe nonetheless succumbed to the template that God had laid down for him to\nnavigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, a simple instruction from his\npastor during a cross overnight turned out to be the seed that birthed a\nproject that has lived for 20 years. What is that instruction? You will do\nyourself a great favour to look out for this as you get a copy of the book.\nThis chapter also tells the story of how the author arrives at studying mass\ncommunication and not the law that he had intended to study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the subsequent chapter the author\ntakes the reader to the department of Mass communication of the great Ibadan\nPolytechnic and paints the picture of a lecturer who rather than encourage\nstudents in the department to brace up for a bright future became too frank to\na fault. His words on the first day of the lecture were to later send many away\nfrom the department. But the diehard ones including the author stayed through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the reader progresses through the\nvolume he is confronted with the author\u2019s exposure to the practical end of the\nprofession. His first days in the Guardian Newspapers where he did his\nindustrial training are quite exciting and one could not help but wonder what\nhas become of the journalism profession these days. The author exemplified the\nold zeal by taking on tasks that many would not want to take these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was a rookie reporter but his\nbyline hit the front page of the defunct Guardian Express just a day after he\nresumed. He performed the same feat on the third day and did many reports for\nthe publication which earned him some respect. That is quite unprecedented in\nthis age when some mass communication graduates struggle to write a news story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What happened? How did he manage to\nsource for a story that became the talk of the town? Those are things you may\nhave to look out for in the book. The story which Olarinde was able to source\nwhich hit the front page of Guardian Express is a story that will give hope to\nmany. You definitely won\u2019t get a copy of the Guardian Express which is long\ndead. But you can get to read about the story in the book. It will make a world\nof difference for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The remaining chapters of the book\ngive us an insight on the NYSC year of the author, how he began work with the\ndefunct Media Review and how he began Christian Benefit. It is quite\ninstructive that by the time Christian Benefit was floated the author did not\nhave the privilege of seeing a publication that reports the church the way he\nwanted to. There was no example to look up to as it were. So, he had to depend\non his intuition to pursue a dream he practically had no prototype to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But God was with him. He started\nsmall and here we are today. But then you probably would think all has been\nsmooth for Olarinde. From revelations in the book, the journey has not been\nonly rough it has been frustrated by the very people that the Lord called him\nto help. Apart from battling with the pain of coughing out thousands of naira\nevery month with no corresponding return, he has had to battle with some\npreachers of the gospel and their minions who rather than encourage him have\ntried to kill the vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shared the experience of how his\nmarketers were locked up in a popular church for daring to come and sell the\nmagazine in the church premises. It is so interesting that some church leaders\nwould celebrate their stories in the secular papers and would encourage members\nto buy them while they send security men to hound and maul purveyors of\npublications that are solely for the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Olarinde shares the experience\nof how copies of the magazines were confiscated and literally destroyed in\nanother respected Church. The marketers were literally pursued out of the\nchurch premises after the journals had been seized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was at this point according to\nhis account that he began to question his involvement in church-based\njournalism. There and then, the Lord opened his eyes and warned him against\nprojecting the churches that have become somewhat establishment. But rather\nshould seek to publish the ones that were just coming up and help them with\nadvertising their programmes. That was how he changed gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then he was yet going to face\nanother obstacle as the small churches presented a false image of themselves.\nOne of the pastors of one of the growing churches told him his paper was far\nbelow his standard. He was comparing Christian Benefit with journals that have\nbeen existing for years. Rather than take offence, Olarinde was quick to let\nthe pastor know that his own church was far behind compared to the big names.\nThat remark put a seal on the mouth of this pastor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story of Christian Benefit,\nhowever, is not all about gloom and doom. The author shares the account of\nnumerous supports he got from some church leaders. He mentioned specific names\nin the publication and took time to thank them for extending a hand of\nfellowship to the publication. Perhaps but for these angels that came his way,\nthe publication would have suffered stillbirth in its first trimester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is cheering to note that a\nproject that started with virtually no capital, no loan and no visible source\nof financing has survived the turbulent weather of Nigeria\u2019s economy. Many\npublications have come and gone, but Christian Benefit stands. The credit goes\nto God. It goes to the supporters of the vision and it goes to the man who\ncarries the vision and his wife who have labored tirelessly in the trenches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My Dossier tells the story of this\nadventure. It tells the story of a publisher\u2019s nightmare. It tells the story of\nresilience and doggedness. The book is an easy read. It takes about 48 hours to\nfinish reading the book. The strength of the book lies in its graphic\npresentation and the unravelling of facts and figures about the media industry.\nReading through my dossier somewhat gives a picture of how both the Christian\nand secular media run in the last 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This book will do a lot of good to\nthose who desire to take a vacation in publishing. It will bless the believer\nwho wants to learn how to grow a vision and educate media men and women on what\nto do. I hereby call on you on this auspicious occasion to extend your support\nfor the book and by extension the Christian Benefit project. Thank you. God\nbless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BOOK TITLE: MY DOSSIER AUTHOR: Wole Olarinde PAGES\u00a0\u00a0:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 132 PUBLISHER: Benefits Media Ministry REVIEWER: Gbenga Osinaike As simple as it may look, writing an autobiography usually does not always come easy. The author is usually caught in the dilemma of writing facts about himself and what he wants the public to read. As much as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[50,16],"class_list":["post-466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insight","tag-christian","tag-journalists"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t