How I crashed out of Nigerian Idol–Olufunke Akinjo

For Olufunke Akinjo aka Funky Praise, her burning desire to propagate the word of God made her dump her six-figure paying job as an accountant to pursue a career in gospel music. Her dreams finally came to fruition recently when she dropped her de­but album entitled Obatoju Oba Lo. In this interview with The Entertainer, the Ondo State-born gospel singer shares her experi­ence at Nigerian Idol, growing up, her ideal man and her music among other issues. Excerpts: Why did you decide to go by the name Funky Praise? Well, there is one thing about my life which I discovered early and which I believe I am born to do because whenever I do it I feel fulfilled and that thing is praising God in whatever situation I find myself with my voice because of the abundant graces he has bestowed on me; Funky Praise is all about praising God. Why did you decide to go into music? Was music your first choice of career? I had always known that when I gradu­ate from school I would go into music full time. Like I said earlier, all my life I have been singing. Everybody must have a focus in life and I guess, mine is singing for God. I discovered my voice quite early so I decided that since God has blessed me with a good voice I should go into music. I grew up in The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) where I started my music singing in the children choir. From there I moved to the teenage depart­ment and started going for competitions. We were always winning trophies. I also ministered in churches, birthday parties and wedding ceremonies. Finally last year I did a single for our country entitled Naija, which also included in my debut album which I have just released. Music is a gift from God; it is my first choice of career. Before now I have received a lot of encour­agement from people. I knew that I cannot sit there and wait for things to just happen because time and tide waits for no man. Who are your influences? Growing up I never looked up to Nigerians gospel singers. In fact, the people I look up to were not gospel singers really. One of them was Celine Deon. And then there was Sister Whiner, a gospel singer. I just love her voice and everything about her so I tried to sing like her and Celine Deon. I also like Midnight Crew, You sound as if you like Celine Dion, why didn’t you go into secular music? The purpose of the gift I have is to sing for God. I only want to use my voice to sing for God and win souls to the Kingdom and by extension de-populate the Kingdom of Satan. Most of the big names we have today started with gospel music before veer­ing into secular music. Are you saying such will not happen to you? It won’t happen by the grace of God even if I have the oppor­tunity. He has been so faithful to me so nothing can make me go secular even if you offer me all the money in the world. I was in Nigerian Idol in 2011 and I made it to top 30 before I was evicted. The reason I went in for Idols was because I wanted to plough the winning money into my music career. Eventually I discovered that the way God works is dif­ferent from our ways. So eventually when I was evicted I said to myself I would never again go into anything secular and I pray my case will not be like those who dumped gospel music for secular music. What was the worst moment you had at Nigerian Idol? Nigerian Idol was fun. The only prob­lem was the dress code; I was not too comfortable with it. And most of the songs I performed I never knew beforehand un­like those used to secular music and I had to score these songs overnight. I stayed awake most nights because we had to be ready to sing them by the morning; it was challenging scoring songs I did not know. What was wrong with the dress code? I just didn’t feel cool with it. There was a time I wore a gown exposing my shoul­der and I didn’t like it because I am not the type that exposes her body; I felt I was naked before the audience. Is it the issue of good girl gone wild keeping you from going into secular music? That’s part of it; I defiantly don’t want to be a bad girl. I was raised in the way of the Lord and that is the way I have chosen to follow. What are the challeng­es you are facing right now? A lot my dear. At times I want to blame the people that left gospel music for the world but when I look at it the other way I realise that the pastors are to be blamed because in gospel music we don’t receive help from anybody; nobody is ready to help and it doesn’t feel good. That is why most people run to secular music after growing up and being groomed in churches. They leave because there is no­body to help. Christians should be ready to help their own because when you help them they would remain in the church preach­ing the gospel through their music. It could be a frustrating experience when there is nobody to help. How do you get inspiration? Most times my inspiration comes from God. At times when I sit down and look at things happening around I get inspired. An example is my Naija song. I was so worried about the goings-on in the country and I realized that only God can help us solve the problems plaguing us. That was how I was inspired to pen Naija. Aside music what do you do? I used to work as an accountant but I resigned this year. I resigned because I wanted to go into music fully and ever since I have not looked back. And the reason is that my job was taking me away from my creator; there was no time for my ministry. Last year I was in the studio and I did only one single and it was very hectic because I had to leave the office late to get to the studio all stressed up and it wasn’t easy. Meanwhile whenever I ministered at weddings or programmes, people would ask me, ‘sister, where is your album? Why are you keeping it away from us, you cannot hide it? Wher­ever it is either in the kitchen or wherever, you have to bring it out. It soon dawned on me that I needed to do something about it so I resigned January and there I am today. So what has been the response since you released your album? It has been overwhelming. When it was aired I couldn’t rest because people started calling from all over requesting for where and how they could get the songs. Talking about your personal life, are you married? I am not married. Do you have any one in your life? I don’t want to go into that (laughter) Just say something about your­self, your fans would like to know… Anyway I am single; I don’t want to talk about my love life because it is my privacy. In other words you’re not search­ing? In a way I am not. What do you want in a man? He should be God fearing, educated and have a livelihood; these three qualities are very important. Which gospel artistes would you like to work with? Midnight Crew and most especially, I would like to work with Patricia; I just love her. I love Lara George too and then there is Sammy Okposo. When you listen to their songs you’re touched because they pass messages. Is music in your linage, do you have any member of your family doing music? Yes, almost everyone in my family sings. My sister, the first girl of the family is an artiste by the stage name Afe Oni Koko. I am the second to the last in the family; we grew up in church, we all play drums and keyboard. Were your parents in support of dump­ing your job as an accountant for music? Not really. Like I said earlier, I started singing in the Children’s Choir and had their support but when I wanted to quit my job, my mum es­pecially did not agree. She was like, how would you be able to take care of yourself; she was worried. I had to explain to her to make her see reason.