Mr. Bada Akintunde Johnson is currently a household name in Nigeria's sports broadcasting industry. In this exclusive interview, he speaks about his childhood dream of becoming a footballer, hobbies, also he sheds light on the most debatable issue in football, (Who is better, Ronaldo or Messi) .

                                 

Who is Mr. Bada Akintunde Johnson?
Am a human being,(laughs). First and foremost, as, much as I like to answer this question. I like to think I am a very easy going man who likes to mind his own business and have fun while adding value to humanity. That really describes my life, I like to add value to the talent that God has given me. So, I am a devoted family man, firm believer in God, hardworker, what else. A human being.(laughs)

Your Married, can you describe Mrs Bada?
She's an incredible human being, Incredible sense of humor, I cant imagine how differently my life would have been without her if I was married to somebody else. Probably won't be where I am, in terms of having the tranquility of mind and the sense of selection to do the many things that I do. Yeah, so basically she's a very simple natured human being.

How did you meet, Can you relive the romantic experience with us?
Well I wouldn't say it was romantic o, She was in her finals, and she was sent on an excursion to the advertising agency where I worked around Zenith bank headquarters way back 2007, I think. I was the guy who was asked to take round the agency, about six of them. To say the rest is history.


I read your bio, you used to sing, Is it a passion or just another one of your God given talent you didn't fully utilize?
I still sing, I guess i'm gifted in that regard, gifted in the sense that I think I have the voice, rather than what most have. Again there's a lot of training in it, or through it as well. I grew up in a Christian family, and quite early I joined the choir and became very adequate singing classical musics, classical solos, I was a very devoted choir member, singing classicals all over the place, performing from one church to another. And then, at some point I started my own group, an inter denominational group because I thought singing in an Anglican church was a bit restrictive, so I wanted to break away and do my own thing, so I started a group called "Six Creators" way back where I could connect with people of like passion from other churches.

And I started another group called "Vessels of Honor" with a couple of friends, it was an acapella group, on campus as well, I did music, not like I studied music but I was quite active musically, Winners Campus Fellowship, you know, Conductor, picking classical musics. Music has been always being a huge part of my life, If I didn't turn out what I am, probably I would have been a musician or a footballer.

I actually use to sing in a group called "Nature", we put out one album way back 1999/2000, it was produced by then reigning producer of the year in Nigeria, Paul Play IK Dairo. The other two guys are still very much into music, one of them is called George LPN, the other one is in South Africa now, Donatello. So, Music has always being a huge part of my life.


Most guys that likes football, let alone analyze football would have played football in some stage of their lives. Tell us the story about your football ambition that was cut short by injury?
Well, its a story I cant get tired of telling cause it was my biggest passion, it was my biggest ambition, I wanted to become a footballer. I slept, I dreamt, I ate, I still do all these for football. Each time I close my eyes, I saw myself playing in front of mammoth crowds, envisioned myself playing alongside the likes of Sunday Oliseh, Jay Jay Okocha, playing in Europe, that was my biggest ambition.
                                                 
I was quite talented, I represented my secondary school in the Principals cup, I was a member of Pepsi Football Academy in the 90's / early 2000's until I got injured playing for my secondary school in a friendly against an Agege based school in 1997. I collided with the goal post and ruptured a Cruciate Ligament which wasn't properly treated which meant that football became very painful from then on. Yeah, it became a hubby, from hindsight, I have no regrets playing football.


How did it all start for you, did you have the dream and passion to be a Sports Analyst, Television and Radio Presenter?
No, I studied Communications at the University of Ibadan, that must be that in a way, I have always planned to be somewhere in or around the media. I wanted to be a broadcaster from the very beginning so it influenced what class in ran to when I was leaving Junior Secondary School for Senior Secondary School. My results naturally pushed me to Sciences, but I demoted my self in the eyes of so many people by picking up my seat one day from the Sciences that I am going to Arts Class because I figured if I wanted to do Mass Communication, I needed Literature which I wasn't going to be able to do as a Science student.

                                     

So, I moved myself, my teachers and my principal then didn't take it likely. They called my parents, saying blah blah, I insisted cause I had a very clear idea of what to do. I finished Senior Secondary School, and I went to the University of Ibadan, studied Communication of Language Arts, my majors really where broadcasting and advertising, I enjoyed both of them for real.

I knew I was going to end up in one of them or in both and today I am in both(laughs). I guess I am one very lucky dude.


