Radio Sunrise by Anietie Isong

This is a satirical novel set in a radio station in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. Ifiok is a young journalist working for a Government owned radio station. He has a beautiful girlfriend, Yetunde, runs a radio drama on the station, The River, and has a mentor of sorts in Boniface, an older and more cynical journalist.

The start of Ifiok’s troubles come with the cancellation of his radio drama, the station manager telling him frankly that this is down to funding. Basically, one of many evangelical churches has bought the slot for religious programming and unless Ifiok can get sponsorship, his drama is history. Boniface tells him to forget it and just throw himself into his reporting. We soon discover that reporting in Nigeria is a lot different than in the UK (where this reader is based). Reporters turn up and if the interviewee has a brown envelope for each stuffed with money, then the journalists report favourably. If not, then they are likey not to get on air at all. This is unsurprising when the country is corrupt from top to bottom, from politicians down.

Ifiok comes from the Niger Delta and when millitants kidnap westerners in his home region he’s worried. When the government offers the militants training and careers if they will lay down their weapons he travels home to make a radio documentary. This gets him out of Lagos, a good thing really as his girlfriend has left him after she found him in bed with an intern.

Radio Sunrise is a cutting depiction of modern Nigeria. It portrays the country as deeply corrupt and dysfunctional. There is some humour and some poignant moments. I felt it suffered however by the lack of a strong narrative thread. Ifiok was simply buffeted by a series of events and was quite a passive protagonist. I found it hard to warm to him or any of the other characters in the book. I also found the portrayal of some of the characters problematic, in particular the intern he has an affair with. The men in the radio station have a view that the interns (predominantly women) are just after sex, and lo and behold, she is.

In conclusion, this is an interesting read and one that gives a cynical insight into Nigerian society, but the narrative lacked direction and the characters failed to draw me in.

3 out of 5 stars