Samuel Osaze Iyamu veteran broadcaster, producer, and media executive with over thirty-five years in national and international broadcasting, today announces the launch of his landmark memoir, Not to Be Broadcast (NTBB). Published in 2026 and available on Amazon and at major bookstores worldwide, the book is a sweeping account of a life lived at the intersection of power, culture, and the airwaves.
Not to Be Broadcast traces Iyamu’s extraordinary career from his early years at Edo College in Benin City, Nigeria, through an accidental entry into broadcasting following abandoned studies in the UK, to the heights of Nigeria’s most influential media institutions: the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). What emerges is not merely a career retrospective it is a definitive insider account of Nigerian and West African broadcasting history across one of the continent’s most turbulent eras.
“In Nigeria, legitimacy is not conferred by constitutions. It is conferred by whoever controls the airwaves.”
The book opens with a near-fatal shooting incident in Lagos in 2001 an altercation with soldiers during a fuel scarcity crisis that becomes a powerful metaphor for the dangers of questioning authority in a militarized society. From there, it unfolds backward through family lineage, professional ascent, and the pivotal moments that defined a career spent in service of public truth.
At its core, Not to Be Broadcast is the story of a news producer navigating the impossible. As Chief News Producer at VON during West Africa’s most violent decade, Iyamu coordinated live coverage of the Liberian and Sierra Leonean civil wars, interviewing ECOMOG commanders and exiled presidents over crackling landlines, while documenting Nigeria’s most ambitious foreign military intervention. The memoir also revisits the chilling newsroom experience of General Sani Abacha’s sudden death in 1998, handled under extreme political pressure with the whole nation watching.
However, it is Not To Be Broadcast is equally a book about culture and memory. Iyamu devotes significant chapters to his acclaimed radio documentary series Highlife My Life — a six-year archival journey to recover West Africa’s forgotten musical heritage. The emotional centrepiece of the book is his search for legendary musician Ambrose Campbell, culminating in a filmed interview in England that stands as one of African broadcasting is most significant archival achievements.
The final chapters confront institutional betrayal, professional exile, and migration to Canada and the particular silence that follows a life spent behind microphones. The memoir closes not in bitterness, but in insistence: what was once deemed ‘not to be broadcast’ must still be remembered.
Samuel Osaze Iyamu welcomes conversations with media professionals, educators, cultural historians, broadcasters, and readers across the African diaspora. Whether you are a journalist seeking an interview, an academic exploring African media history, or simply a reader moved by the story, Samuel is reachable and eager to engage. Follow his journey, share in the ongoing conversation around African broadcasting heritage, and connect directly through the platforms below.
Here are the links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/osazeiyamu
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/samuel-osaze-iyamu-74532a18
Video Interview (Telos Alliance / NAB, Las Vegas): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZZiHz93J2o&t=70s
Not to Be Broadcast by Samuel Osaze Iyamu is available now — order your copy on Amazon at https://a.co/d/0cNGPdZg or pick it up at leading bookstores worldwide.
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