Which football club fanatic are you, Locally and Internationally.
Locally I used to be crazy about Shooting Stars and at some point I became an Eyinmba fan because of how huge and successful they were when they won back to back African Champions League. But my club has always being Arsenal Football Club right from when I was a kid, watched an English Club with a black striker, Ian Wright, seeing him score so many goals for them yearly at the club and then again, at the back of that, Kanu Nwankwo(Papillo), Laurent Etame Mayer, sheer Africans playing for the team really deepened my affection for the club.

                                    

When your not talking sports, aside from football journalism, what other jobs do you do.
I am a Creative director, I work in Advertising, its actually my main source of living. Yeah, I have created adverts over the last five years for brands like Stanbic IBTC, FCMB, Zenith Bank, currently I create adverts for GLO. I just got back from a trip from South Africa where I shot a commercial for GLO. Up until September, I was doing the same thing for Guiness.


So, when i'm not talking football, i'm writing Radio Commercials, Television Commercials, Billboards and basically Marketing Communications.


Now lets switch attention to the Nigerian League. The problems of Bad pitches, Lack of Sponsors, and recent failures of Nigerian clubs in the CAF Champions League. What are the ways forward?
Very Simple, there got to be a blueprint on how to take football forward in Nigeria. You got to allow technocrats run the game, you got to move away from the model of running our clubs as extensions of State Governments to running them as Privately Owned Businesses. Until that happens, we are barely scratching the surface. Its not enough to have clubs that is just there just for the sake of it. You've got to have clubs that function properly like its done, you don't have to even go far, like its done in South Africa. South African league is a testament of how things can grow when they are properly done, some organizations behind it, you will be shocked by their developments in just few years.


I don't think we are ready yet, we keep paying leap service to it, Yes, since the League Management Company came in, there have been a ton of measurable changes, there is Sponsorship now, but the league can be bigger and better. Yeah, they say "Rome wasn't built in a day", but at least they started building gradually. I'm not sure we have even started putting the blocks together.

The way forward is what we must be deliberate about, moving in the right direction, it may take us donkey years to get there, but we have to show that we are moving in the right direction. Am not sure we are doing that right now.


We Nigerians know that there are raw talented footballers in Nigeria. How would football clubs go about fishing out youngsters to lead this country to greatness?
There are many jobless people who would like to have jobs in and around football, empower them, make them scouts. But the clubs can only do that if they themselves are making money. As it is now, its only a few administrators that are "chopping" the money, as we say. So, they are not even paying attention to the structure that can fetch lots of money. There are preponderous of talents in the nooks and cranny of Nigeria, so if you can get the structure right in such that, from exporting talents from abroad only, clubs can be sustainable. I'm not saying that's the model to push but, even that a revenue stream isn't bad. But we are not even thinking in that direction, it cant happen, the way players are signed and all that, there's no structure behind it.


On one side, there are million of football prospects waiting to be scouted, on the other hand, there are clubs barely doing nothing to get the talents. They are recycling players that have been in the league for as long as I can recollect. And there are fresh talents that are begging, even those youngsters are not exactly willing to play Professional football in the Nigerian League, they will rather go to Europe. The only reason the will play for Nigerian Clubs is when there is no option, and it shouldn't be so.

South Africans will rather play in South Africa than go abroad, a Tunisian, an Egyptian, an Algerian would rather play in their country that go abroad. Some will say,  Mohamed Aboutrika, he has been by far the stand out player in African continent for many years, he hasn't travelled abroad to play in England or play in Italy, not because he hasn't had the opportunity or hasn't had the offers but because playing in Egypt is even more lucrative for him, so why go abroad.


2013 has been a swansong year for Nigeria, we won the African Nations Cup, FIFA Under-17 World Cup. What are your reactions to these feats?
I think a couple of times, we will lock into successes like this, but that's to tell you again that inspite of the chaos in Nigerian Football. If we are able to get this measure of success, you can only imagine how huge and humongous our success would have been if we put some plan into it. We should be rivaling the best in the world not in Africa because we have talent, if only we could get some organizations behind what God has given us.

We should be talking about winning the World Cup not winning the African Cup of Nations, not winning the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. Yeah, we should be dominating world football, that's how talented we are. That's my reaction to winning the African Cup of Nations for the first time since 1994, you know, that's horrible for a country of our size and talent.


