Not until I arrived at their home office did I realise that élan magazine is correctly pronounced a-laan (ei’la:n). “It is derived from a French word,” Biola Ufeli informs me with her elegant poise, deliberate stress and ever friendly manner. Her deep dimples sinking further beneath her cheekbones as she corrects my French pronunciation of ‘a-laan’. “We all know about the cringe worthy ‘h’ factor and dreaded ‘th’ factor where simple words like ‘house’ are pronounced as ‘ouse’ and ‘that’ as ‘dat’. However, to those who suffer from this ill-pronunciation, it is very natural. They are simply unaware of their speech impediment; after all, how can you treat a problem if you are unaware you have one?” she says.
Spi:k Rait and Saund Rait is the brainchild of both Sidney and Biola Ufeli. They met at Radio Nigeria in 1977 and it was ‘love at first sight,’ according to Sidney. In his incredibly well spoken and charismatic manner he says, “I dropped out of medical school in pursuit of passion. I do not have a degree but I am arguably one of the best presenters Radio Nigeria has ever had.” In 1995, he left Radio Nigeria because of its financial constraints. Back when Oxbridge College was a finishing school, they paid him N6,000 for a two-hour lecture, while his monthly wages at Radio Nigeria were much less. “I immediately realised that I had undervalued my worth,” he says. “I discussed with my wife, left Radio Nigeria and we set up the company. The rest is history.”
The problem
The Ufelis have worked as speech and etiquette experts for over 15 years. They have worked with various broadcasters at Silverbird TV as well as various schools including Corona, Vivian Fowler, King’s and Queen’s Colleges. Although their expertise has been used to generate eloquent teachers, the education and teacher training courses available in Nigeria counteracts their efforts. As Biola points out, there are barriers to getting their message widespread across the country.
“The average Nigerian is more familiar with their native language or the common dialect, pidgin,” she says. “Not everyone speaks enough ‘proper’ English for it to be understood at an indigenous, mainstream level.
“With such a diverse culture across Nigeria and a plethora of ethnicities, to overcome the language barrier, pidgin has become the most common language used to communicate. If the average Nigerian thinks in pidgin, they will speak pidgin and English will forever be a secondary language. Could you send your cook, driver or house-help for an interview for the same job position in America and expect them to accurately express themselves with a firm command of the English language? No!
“It was not always like this; there was a past generation when the BBC had a training school in Radio Nigeria, when there were strict broadcasting standards. English was deemed in Nigeria as the correct language to be spoken by lawyers, doctors, broadcasters and teachers: educated people. But somewhere over the last few decades these expectations have been lowered and the lines blurred.”
There could be a misconception that the Ufelis are anti-pidgin. That is not the case. Their point is though we in Nigeria do not teach pidgin as a standard language in schools, it is the most widely used and most accepted language in our country. If our children at home and with peers are constantly speaking pidgin as their primary language, is it any surprise when so many fail basic English exams?
The solution
Biola in her perfect ladylike tone says, “What seems most worrying is that teachers are being trained but not in the right courses. No course in Nigeria encourages speech training. Sidney is BBC-trained and in turn passes on these standards to our students. We are members of the International Society of Protocol and Etiquette as well as members of the English speaking board,” she says with a smile that manages to be both demure and debauched. It seems the global community has recognised the importance of the role speech plays in education and implements it into their academic courses, thus enabling the population to thrive at the same level of communication.
Business and pleasure
Despite all this, what is most fascinating about the couple — beyond the passion they share for their jobs — is the passion they share for each other. Nowadays, it is hard to have a genuinely happy marriage and it is incredibly stressful to run a successful business but these two defy logic and do both with enviable ease.
“I knew she was going to be my wife the moment we shook hands at Radio Nigeria,” Sidney says confidently. There was a delay in their marriage due to family differences; Sidney is from Delta and Biola from a Yoruba background. Despite the family’s concerns, they threw caution to the wind.
“One morning we decided to go to a registry and we got married. We sent the family pictures informing them of our marriage. No traditional, no white wedding, just me and my wife and that’s the way we have always been,” he says.
They both agree that the basis for any marriage is God. While Biola nods her head in agreement, Sidney says, “There should never be any dictation, always a discussion. We talk about everything and share everything, even my pension. After all she is a smart woma. If she can take care of me, our kids and the home, surely she is capable of looking after a business.”
Whether or not you agree with the Ufelis, one thing they cannot be criticised against is their passion for life. They clearly love their jobs, their children and most especially each other. They have spent majority of their careers enriching other people’s lives from governors to the youth, all of whom have benefited from the Spi:k Rait Saund Rait program. They are actively improving the education standard of our community, a little step at a time.
Final four
1) What legacy you would like to leave behind?
We have trained hundreds of people and even have a program called ‘Train the Trainer’. Let others spread our legacy by continuing to inform and educate others of what they have learnt from Spi:k Rait Saund Rait.
2) Do you judge others by higher or lower standards than you use to judge yourselves?
The same; we expect you to be as good as we are if not better.
3) Who is the one (non-family member) who has done the most to make you who you are today?
Lots of people have been instrumental in our lives. Above them all has to be God. By his grace and mercy, we have gotten this far in life, and for that we are ever thankful.
4) Is free time or downtime a waste of time? Do you make this time count?
In our free time in between lectures we try to go for quiet lunches. Or at times we take the children to the Eko Hotel for the weekend for a much-needed getaway.
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