Tag: Okoh Aihe

For broadcasting, an early celebration of the death of monopoly – By Okoh Aihe

In moments of soaring confusion, some salient but very troubling issues may just develop unnoticed. Life goes on while those issues could build into a broth that could trouble the body in future. Especially in businesses where every Naira invested is of major interest to the investor, such things could either help the image of the business environment or deter investors to scram with their funds.

As Nigerians waded through the flood in recent months, slept on the road for days while trying to connect one part of the country to another, or stay overnight at the filling stations, especially for those who live in Abuja, a small story sprouted out of Rivers State and has gained traction in Abuja, of which a final denouement could reverberate into the future of broadcast businesses across the nation.

Standing on the pillars of the 6th Edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, a small broadcast operator in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, Metro-Digital, initiated a David versus Goliath fight, when it took Multichoice to court with a prayer that the biggest pay TV operator in Africa, sub-license some of its channels to the Port Harcourt broadcaster.

Quite innocuous. So it seems. But the wheel of justice grinds slowly and the patient one would usually take the fat bone arising from such an odyssey.

On July 13, 2022, an Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, ordered the broadcast regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), to address the programming sublicensing complaint filed against Multichoice Nigeria Limited by Metro-Digital Limited, by bringing the disputing parties to the round table.

In setting aside the judgment of the lower court, the Appeal Court gave the following consequential order:

“An order of mandatory injunction is issued to compel the 2nd respondent to issue directives on the appellant’s complaint against the 1st respondent pursuant to the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, 6th Edition (as amended). The 2nd respondent shall initiate the process for the determination of the dispute between the appellant and the 1st respondent within 21 days of the date of this judgment, under the auspices of the NBC Act, the 6th Edition of the NBC Code and its addendum.”

This was my observation on this development on July 27, 2022. “For me, the broadcasting industry is getting very interesting as the resolution of this case could go a long way to determine how business is done in the industry. It will affect the depth of competition. It will affect content development and ownership. It will teach us to watch out for mischief and act very spontaneously once a document is being done, and some smart fellows are throwing in some hidden traps. In fact it will add some accoutrement to the definition of deregulation in the business dictionary.”

Dear friends, we are there right now. The regulator did not act within the window given, until it was goaded into action, this writer has gathered. Instead of calling a round table meeting between the disputing parties, the regulator with just put under some subtle pressure, has issued a directive to Multichoice to sublicense its channels to a competitor in the industry.

Now the other party is over the moon, and those around are trying to restrain his flight or at least constrain him to the reality of the earth. Such is the victory that can be so sweet but sometimes not too far away from ashes in the mouth.

Part of the NBC letter addressed to the leadership of Multichoice, Nigeria, reads: “You are hereby directed to comply with the 6th Edition of the NBC Code as amended pursuant to Metro-Digital’s request for channel sublicensing as ordered by the Federal Court of Appeal.”

According to reports, Chief Executive of Metro-Digital, Dr Ifeanyi Nwafor, is overjoyed that the regulator has finally agreed with the court order and has equally expressed appreciation to the Federal Government, especially the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and the judiciary.

“We are glad to announce today that NBC has complied with the order of the court. The end of monopoly in the Nigerian broadcasting industry will enhance competition, innovation and quality of service delivery. The industry will enjoy rapid growth and consumers will benefit from competitive pricing that follows,” he was quoted to have said.

You really have to accommodate the excitement of Dr Nwafor and really encourage him to pitch his tent close to reality. Some contents of the Code really gave his spirits verve. For instance, Chapter 6 of the Code focuses on Sports Rights, Acquisition, and, in fact, how an owner should treat his own products apropos the attitude of competitors in the market.

For instance, the Code says in 6.2.5: To ensure fair and effective competition to all platforms at an agreed fee, rights owner, operators or exclusive licenses to Live Foreign Sporting Events shall offer rights to Broadcasters on the different platforms inclusive but not restricted to the platforms stated below – Satellite (DTH), Multipoint Microwave Distribution System (MMDS), Cable (Fibre Optics), DTT(Terrestrial), Internet, Mobile, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and Radio.

