The notorious fact that the Nigerian Television Authority is arguably the largest television network in sub-Saharan Africa is not in doubt. What has however remained dominant in most public debate around the issues of modern day broadcast journalism in Nigeria and the rest of black Africa is the level and scope of independence and also the dimension of people-oriented/focused is much of the government sponsored television outfits.
The publicly sponsored Nigerian Television Authority has continued to dominate the spotlight of public discuss even as peoples’ expectation keep rising by the day that this self-acclaimed single largest television behemoth truly reflects the public interest of the people of Nigeria who are indeed the real owners of the nation’s democracy.
Few weeks back, Alhaji Musa Mayaki took over the mantle of leadership from the immediate past Director General Malam Usman Magawata who spent the last one tenure as the Director General to build a formidable and respectable broadcasting outfit that would hopefully gain the confidence support and pride of the generality of Nigerians.
Alhaji Magawata retired voluntarily after his attainment of the mandatory age of 60 years in April 14th 2012 thus creating the avenue for a seamless and smooth transition to the now Acting Director General- a versatile manager of personnel and resources.
As a very close but active observer of the activities of the Nigerian Television Authority in the last two decade, I can state without a shadow of any doubt that virtually all those Nigerians that have held the office of Director General have always listened to the concerns expressed by some of us who are professionally adept at objective criticisms with the mindset that Nigerian Television Authority must truly be transformed to assume the position of pride as the mouth- piece of the Nigerian general public and not only that of those in the corridors -of -power.
Alhaji Musa Mayaki who now pilots the affairs of the publicly owned television station told his staff that his dominant agendum would be to transform the place into the number one most loved and most cherished television station just in line with the transformation program of President Jonathan who recently made a solemn pledge to Nigerians that come 2013 or thereabout, he is sure to become the most loved President of Nigeria.
The new Director General has also promised Nigerians that his management team is committed towards the implementation of the community broadcasting blueprint which by -and- large is fundamentally targeted at making broadcasting people oriented and to give the Nigerian people the voice to express their opinions of varied dimension and to assist the government of Nigeria to achieve the enforcement of good laws that would create the necessary enabling environment for the attainment of good governance and respect for human rights of Nigerians.
His words: “I have being asked to step in into the shoes of the Acting Director General because nature abhors a vacuum. I will continue to champion the administration of NTA pending the appointment of substantive Director General by the federal Government. I appeal to you all our good staff and management not to relent in your hard work and dedication because hard work and dedication are our watch words in NTA.”
On the much important twin professional issues of content and coverage, the Acting Director General who is one of the most respected managers of people, stated that he would ensure an improved and well equipped NTA Stations in order to take the digitalization of broadcasting in Nigeria to the next level.
On community stations he disclosed that there is no going back on the NTA expansion project and the establishment of more community stations in order to take broadcasting and information dissemination down to the grassroots. He made the statement in an interactive session with journalists in Abuja recently.
Mayaki said that only the NTA is strategically positioned to positively impact the people at the grassroots and make a difference in communities since NTA’s content decisions at the community stations are not swayed by any commercial or advertising interest which is usually absent in most communities.
He reiterated that NTA Community stations existing for the benefit and best interest of the community.
According to Mayaki, NTA programmes at the community station are designed to make a positive impact on the quality of life of the people in the communities through the use the power of media to educate, entertain and inspire them at the grassroots. He said that the strategy of telling the stories of the communities in their own perspectives is irresistible and veritable tool for national development.
Mayaki said that “at the community level, NTA works in concert with community partners to ensure that the people at the grassroots are informed on local initiatives that affect their lives and also draw greater attention to the wealth of resources and talent in their communities”.
Since his assumption as the Acting Director-General of NTA in May this year, Musa B. Mayaki has focused on consolidating on the achievement of his pre-decessors through continued and diligent implementation of NTA’s policies in all areas including community broadcasting, digitization and the establishment of robust language channel.
With the arrival of the much awaited spares from Rhodes and Schwarz, the expansion project is more real than speculations, accpording to knowleadgeable sources competent in those matters.
The Language Channel which will be focusing on the three Nigerian major languages-Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba will be transmitted through the NTA/Startimes platform using the digital terrestrial transmission.
Mayaki is also keeping an eye on existing stations with a view to expanding its viewership with clean and clear signals to meet with better content and wider out-reach in line with the new trend in broadcasting.
Some of the NTA stations that were off air are gradually coming back on air. Such stations that are back on air include NTA Akwaga, NTA Ogoja, NTA Takum and NTA Ile Ife.
A noticeable attribute I have noticed from the acting Director General of NTA is his appreciation of reading culture. Those conversant with his leadership disposition said he is such a good reader of quality books that he is always ready to listen to the concerns of his staff.
Bill Newman who wrote the scholarly book titled “ten laws of leadership” noted thus; “True success comes from hard work. There are no short cuts. I am not talking about a workaholic but rather one who has learnt to enjoy work. So many want work to get rich so they will not have to work. Most persons with that attitude never make it anyway”.
Newman in his widely acclaimed book aforementioned asked leaders to in his words: “You must be constantly thinking how can I do this better? “Is there a more cost effective way?, how can I conserve time?, can I produced better doing it a different way?”
The Acting Director General is said to have started manifesting these beautiful leadership qualities for which he has been known for, for years that he has worked in the Nigerian Television Authority where he rose to the prestigious position of the Executive Director Finance and Administration.
In an interview with the News Magazine, the Acting Director General unveiled his transformation agenda as follows; “Well, what I met on ground on assuming office was a network that was actually not there. We had a number of stations that were down within the network, such that it was impacting negatively even on our revenue. This is because, when advertisers want it on network, they monitor and they tell you that this station or the other station did not join or were not on, and that they were not going to pay for it”.
He further opined thus: ”Really, when you come to think of it, they are actually paying for the network. So there were so many stations that were not on board. We were just calling ourselves ‘Africa’s Largest Network’ when in actual fact, the network was collapsing gradually. That was the first thing I tried to address. We have basically tried to address all of these”.
He continued thus; “To date, we have brought up about 10 stations. One, Oshogbo was down. Oshogbo is now on. NTA Lafia was down, it is now up. The only thing we need to do at NTA Lafia is to connect it to the national grid because they are still using generators. Then, NTA Ife that was down for more than three years or so, is up now. We are getting full signals. In fact, you can get NTA Ife in any part of Osun State. Ijebu-Ode used to be a very key station in Ogun State because Abeokuta had a problem of visibility, so to say, because of the hill blocking the signals. So we had a complementary station in Ijebu-Ode that was making all the money for us. It was also down for more than one year, but we have been able to bring it up. Takum was also down, to the extent that the minister of state for power, who is from there, kept ‘harassing’ the minister of information over that. But the station is up now. Takum is also very strategic because of Nigerians living near the borders with Cameroon. We don’t want them to receive signals from Cameroon. We don’t want them to lose their identity because of the fact that they are part of Nigeria”. Such is the patriotic zeal of th acting Director General.
He told the journalist further; ” Again NTA Sapele was down too. Now it is up. Also Iruekpe in Edo State was down. The House of Representatives member from there kept calling me. During our budget defence at the National Assembly, he asked me to tell them when the Iruekpe station would come up. We are happy now that the station is up. There were so many stations that we had to battle with. That is what we have been doing in the past three months.”
Those who know disclosed to this writer that the choice of the current Acting Director General is salutary just as they expressed their hope that he can carry through the community broadcasting agenda so that the rural people can have their voices heard since the voice of the people is the voice of God.
* Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA blogs@www.huriwa.com.
