Radio Voice is a Nollywood feature film that was released in cinemas across Nigeria on April 11th 2025. Written by Ufuoma Metitiri and Isioma Osaje, and Directed by Isioma Osaje, it has a runtime of 1 hour and 33 minutes. The film is produced by Nollywood legend Richard Mofe-Damijo who also plays a major character.
The movie follows the lives of Uche and Karo. Uche is a sex-working single mother while Karo is a heartbroken widower who finds hope and healing through a beloved Radio station.
Premise
The film starts off by introducing us to Power FM, a successful radio station whose main presenters are Mayowa and Andy.
Mayowa co-owns the station with her husband Karo, who also serves as the station manager. Karo and Mayowa share a blissful marriage, and they are about to celebrate their 15th anniversary. During the celebration however, the couple is met with bad news as Mayowa begins to cough up blood; a symptom of cancer that will lead to her demise.
2 years later, a heartbroken Karo is at a nightclub with Andy as the latter tries to help him move on. Meanwhile, there’s a commotion at the entrance, where a sex worker named Uche is attempting to get into the club as well. As a result of the chaos, Karo is accidentally hit in the face with Uche’s handbag. Frustrated, Karo and Andy leave the premises and head home, while Uche is forced out and heads to her own house, picking up her daughter from the babysitter on the way.
The following day, we get a look into the very different lives of Uche and Karo. Uche shares a close bond with her daughter, Precious, but faces multiple financial struggles. Her frustration is further escalated by the appearance of Precious’ estranged father, Hakeem. He is a spoiled, snobby son of a wealthy family and he abandoned Uche after impregnating her as a teenager. And he has only returned because he intends to use Precious’ existence to emotionally blackmail his parents after they cut him off for his less than savoury behaviour. Uche vehemently refuses, even after veiled threats and takes her daughter to school.
Meanwhile Karo, still depressed from the loss of Mayowa, lives as a complete shut-in, distancing himself from the radio station. Unfortunately, the station suffers from his absence and Mayowa’s death, finding it difficult to maintain their brand deals and becoming a shell of what it once was. This is explained to him by Blessing, a staff member at the studio and a close friend of the family, who has taken it upon herself to look after Karo since Mayowa’s death. It’s Blessing’s birthday and she invites Karo to a celebratory get-together at the studio before she leaves for work.
At the station, things are as bad as ever and Andy, who has grown bitter and ambitious over the years, plots to take over as station manager from Karo. Blessing disagrees with this, fearing that it would be seen as a betrayal, but Andy is adamant so she proposes that they talk to Karo about it at the get-together later.
Meanwhile, Uche faces even more struggles such as Precious’ school fees, so she calls her friend who works at the station to ask if there are any freelance voice-over vacancies, but there’s no such luck. They discuss for a while before her friend agrees to babysit Precious that night.
Night comes and Karo does show up for Blessing’s celebration. He comes face to face with Precious in the waiting room and develops a soft spot for her instantly due to the memory of him and Mayowa wanting a daughter. They form a close bond within the hour Karo takes Precious to the party. Andy tells Karo about his plan, much to the latter’s anger and disappointment, especially when Andy brings up Mayowa. Uche comes to pick up her daughter, leading to an awkward encounter as Andy and Karo recognise her from the night before. Karo, still relishing his newfound bond with Precious, opts to give them a ride home after letting Blessing know that Mayowa’s explicit instructions were to not let Andy take over due to his selfishness and excessive ambition.
Over the course of the next few days, Karo begins to train Blessing to take over instead, and they succeed, much to Andy’s chagrin. Uche also lives in relief as Karo ends up helping out with Precious’ school fees. It all comes to a head one night, after a violent encounter with Hakeem, Karo takes in Uche and Precious to live with him for the time being and Blessing offers to train and hire Uche at Power FM.
This then takes us on a warm, heartfelt journey of family, sisterhood, healing and hope as Karo finds love again, Blessing’s efforts are rewarded, and Uche finds a better life for herself and her daughter. However, there are multiple setbacks; Andy’s growing rage and bitterness, Hakeem’s desperation, and ultimately Uche’s past.
Cast and Performances
Radio Voice features a myriad of Nollywood icons such as:
- Richard Mofe-Damijo as Karo
- Nancy Isime as Uche
- Damilola Adegbite as Blessing
- Jasmine Olarotimi as Precious
- Nse Ikpe-Etim as Mayowa
- Deyemi Okanlawon as Andy
- Timini Egbuson as Hakeem
And a cameo performance by Blossom Chukwujekwu.
The acting in this movie? 100/10. But what else did we expect from such a stellar cast? RMD plays a grieving man that will tug at your heartstrings and Deyemi Okanlawon plays the villain a little too well (seriously, I walked out of that theatre with a burning vendetta against men for a good 12 hours). But that’s good. Acting is about how you make the viewers feel, and that’s exactly why Uche is my favourite character.
Nancy Isime did a fantastic job. Not only is her character incredibly fleshed out as a young single mother who has nothing to lose except her child and pride (she’ll become a sex-worker but not someone’s free charity case), but Nancy herself puts out such a performance that is somehow so relatable and makes you feel everything you’re supposed to feel.
Another noteworthy character is Mayowa. Despite not being alive during the course of the movie, her presence (or lack thereof) practically haunts the narrative of the entire film (at some point, I started to miss her too), and we can always trust Nse Ikpe-Etim to deliver a role like that flawlessly.
What I Liked
First of all, the pacing. It’s usually a bone I have to pick with most Nollywood movies (either too rushed or dragged on), but here it seems perfect. There’s a healthy level in the escalation of events and it makes for really good storytelling.
Second, the element of sisterhood. Yes, as rarely seen in Nollywood, there isn’t any excessive competition between the main female characters. While Blessing is initially slightly jealous of Uche’s newfound presence in Karo’s life, she still genuinely tries to help her out (as opposed to the mean girl/sabotage tactic that is so overdone in media), and even stands up for her multiple times. It goes to show that jealousy is a very human emotion, and that someone feeling it doesn’t inherently make them a villain. You can be a decent person and still feel jealousy or envy, it’s how the emotion is acted upon that separates the good from the bad.
I also like the fact that despite the film being a “found family” trope, Karo and Uche do not share any romantic feelings or get together. It promotes the representation of healthy platonic relationships and expectations (no the damsel won’t fall for you just because you saved her kid from being kicked out of school). Uche doesn’t suddenly become Mayowa’s replacement just because she’s good on the mic too. And Blessing isn’t just cast aside because there’s a new woman.
And lastly, I love the portrayal of Uche and Precious’ mother-daughter bond. I thought it was cute.
Final Thoughts
This film was warm and sweet. And regardless of some heavy themes that were discussed and portrayed, it’s still ultimately a feel-good film. Is it slightly cliché? Kinda. But I’ll overlook it. Sometimes simplicity is best.
I rate Radio Voice: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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