The only problem however, is that there is no closure on this case yet as Multichoice has proceeded to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, asking for relief and protection. I have no knowledge to ask whether the action of the regulator in issuing that directive is fit and proper. Such conjecture belongs to the learned ones in our midst but I can hint here that the journey ahead may be long, windy and rough.

The only other intervening factor here is that sublicensing will be subject to a business decision between owners of contents, including sports, and those who want to be sublicensed. It may interest you that content owners may not want to sell at a loss no matter the content of the Code. It is first a business before those who hide behind patriotism to take what others have built up over time.

Apart from the action already taken by the regulator, I am of the opinion that the entire broadcast ecosystem – the operators, including the parties in dispute, the regulator, the Ministry of Information and Culture, and even the invisible drummers who are playing for the little bird to dance on the road, will be waiting with bated interest to hear the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on this matter. Perhaps, just perhaps, we may be approaching a lasting peace in the broadcast industry.

Irrespective of the developments, I still hold fast to my little opinion that pay TV and premium programming are inseparable but very challenging to achieve. It is expensive and it demands people to wear their thinking, creative cap always. An operator that has achieved a niche in the sector can be accused of monopoly practices. Unfortunately, for me, I have been in some meetings where industry monopolies are discussed. Sometimes, I am in the minority when I point out that monopoly can spring from the greedy appetite of some industry players but, oftentimes, it is fuelled by the laziness of other operators who are either too lazy to innovate, too terrified to dare, or simply do not have the funds to compete fairly.

All of the above are at work in Nigeria. The broadcast industry has been challenged for a long time, leaving most of the operators to point at the direction of one operator who seemingly has stolen their beef. It is worse if such unfortunate reasoning bears the imprimatur of some fellows in government. But it is never too late to purge an idea whose emergence is tragic and unfortunate. The Supreme Court may provide a cushioning but cautionary resolution of a supervening uncertainty. Meanwhile, let’s say a celebratory orison for the death of monopoly in the nation’s broadcast industry!

November 16, 2022
A minister’s difficult journey to the National Assembly – By Okoh Aihe

It can be exasperatingly helpless when somebody tries to make a point and nobody seems to understand. So it was the other day as the Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made a passionate appeal to the lawmakers at the National Assembly to, at least, add more funds to his 2023 budget to enable his ministry perform its responsibilities in the remaining but challenging days of this administration. He was stone-walled by a group of people who seemed to have woken up on the wrong side that very day or probably waited long for the opportunity to deal him a telling blow.

The reputation of the minister precedes him. You hate him before you see him. People jump to a conclusion before they even hear him. And working for a government whose success is harboured only in the imagination of those who work for it, his job, which he has pursued with unwavering loyalty and doggedness, is particularly difficult, thus earning him some unsavoury sobriquet and a natural attraction to loathsomeness. But he is never one to turn his back in a battle. So, he is resolute in every sense of his job at the Information ministry.

Lai Mohammed had a case, and a very good one, in my opinion. He had gone before the House Committee on Information to defend the 2023 Budget of his Ministry. With him were his lieutenants from the parastatals under him, which include: Voice of Nigeria (VON), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON). It was his final budget defence, he wanted to leave on high personally and leave the ministry in some financial comfort and buoyancy.

What he got was a shocker. While the ministry enjoyed an approval of N2.5bn in 2022 as capital budget, with N1bn of that sum going to the ministry; for 2023, the House has only approved N869m capital budget for the entire ministry with the ministry itself getting a miserly N346m, making Mohammed to cry out that his ministry “has been dealt a very heavy card in this year’s budgetary allocation.”

Just looking at the parastatals alone tells you that Mohammed has a very important job to do for the government. Apart from ARCON, the other ones like VON, NTA and NAN are major vehicles of mass mobilisation and information dissemination. Without speaking for the minister, media is not cheap; making it work and getting the right personnel is even more challenging.

But his concerns are much more than that. Fighting hate speech, fake news and disinformation, which have been his major obsession, serious push back at the international community to educate them on the goings-on in Nigeria, instead of the kind of advisory issued recently on security by some countries, awareness campaign on the coming elections, the national census that may happen in the lifetime of this administration, and above all, just to get the right funds to properly inform Nigerians of the great work that the Buhari administration has done in nearly eight years. One thing you can say about Mohammed is that he doesn’t fit the description of some of the people the President himself accused recently of not speaking well enough of the achievements of his administration. He tries his best and he wants to continue to do so but he needs funds.

