Funmi Iyanda

Olufunmilola Aduke Iyanda (born 27 July 1971), better known as Funmi Iyanda, is a talk show host, broadcaster, Film and TV producer, media executive, philanthropist, journalist, and blogger. She produced and hosted a talk show, New Dawn with Funmi, which aired on the national network for over eight years. Iyanda rose to become one of Nigeria’s most watched TV personalities 3 Archived 26 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Funmi is the CEO of Ignite Media now OYA Media. In 2011, Iyanda was honored for her web series by the World Economic Forum and was named one of Forbes "20 Youngest Powerful Women in Africa"

Portrait of Funmi Iyanda

Quotes

• No one can defend you because the people who should protect you are the ones abusing you. What do Nigerians have to be happy about? she asked.
• Are we really the happiest people on earth, or are we happy because we choose to deny our problems rather than confront them or face them?
• There is so much anger - suppressed anger; transferred anger; violence as a part of our culture; narcissism as a part of our culture; poor interpersonal relationships; unhealthy, manipulative, controlling family dynamics.
• Every day, people fall below the poverty line. When you have issues, no one can defend you because the people who should protect you are the ones abusing you. So what do you have to be happy about?
  • Funmi Iyanda said Nigerians find little reasons to be happy, as those responsible for protecting them have engaged in abusing the people. Retrieved from Public Eye (@PublicEyeNg) 23/02/2021
• My relationship with men is very interesting. I don’t worship men because I grew up with them. I don’t want any man to carry me as a burden on his head. I want to work with him, I am interested in him as a person. If I am with you, I am with you for who you are and not what you can do for me. If you can do so, that’s nice. But it doesn’t bother me because if I don’t do it somebody else will do it. There is no scarcity in the universe. The world is full of abundance. That’s why I don’t worry and cannot worship any man.
  • Benjamin Njoku, Why I don’t worship men — Funmi Iyanda, Vanguard, September 24, 2022.
• When I started my career, I was very young; I was in my twenties, and I had no idea of the future. New Dawn, which everybody came to love so much when I was doing it, I did not know what I was doing; I was only doing my thing.
  • Onu Stephen, Fummi Iyanda’s ‘Public Eye’ Season 2 screened in Lagos, Premium Times, June 29, 2022.
• Seeing a whole generation of people in media, technology, fashion, development, among others, gives me immense hope.
  • Onu Stephen, Fummi Iyanda’s ‘Public Eye’ Season 2 screened in Lagos, Premium Times, June 29, 2022.
• I respect the times that we are living in now because there is a lot of necessary conversation about what is wrong. However, a lot of the talks can be very divisive. It is also essential to face the essentials, so do it. And sometimes I see many people talking and unaware of what needs to happen and how they can do it.
  • Onu Stephen, Fummi Iyanda’s ‘Public Eye’ Season 2 screened in Lagos, Premium Times, June 29, 2022.
• The ease of the bird is dependent on the ease of the branch it nests on. I find a world that limits any form of the ‘other’ abhorrent. We are all one and connected in the continuum of life. I am able to acutely feel the pain of others and discomfort at injustice, violence or pain in much the same way I can feel their joy and contentment.
  • Wilfred Okiche, Funmi Iyanda has a bold new movie out. But don’t call it a comeback., African Arguments, November 25, 2019.