[HCDX] Muzzling FRCN Kaduna

["Zacharias Liangas " <greekdx@xxxxxxxxx>]

Muzzling FRCN Kaduna
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200712280029.html

Currently the management of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria(FRCN) 
under its Director General, Mr. Ben Egbuna, has been restructuring the 
corporation, based on the recommendations of the FRCN Reform 
Implementation Committee that was set up in September last year.

The report of the committee had criticised the existing structure as suffering 
"from some inherent weaknesses which tend to negate its mandate." These 
weaknesses, it said, included (1) "weakening the corporate effectiveness of 
the FRCN by stressing UNDUE AUTONOMY" of the zonal stations 
(emphasis mine), (2) the incongruency between the three linguistic zones 
and the country's new-fangled six territorial geo-political zones, (3) the 
ineffectiveness of the professional departments in responding to problems 
when they arise and (4) the overburdening of the director general with 
responsibilities of the professional departments because the heads were 
remove from the headquarters.

The solution the reform committee recommended essentially was to end the 
autonomy of the zonal stations with headquarters in Enugu, Ibadan and 
Kaduna and effectively curtail their reach. On the surface this looked 
consistent with the mandate of the corporation which is to "Uplift the People 
and Unite the Nation". In reality, however, the restructuring was the same 
long running war that has been waged by the federal authorities against the 
FRCN Kaduna for no worse crime than the fact that it has been the most 
effective radio station in the country.

This war started in 1978 when the then military head of state, General 
Olusegun Obasanjo, tried to end its autonomy and shortwave broadcast. 
The move provoked a huge uproar. Group Captain Usman Jibrin, the 
military governor of the host North-Central State, who led the resistance lost 
his commission and his job. To ballance the equation, Chief Olu Adebanjo, 
Obasanjo's minister of information who ostensibly initiated the idea also got 
the boot.

Three years later the war took another guise under President Shehu 
Shagari.This time an executive bill was sent to the National Assembly for the 
establishment of a Medium Wave station for each of the existing 19 states. 
The bill was apparently meant to kill two, actually three, birds with one stone; 
provide jobs for the boys of the ruling party, overwhelm the voices of the 
opposition parties in the states they controlled and, of course, strangulate 
the FRCN Kaduna. It was instructive that Shagari's adviser on information 
was the self same Adebanjo who seemed to have started it all under 
Obasanjo.

Once again the station's huge listeners rose as one against the bill and it 
was subsequently shot down. Any one who thought that was the last to be 
heard of the moves against the station had another think coming. In June 
last year Leadership reported that the then director general, Chief Kevin 
Ejiofor, instructed the station to stop broadcasting on short wave. The 
director general later denied the charge. However, a memo he had sent to 
his board of directors for restructuring the FRCN gave the game away. "The 
span of control" he said in the memo, "is clearly unmanageable for the 
Kaduna national station which superintends both the North-West and the 
North-East geo-political zones."

The current attempt at restructuring the FRCN is clearly the latest in a long 
line of attempts, first from Lagos and now from Abuja, to curb the reach and 
the autonomy of FRCN Kaduna. This attempt is not only being carried out by 
a director general who had come to his job through subterfuge, the attempt 
itself is as illegal as it is unwise and costly.

When Mr. Eddie Iroh left the FRCN as director general soon after Obasanjo 
started his second term, Iroh brought in Ejiofor, a pensioner he had recruited 
as the executive director of FRCN Enugu, to act as the D.G. As a pensioner 
it was difficult, if not impossible, to confirm him. As a result the then minister 
of Information, FRCN's parent ministry, Mr. Frank Nwekeh Jnr., appointed 
KMPG, a major consultancy, to help recruit a new D.G. through 
advertisement.

Subsequently KMPG shortlisted seven candidates as suitable for the job out 
of the 93 that had applied. Nwekeh Jnr, then recommended two out of the 
seven to the president to choose from. These were Mr. Jimmy Atte, 
presently NTA's executive director of News, and Mr. Ben Egbuna. then 
Voice of Nigeria's executive director of News. The president chose Egbuna. 
In the memo seeking Obasanjo's approval Nwekeh Jnr. lied to his boss; he 
said none of the corporation's executive directors applied. Three, Ademola 
Elegbede, S.A. Shuaibu and Yusuf Nuhu did. Worse still Mr. Egbuna whom 
he recommended along with Mr. Atte never applied and was therefore not 
among the seven shortlisted by KMPG.

Chances were that the president never knew he was lied to by his minister 
when he approved Egbuna whom Nwekeh Jnr. clearly preferred from the 
tone of his memo which emphasized the fact that Egbuna was an alumnus 
of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies that the president 
had midwifed in his first incarnation as military head of state.

Clearly Egbuna had come to his job with unclean hands. And the job itself, 
as I've said, is as illegal as it is unwise and costly. It is illegal simply because 
it is being done without amending the existing law that established the 
corporation. This law recognises only three zones along linguistic lines with 
headquarters at Enugu, Ibadan and Kaduna. The law also gives them 
autonomy within the overall control of the corporation's headquarters.

Under the subsisting arrangement, the three zones between them broadcast 
in English and the three national languages of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, in 
addition to about 20 minority languages. The idea was that listeners in these 
languages that cover the vast majority of Nigerians can be informed and 
entertained regardless of where they lived in the country.

Another major objective was to counter the propaganda of the main global 
radio stations like the BBC, VOA, Deutch Welle, Radio France International 
and Radio Moscow all of which broadcast in Hausa, the single largest 
audience in the West African subregion.

And so contrary to the claim by the FRCN management, the new territorial 
structure was more likely than not to defeat the corporation's objectives. This 
is why is unwise. As for the extravagance of the exercise, this is obvious 
from the fact that of the 32 FM stations to be established under it most of the 
18 or so that are already operational have been far from cost effective. A 
small fraction of the billions of Naira spent on them would have given the tax 
payer more bang for his Naira if they had been spent on strengthening 
FRCN Kaduna and on reviving those of Enugu and Ibadan that have since 
collapsed.

The FRCN Kaduna started as a regional station, Radio Television Kaduna 
(RTK), under Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Northern premier. It served Nigeria well 
as an effective counter to Biafra's successful propaganda during our civil 
war of 1967 to 1970. It apparently became a victim of its success when it 
was taken over by the federal military authorities in 1971 following the 
abolishing of the old National Broadcasting Corporation which could not 
match Biafra's propaganda.

To ballance the regional equation the RTK's counterparts in Enugu and 
Ibadan were also taken over. For some inexplicable reasons the authorities 
in these regions failed to support their zonal station to the extent that 
Kaduna did, invariably leading to their collapse. Since then in a series of 
moves which clearly smack of a policy of beggar thy neighbour or dog in a 
manger or both, those who seem envious of FRCN Kaduna's staying power 
and success have tried to kill it instead of reviving the other zonal stations.

Because these moves are illegal, unwise and costly the FRCN management 
should reverse itself. Otherwise the federal authorities should call it to order. 
________________________
http://zlgr.multiply.com (raidio monitoring site plus audio clips )
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/302315/ (Litohoro) 321199/Tinos 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachgr    pictures upload 
.
on my main : www.geocities.com/zliangas 
-tty-px.html : test of various TTY programs
-ethics.htm    : greek ethics , days and institutions 
-frape.htm: the greek way of cofee !!! 
Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece 
greekdx @ otenet dot gr  ---  
Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102,1103,108,
Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000 
Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop 

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