“I fully understand the current challenges the country is facing, but I don’t agree that the ministry of information and culture at this critical time should have less, it actually should have more,” he appealed.

The minister is only getting a small taste of what happens to the media each time there is a little dip in the economy. The media is the first to be affected. Everybody loves the media. They want to be seen, they want to be heard, and they want lofty stories written about them, sometimes, just celebrating their inanities. But they cut the budget, take advertising from the media or, in some other orchestrations, make it impossible for the media to operate.

Apart from some kind of excuses the lawmakers pleaded, I want to observe here that the minister was unfairly treated. He got a raw deal. Some obviously have premeditated reasons for not listening to the length of his appeal. Apart from the Committee Chairman, Hon. Olusegun Odebunmi, who counselled the minister to return to the executive to launch his appeal, a member of the Committee, Hon. Ahmed Jaha, simply told the minister it was hard for them to do anything as the National Assembly members had been serially accused of padding budgets.

“It’s the same federal government that will come through the ministry of information and accuse the National Assembly of padding the budget. So, minister, I want you to understand that we are being placed between the devil and the deep blue sea,” the lawmaker said without mincing words.

It was payback time, and that smacks of some cheapness. In the description of the 6th Edition of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code, both NTA and VON are public broadcasters which should be funded by the government or the public, as they shouldn’t generate money through advertising. But the Nigeria situation is amorphous as the public broadcaster, like the NTA, collects lots of money from advertising, but accounting for such revenue has always been a matter of concern. It then becomes difficult to make a case for government support but it does not absolve government of its responsibilities to the stations.

Irony has no respect for anybody, not even the occupant of the big office of the minister who has only been made to experience what it means to have power and yet be castrated into helplessness. Which is what he has done to broadcast operators since he assumed office. Under his watch, private broadcasters have been made to feel pain as they are often threatened or sanctioned without following due process. It is not that the broadcast regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) would not know what to do, it is often pressured to expedite the speed of punishment and impose sanctions.

It may not be superfluous to also point out to the minister that some of the parastatals under him, like the VON, NTA and NAN, have not been properly run, and that could irritate some people, including the lawmaker who accused the platforms of being used by the government against the legislative arm. They are public channels but their public seems to be approximated only by the government. Opposition parties or even dissenting voices have no place in their programming arrangement. Good professionals who should be allowed to thrive in their trade are micromanaged by the ministry and thrust on the borderline of mediocrity, to their shame and impotence. Were the government outfits allowed to run more professionally, perhaps it would have more support from the advert market, no matter how incongruous the idea is, and enjoy more hefty votes from the National Assembly.

And this leaves me with a plea. Is it possible for the minister to spruce up the operations of the agencies under his ministry – NTA, VON and NAN, among others before the end of this administration, early next year? At least make them run like media outfits and not some kind of rag-tag ministerial appendages. It will be a befitting parting gift. But is such a good thing capable of coming from this administration with tendentious fidelity to the illusory reality of life in our nation, and obtuse entitlement to non-existent achievements? I wait to be proved wrong.

November 9, 2022
A little alert before another 5G auction in December – By Okoh Aihe

Nigeria is in dire straits. She needs money for daily runs and is bungling on the edge of extreme desperation. Desperation can lead to selling of metal scraps for survival or even selling off national assets, as proposed in the 2023 Budget, what in the case of an individual, is pawning, that is, selling off personal items to meet exigent needs. It is not an enviable status to endure.

Under this condition, there is a desperation to scratch for everything, including the low hanging fruits, which always present an attractive offer. Frequency or Spectrum for telecommunications services occupy prime place in this consideration. It is therefore no surprise that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecommunications regulator, announced last week, that it was putting out for sale in December 2022, some frequencies for 5G services.

Published on the website of the Commission, www.ncc.gov.ng, is a material titled: Information Memorandum on 3.5GHz Spectrum Auction, issued on October 21, 2022. Quite interesting, that material. It details the various steps to be taken to be part of the next auction, gives updates on the country’s telecoms market, and pretty well presents some exciting information why an investor would want to come into the industry to do new business. 3.5GHz is the spectrum for 5G services.

