Clement Nanzing Paul Selbong
Born on the 10th of January to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Selbong both of blessed memories. He attended St. Jarlath’s Primary School Bukuru in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau, Nigeria, from 1978 to 1984. He then proceeded to the prestigious St. Joseph’s College Vom, a boys Catholic Missionary School from 1984 to 1990.
Stage Name: Steary Jay
He obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and International Studies from the University of Jos in 2000. He also bagged a Master of Arts Degree from the same institution in 2006. He is currently a PhD student of Economic History at the University of Jos.
He developed a passion for reggae music from listening to his dad playing reggae songs on turn table deck by artistes like Bob Marley and the Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, Marcia Griffiths etc in the late 1970s. During his college days he met Maurice Suwa aka the ‘Black Mamba’ who had a patua (Jamaican Creole English) dictionary and was speaking the Jamaican patua on the college compound and immediately fell in love with the language. He borrowed the dictionary and started learning the meaning of words and how to use them in sentences. When Maurice Suwa graduated from college and was studying at the University of Jos, Peace 90.5 FM was established in Jos and Maurice Suwa became the first reggae presenter in Nigeria to present a radio reggae programme in Patois language. He featured Steary Jay on his radio programme I and I Tunes a couple of times. This paved way for Steary Jay to build up his flair for radio presentation. Steary Jay was offered a radio programme to present on Radio Plateau One A M frequency in 1996, which he presented passionately until the year 2000 when he was auditioned along with 87 others for a reggae programme on Peace 90.5 FM. After passing the audition, he was brought on FM band and paired with John Shillek aka Pupa Jay on Top of the Morning on Wednesdays 8am to 10 am, before it was switched to Tuesdays called ‘Double Jay Connection’ This programme won an award in 2001 as Best Dual Presentation on radio. Steary Jay also presented Roots N Culture Reggae on Mondays from 7pm to 8:30 pm.
After 28 years of being an On Air Personality, Steary Jay has acquired the experience and skills needed to be the best reggae presenter in Nigeria. He is the only presenter who calls various reggae artistes from Jamaica and around the world every Saturday by 7pm for live phone in interviews. This has earned Steary Jay an article published in the leading entertainment newspaper in Jamaica The Jamaican Observer Newspaper dedicated to Steary Jay and how he has been promoting reggae music by Jamaicans in Nigeria.
Current Programmes: As at 2024, Steary Jay Deejay presents the following programmes:
1. Lover’s Rock
On radio Peace 90.5 FM Jos City, Nigeria. It comes up every Wednesday from 1pm to 3pm Nigerian time. Here soft and emotional reggae songs are plaid with reggae versions of popular r n b songs featuring prominently. The language of presentation is Jamaican Patua .
2. Reggae Run Things
A reggae programme also presented by Steary Jay but not on radio. It is a TV programme which comes on air every Wednesday from 5pm to 6pm on Plateau Radio Television Corporation (PRTVC) on cable TV it can be viewed on channel 113 on Star Times Decoder and on channel 504 on Free TV Decoder. Here Deejay Steary Jay plays reggae videos with clean visuals no obscene scenes and also live concerts with positive performances no slackness allowed. Presented in Patois.
3. Reggae Gyration
A radio programme on Peace 90.5 FM every Saturday from 6:30pm to 8:30 pm. This features all classes of reggae such as roots reggae, lover’s rock, dancehall reggae, reggae cover versions, gospel reggae, Afro beat reggae etc. Each Saturday at least one ,two or three international reggae artistes are called on phone for live phone in interview where reggae fans get to hear their favourite reggae artiste talk live on radio giving their biographies, how they started music, albums they have released , concerts they have performed at and sing their most popular song live on air without instrumentals. This has attracted more listenership for the programme and the radio station. No radio station in Nigeria does anything close to this.
4. Plateau Project
A discussion Programme on radio which brings guests to talk about various topics as long as it affects people living in Plateau State. Mostly days set aside by United Nations to commemorate something such as International Women’s Day, World Peace Day, Drug Abuse Day, Day Against Human Trafficking, Day for Persons Physically Challenged, etc Commissioners from various ministries, General Managers from various parastatals , CEOs of Non-Governmental Organisations are usually the guests on this programme. The language of presentation in Enlish for most people listening to understand and participate by calling the studio line half way into the programme to ask questions related to the topic of discussion each week. On this programme, the presenter uses his real name, Clement Selbong.