It was Friday, November 6, 2009. Etisalat Nigeria chose this day to specifically bring to a glorious end the over five months old 9jillions promo. The venue of the event, a massive tent built on Landmark Village within Oniru Private Estate in Victoria Island was packed full with 0809ja network subscribers, a combination of regional finalists from the game show across eight cities and Express Ticket holders.
But of this multitude aspiring to be millionaires, only 30 would participate in the 9jillions Grand Finale promo.
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Distinguished personalities including Secretary to the State Government, Princess Denrele Adeniran Ogunsanya were assigned the task of picking the tickets from the game show machine that housed the tickets of participants.
30 grand finalists were selected at random amidst cheers and excitement. 24 from the pool of regional finalists while six persons emerged from the category of Express Tickets Holders. But they all had one thing in common. Each of them must smile home with one million naira each.
The Express Tickets bearers are customers who have spent up to a thousand naira on airtime within a month. “Those of them who are here today were those that emerged from the draw designed to determine those who will get an express ticket to the grand finale,” said the Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria.
The 24 regional finalists came in teams of four representing various regions of the country. Hassan, Samson, Doyin and Helti of Abuja region. Bukola, Yusuf, Abosede and Abiodun represented Sokoto. From Kaduna were Kizito, Justina, Gerald and Judith. Glory, Festus, Justina and Esther made up the group 13B while 38B comprised of Adeoye, Happiness, Tunji and Segun. In group 40B were Chukwudi, Roseline and Blessing.
Express Ticket holders were paired. Nasiru and Habiba; Olalekan and Olutoyin; Ruth and Olajide. These duos were first timers on the show and so were more advantaged. While they were generously entitled to play twice, the others had only one chance to grab a million naira. At each punch of their selected numbers they would automatically win one million naira respectively.
Then the long awaited moment came. Each of the participants punched the keys of their chosen numbers from listed figures 1 to 30 on the game console. Pegged to one of these numbers is the $1m.
Done with that, it was time to reveal the winnings of the participants’ one after the other. Who amongst these 30 people would go away with this swooping one million dollars? Tension and anxiety swayed the hall. The grand finale 9jillion promo participants were the worst hit. The special guests, Etisalat team and journalists were not spared either.
The search for the one million dollars winner commenced. 27 participants so far won one million naira each. The reveal of the winnings gradually scaled down to three- Chukwudi, Bukola and Kizito of Benin, Sokoto and Kaduna regions respectively. The hall became more tensed than ever. One thing was clear. One of these three persons will emerge the one million dollar winner. Speculations raved. People were divided as they prophesied the winner. When the host of the show, Dijinee, called out Chukwudi to reveal the prize behind his single-digit number, 7, a cross section of the people thought he had won the star prize. Chukwudi believed he had grabbed the $1m. Hear him, “God has revealed to me that I’m going to win. God will not fail me. He has assured me that I would emerge the winner of the grand finale”.
Did he eventually win? No. Like the 27, he too carted away the standard sum of N1m. With Chukwudi gone, the juicy prize was left to Bukola and Kizito. Bukola wished she won it. So did Kizito. Anxiety crept into both of them in large dosages. There became so anxious and were in a hurry to know their fate. Djinee sought their feelings. Bukola likened the situation to sitting on a hot seat while Kizito said he was experiencing a rise in his blood pressure.
Djinee called for the reveal of Kizito’s win. The crowd roared, “Oh, Kizito has lost”. Bukola suddenly regained her composure. She was obviously beaming with pleasure.
But the unexpected happened. Kizito’s chosen two-digit number, 18, was pegged to the largest individual prize ever awarded in the history of consumer promotions in Nigeria, $1m. Kizito was shocked to his bone marrows. He found it hard to believe. The 20-year old Medical and Surgery undergraduate of University of Jos smiled as if to reconcile himself with the reality on ground. He couldn’t curtail it. Kizito lost control and went bizarre. He raced out off the stage. It took the intervention of the security and medical personnel for him to regain his consciousness.
The grand finale of 9jillions game show was the climax of Etisalat promo that started over five months ago. The promo was in two phases. In the first leg of the promo that lasted for 90 days, subscribers won two phones every two hours a day. The Chief Executive of Etisalat Nigeria said, “In total, we gave out four thousand, three hundred and twenty phones”. According to Evans, the second phase of the promo was dedicated to regional game shows held in eight cities across the country. He recounted, “At each of these cities, a minimum of 36 people won various amounts of money. From fifty thousand naira to over three million naira. We had subscribers punching away at our game console and walking away with millions of naira richer. Across the eight cities where the One9ja game show made different stops, two hundred and eighty eight people won various cash prizes while fifty six of these became instant millionaires. Some won one million naira each, some won two million naira”.
Etisalat has no doubt touched the lives of Nigerians in ways that no other telecoms company has been able to do since GSM came to Nigeria.
Congratulations Kizito!
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