In a little recap which I will call a superfluous tech peregrination, the NCC says: “In its drive to deepen broadband penetration in the country, the Commission in December 2021, conducted an auction of two (2) lots of 100MHz TDD in the 3.5GHz band to support the delivery of ubiquitous broadband services. The Commission is now desirous of auctioning the remaining two (2) lots of 100MHz TDD in the 3.5GHz band to support the delivery of ubiquitous broadband services in line with the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025.”

The two available lots are 3400 – 3500 and 3600 – 3700. The one put out for sale last year and duly won by MTN and Mafab ranged from 3500 – 3600 and 3700 – 3800 in the 3.5GHz band. Each winner paid $273.5m for a Lot. The licence tenure is 10 years.

I have observed that while the Reserve Price (RP) for the proposed auction is $273,600,000.00, the RP for the one which was held last year was $197.400,000.00. Quite a significant rise, meaning there must be something happening in the telecommunications market to shoot the price that high. Or the peak of last year has simply become a benchmark for greater things to come!

Don’t get me wrong. Few months ago, three operators in India shelled out a whole of $19bn for Air Wave or Spectrum sales, and they planned to spend much more than that to roll out services. The auguries are different anyway, the huge population of 1.393bn (2021) and the regulatory environment may have made that eye-popping difference.

From all indications, there is so much money to be made from the telecommunications industry, either by way of investment or returns or even license fees which go to the government. However, caution is called for before the goose that lays the golden egg (oh that cliche again!) is crushed to death in a moment of rapacious greed.

I can’t say I feel the excitement in the industry the way it was last year. And my reaction is even more hebetated. Here are my reasons. The investment environment is not as good as it was last year, it is election season and there is a lot of uncertainty hovering all over, and there are the cynics who will simply assume that the process is not for altruistic purposes but for something beyond the love for telecoms.

And there is something about credibility and regulatory propriety. The NCC is very much concerned about this, very concerned about industry and public perception, which is why, each time it would refer to its history of regulatory transparency and its reputable standing in the global gathering of regulators.

During the auction last year, this writer gathered that the participants had squeezed a promise from the regulator that it would put a moratorium on further 5G auctions for at least 24 months. This would at least enable the pioneer 5G operators to recoup some of their investment before others would get the opportunity to join the fray. Only MTN is rolling out service at the moment, Mafab has yet to fully engage, not to talk of making some money back. It is not even 12 months yet, another process has started, leading to some kind of frosty response from some industry stakeholders.

There is also another response that should be of reasonable concern to the regulator. Some internal stakeholders are highly disenchanted with goings-on at the Commission. Some sources within the regulatory agency conversant with the regulatory processes, are very unhappy for what they feel is overbearing political pressure on the regulator to break its rules and kowtow to political avarice.

The regulatory authority should be concerned with lamentations within the system and appropriate their concerns to regenerate a new direction for the agency. A source told this writer that “This is nothing more than political pressure. NCC is in a difficult position and has lost its independence. The Commission has nowhere to run to for protection. No independence for the Board and no independence for the Commission,” multiple sources lamented.

Another source added, “there is no reason for this rush. Nothing says that the process must be completed before this set of politicians will end their term in office. There is no good for this rush,” the source added with signs of exasperation.

On this page we have complained about regulatory capture of some agencies, a situation where the laws and raw energies of an agency are hijacked or appropriated by an individual or a higher authority who assumes the responsibilities of the agency. It brings scorn and ridicule to the agency and accentuates a helplessness that scares investors. Under this administration, the day-to-day running of some visible agencies have been taken over by the ministers who in some instances have awarded licenses without recourse to the agency. It is a most humiliating enterprise, and a troubling sign to local and international investors that the laws of the land can be castrated with political braggadocio.

Mercifully for all of us, the document on the NCC website is still a draft and is open to observations, questions, responses and even objections until November 11, 2022, when all those views will be processed for a final release and publication of the full document on November 18, 2022.

But here is my very humble question: who wants this license so much that is pressuring the regulatory agency to subvert its own rules, propriety and a legacy of regulatory transparency? While the answer is being minted, I suggest that the process be suspended, and also appeal to the politicians to leave the NCC alone, even in tatters. There will be enough time to recover and gather strength again.