We've seen Nigerian stars emerge at youth grade tournaments, but haven't been able to prove their worth on the center stage. What do you think are the reasons for their lack of development?
Well, in a bit of way, there's a lack of ambition on the part of most Nigerian players, when they get to Europe, earn a decent living, feed their family, drive fancy cars, stay in good houses. Basically, they've fulfilled what Abraham Maslow calls "The Physiological Level of Human Need", they just switch off onfield, no drive, no motivation to keep achieving. See what the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi have done, yeah, they are driven to continue achieving, breaking records, these are found wanting in an average Nigerian player

Yeah, there's a lack of ambition, there's also the fact that the structure, the environment are not just right. Players that could have gone very far have been frustrated by our lack of communication, complementation.


Who were your stand out performers in Nigeria's Squad that won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup?
Well, I thought that outside of Kelechi Iheanacho, Dele Alampasu, the other guys that caught my eyes were Musa Mohammed, "the Abubakar guy", "the Yahaya guy", left footed player, hardworker, tremendous player, I think Awoniyi still has a lot of rough edges, his positioning can be worked on, his finishing can be better. For me, those were the standout performers. Oooh, then there is "the Eze guy" too, who I think can really flourish.


 With the 2014 FIFA World Cup around the corner, what are your minimum expectations for Nigeria?
Semi Finals, anything short of that is a failure.

                                    

This is an interesting question, Who is better, Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid or Lionel Messi of Barcelona?
Both of them, Phenomenal players, but I prefer Lionel Messi because there is more to his game than running past defenders and shooting. Messi is more rounded player, Ronaldo is a more complete player, Ronaldo complete in the sense that he can shoot at almost same accuracy with both feet, he can head the ball very strongly as well, technically, he is very sound. But, in terms of raw natural talent, Messi is the man, he is the one who can conjure the magic.


Ronaldo is the master, Messi is the magician(smiles). I'm drawn to Magic than Mastery. I like Messi more because what Ronaldo does which is score goals, Messi even does better. There is no season except for this season that Messi has been largely injured that he hasn't outscored Ronaldo, worse case scenario, finish on the same number of goals. And every season, he ends up with more assists, he is more of a team player, those interchanges, those runs, those passes to rip apart defenses(Ahh)he's just an amazing player, I don't think I have seen in my life time a better player.

You'll help us select your current best eleven prospects in world football
Courtois, Rafael, Bartra, Varane, Montoya, Kondogbia, Pogba, Insigne, Thiago, Shaqiri, Morata. The thing about young players is that you cant judge them based on their performance in youth-grade tournaments. The players have picked have been picked based on their performance in their various senior teams. The likes of Morata, Bartra haven't exactly played extensively, but the few times they've played, you can see the talent, you can see that even though their club managers don't have the confidence to put them into the first team, if they keep going at the same rate of development, the next three years will be fruitful for them.


Who is your best player of all time?
Lionel Messi


Presently, you are known as a household name in Nigeria. It seems you've almost done it all, where do you see yourself in the next ten years?
Next ten years, I hope to be a media mogul, own a marketing outfit, communication outfit, and also media outfit. Basically, I hope to exploring the entire range of talents God has given me.


Conclusively, what message/messages do you have for your "fans" out there?
(Ahhhhh), its always very hard for me wrap my head around the concept of having fans(smiles), I don't see myself any different from the regular guy on the street, but I guess because your on T.V every now and then, its natural that some people know the face, some know the name.

Just in case I have people who think they are my fans out there sha(laughs), my message will be that you should keep working hard, first is to determine the appropriate reason why they are here and find a way to add value to humanity. You can imagine how worse off humanity would be without the Airplane, Car, (inventions of man), God didn't create all these things, but God created man and he gave man the capacity to create all these things. So, I have always believed that no human being was born useless, you've got to find a particular area of life where your adding value to humanity. Once you do that, pretty much how the scripture says "seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added". So, seek what is your purpose first and fulfill it, then all of the things that we chase after (money, car) all of these things will come naturally. They'll come at the consequence of you adding value to humanity, but people always get it all mixed up, they chase after these things and they end up not finding it.

But if you add value, the guys who made the Airplane for instance now, nobody needs to tell you they are not broke, the guys that invented the telephone, or the guys that are in the business of making new phones every time, there's a new model every time. The guys that do all those things, nobody needs to tell you they are not broke, if you keep doing that, looking for ways to better humanity, you can never be broke. So that's my message.

You can follow him on twitter  Follow @BadaAkintundeJ

Follow me on twitter as well. Follow @shegzz16