This auction, in my own opinion, is not being done because government needs money to run the economy, or for the love of pervasive spread of broadband facilities across the nation, but shamefully because there must be some guys somewhere who want to make a final heist. Irrespective of the overwhelming power of greed, the NCC must be allowed to live its own life, the life of a regulator.

November 2, 2022
Telecoms: Regulatory lawmaking as a distractive pastime – By Okoh Aihe

The other day some idle lawmakers went to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on a single mission: to intimate the head that they have put in motion the process of merging some parastatals under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. The parastatals include: the NCC, National Information Development Agency (NITDA), Galaxy Backbone and NigComSat. It occupied little space in the media. But that was more than enough for them to register their intention.

I can’t confirm whether there was any applause from any quarters. But obviously not mine. That piece of news ruined my day. I like to sit and enjoy my cup of green tea. Hot. Plain. No cream. No other thing. All at peace with myself. Any other thing at this time is an unsolicited intervention. But these people, they know how to make somebody boil over even in moments of tranquil or even cold.

This writer is aware that one of the recommendations of the Oronsanye Report of April 2012, was for some ministries and parastatals to be merged, and the civil service de-layered to ensure that no director stays in a position/office for more than eight years. But once the change of this administration happened to Nigeria in 2015, that Report was out through the window, and the change agents seized the intervening period to surreptitiously employ and load the civil service with their children and some other lackeys, a majority of who were hardly ready for the job foisted on them. It is roguish reductiveness and gratuitous insult to reason that in the final days in office, this government has just realised the beauty of that report and is canvassing an implementation. What of the people already planted in offices to enjoy a growth into the future and manage the various levers of the civil service and by extension the government even with scant knowledge? There is no doubt that some of these stories will wash up much later.

The ad-hoc committee in the House of Representatives entrusted with all this important job is chaired by Victor Danzaria (APC, Gombe). As reported the Rep member who feels very cool with this job said at the meeting: “The ad-hoc Committee is critically looking at these agencies , their existence and looking at possible synergies and mergers of these agencies to give effective service to Nigerians.

“One area is research, second is revenue generation and thirdly is regulatory functions and service delivery and at the end of the day, this is what Nigerians want.”

What a jumbled line of reasoning and the cheek of it all, to appropriate what Nigerians want!

In a well reasoned response, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), pointed out the functions of the agencies listed in the consideration but counselled, matter of factly, that the lawmakers should seek expert opinions to review existing laws and operational frameworks.

Could it be a matter of coincidence that at this particular time, Mr Bright Igbako, pioneer secretary of the NBC, was working on a material titled: Need to Rework the Structure of Broadcast Regulatory Body in Nigeria: A Comparative Study? This material was published recently in some media outlets and I would implore the lawmakers to search it out.

The study takes a look at the Office of Communications (Ofcom) in the United Kingdom, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States of America, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), and the very exciting provisions of the Constitution of Ghana which provides for the National Media Commission (NMC).

The aforementioned are converged regulators, meaning that broadcast and telecom matters are handled under one roof, and this seems to be what is inspiring our lawmakers. But it’s not. I will make some explanations about my position.

“Structurally, ‘the FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for five year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The President designates one of the commissioners to serve as the chairperson, only three commissioners may be members of the same political party.’ It is not a system where the winner takes all, Igbako observed.

The story of Ghana is even more interesting. The National Media Commission draws its 15members from different organisations and professions, including religious groups, and enjoys the latitude to do their job professionally.

Part of the law setting it up states that ‘Except as otherwise provided by this Constitution or by any other law not inconsistent with this Constitution, the National Media Commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority in the performance of its functions.’

Igbako also points out that in Nigeria the Public Services Rules empower “a Minister to exercise control over parastatals at policy level through the Board of the parastatals”. This is the bane of regulation in the country and a painful situation that has led to pervasive regulatory capture in Nigeria.

It has been suggested in the past for the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors to come under one regulatory body. Such possibilities have never really been explored, mostly for reasons of turf control, not only by the employees in the two organisations, but by successive governments that want to micromanage the organisations.

Let me state here that what these lawmakers are proposing has nothing to do with effective regulation or what Nigerians want but a convoluted script that has long been foretold. A document hatched by some fellows who believe that every other Nigerian is dim-witted and stupid. Beyond regulatory capture, it is the final discombobulation of the NCC, attenuating it to a receding shadow of a regulatory body which, once upon a time, radiated glory to the international community.

Let’s see how this story sticks. The NCC is a regulator of the telecommunications industry. NITDA is a development agency instituted to promote the development of technology in Nigeria. Both Galaxy Backbone and NigComSat are government businesses that operate for profit and return same to the federation account.

Dr Isa Ali Pantami, who is the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, used to be the Director General of NITDA. Since becoming minister, the NCC has deliberately been weakened for the ascendancy of NITDA as some functions that were previously undertaken by the NCC through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) which is provided for by the Nigerian Communications Act of 2003, have been ceded to NITDA through some obnoxious manipulations in lawmaking.

Galaxy Backbone came into operations in 2006. It is described as the network and data hosting infrastructure platform for public and private sector organisations. Once formed, the ministries, government agencies and parastatals were pressured to do business with the organisation at commercial rates. It was discomforting then that the government should set up the agency to struggle for businesses with telecommunications operators who were rolling out services at huge cost. As it is, the government always wins.

NigComSat was a small project office at the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), which eventually became a government business, a limited liability company in 2004, responsible for the operations and management of Nigerian Communications Satellites. The agency is to sell the satellite space in Nigerian satellites and remit money to the federation account.

Unfortunately, NigComSat has become a prestige business which hovers on the propinquity of a scrap business. Since the launch of its main satellite, NigComSat-1, de-orbited a few months later, there is neither profit or even sales of reasonable proportions. The existence of that business, with the coming of NigComSat-1R, is real but achievement is vague and disastrous. NASRDA, which should be a home for the super brains in space technology, just like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States, is not properly funded while NigComSat has become a loss-making distraction.

The call by the lawmakers is unpleasantly ill-timed. The NCC is a regulator, so designed by the Act, and not a business. The regulator should habour no accommodation for businesses or it will be distracted to death. It should not even have a place for a development agency. The lawmakers only have a dream, but a bad one. They and their puppeteers are only interested in the flagging fortunes of the regulator who, in every sense, needs help. Real help.

October 26, 2022
Behold Matawalle, the broadcast regulator from Zamfara – By Okoh Aihe

A new broadcast regulator emerged from Zamfara State over the weekend, shutting down some broadcast outfits, including federal government stations, in a most brazen regulatory breach. For covering the political activities of the opposition party, PDP, instead of focusing on the several headaches of the state, perhaps, six stations found themselves in the boiling rage of the governor, Bello Matawalle, and were ordered to close shops immediately. Armageddon!

The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Gusau, Federal Radio Corporation, Pride FM, Al’umma TV, Gamji FM and Gamji TV are trapped in that rage and are still fighting for extrication.

The governor could plead superficial reasons to justify a most irritating faux pas and plead for understanding. After all, Zamfara is one of the most traumatised environments in the country, and this really should occupy the interest of broadcasters. It is the state where bandits and warlords struggle for supremacy with legitimate government, a state so nearly riddled with hopelessness that the governor once broached the idea of citizens carrying guns to defend themselves and shoot down any motorcyclist at sight, where the state government once paid for some clerics to go to Mecca to pray for peace, and where only last weekend, the government suspended all political activities.

Instead of focusing on the foregoing and several others that have nearly rendered the state ungovernable under Matawalle, the stations decided to play to the gallery by putting the strength of news over the suffering of the state. Apotheosis. Overnight, Matawalle became a broadcast regulator and created a little scare in the socio-political ecosystem .

Except that the law of the land has little consideration for status and office and does not encourage anybody to wilfully sabotage it. As at the last time we checked the constitution has not conferred any regulatory status on the Zamfara state governor or any other person in the state for that matter.

The broadcast regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) called the action illegal and asked the Zamfara state governor to rescind his decision immediately. The Commission draws its strength from the National Broadcasting Commission Act CAP N11, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. The Act vests the Commission with the powers to superintend the entire broadcast industry, without looking at faces, without looking at political parties, and without paying scant attention to those who believe that Nigeria should be ruled at their whimsical fantasies.

With speedy vehemence, the NBC in a statement signed by its Director-General, Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, stated as follows: “The National Broadcasting Commission has noted with serious concern the illegal action of Zamfara State Government by directing the shutdown of operations of licensees of the Commission in the State, on Saturday October 15, 2022.

“The NBC has clearly notified the State Government of the gravity of the illegality and requested it to expeditiously reverse the directive and apologize to the people of the State.

“We also urge the Security Agencies to ignore the call to restrict Staff of the affected Stations from conducting their legitimate duties.

“The Commission wishes to further emphasize that it will resist ANY attempt to cause a breach of law and order ANYWHERE through the misuse of the broadcast media in Nigeria, before, during and after the 2023 national elections.”

Such a statement was necessary in order to foreclose every harebrained myopia that the nation has gone bananas, and therefore the greedy should begin to pick it as dessert.

Unfortunately, the governor is too ensconced in his political paraphernalia to understand that he had committed a villainous infraction in the broadcast industry, and should beat a retreat post-haste. This writer is aware that, having been pressed with the consequences of his unnecessary action, the governor is said to be gambling with the idea of revoking the certificates of occupancy to the land on which the stations are built.

Revocation. Oh yes. The governor owns the state, the yam and the knife. That is the extent to which politics can corrupt our minds and reasoning. It insulates from reality and makes reasonable men take actions that question rational state of mind.

Without perforating anybody’s mounting ego, it is my little responsibility here to observe that the broadcast stations in the country are covered by the broadcast Act. INEC which regulates the nation’s politics has also, since the last week of September, released the hold on politics, and parties are therefore free to campaign anywhere in the country. No individual can upturn that except an enemy of the nation.

It will be gratuitous insult to say that nobody in Zamfara could explain the position of the law to the governor. Such advice may have come copiously but how many state governors still listen to their advisers? It’s all about showmanship now, about brute force, and about ostentatious display of state wealth appropriated to self.

Having also made that observation, I want to state here very clearly that in spite of my reservations fro the Nigeria Broadcasting Code 6th Edition, in spite of a couple of court victories that have attenuated the content of the Code, and in spite of some little traps thrown into the Code by people with aggravated interests, the Code makes generous provisions to protect broadcast stations and broadcasters in electioneering seasons. Whether in coverage, advertising or just news presentations, the Code (Section 5&7) advocates strict adherence to fairness and balance in presentation and providing equal opportunities to the various political parties.

According to the Code, Public Service Broadcasters (PSB) (Section 9) which the governments arrogate to themselves were told very clearly that “they may cover campaign rallies of all registered political parties and give equal airtime for the broadcast of same.”

The point to note here is this. Matawalle didn’t have any right to close any federal government state or any other station for that matter. He doesn’t even have the right to prevent any Zamfara state station from doing its job because such station is protected by the NBC Act. Sanctions for erring stations have also been clearly stated in the Code. The media is part of the building block of any legitimate democracy and must be allowed to function.

In the season we are the NBC must closely monitor the broadcast stations, public and private. The regulator must follow its books to deal with any station committing infractions. Without emotions or fears.

It doesn’t need any soothsaying to say that more governors will come in the mode of Matawalle. For their ephemeral stay in office, they want to play God to the hilt. Only on Monday in Kaduna, Governor Nasir el-Rufai wore the plumes of Chinua Achebe’s Nza bird in Things Fall Apart, and was making loud boasts about his powers as governor of Kaduna state and what he would have done to stop Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, from coming to the state. Those who watched him on TV could see that glint of gloat and some level of exaggerated importance.

Not only broadcasting will be imperilled at this time, the socio-political space could be choked by the flatulence of a few men in power. The President, Muhammadu Buhari, must watch his men closely and rein them in before they ruin the remaining days of his stay in office. Or if he will just stay there helplessly and watch his days and months peter out, then those Nigerians who still have faith in the nation should rise up to save the country from sliding into disaster. Matawalle has only served a troubling metaphor that should be instructive.

October 19, 2022
Glo, always a moment to shine with the stars – By Okoh Aihe

On Monday, which was a public holiday, I was determined to control the factors that affect my mood. Reason being that why watching the newspaper review on a.m television, one of the pictures that really grabbed my attention was that of Lokoja submerged in water, followed by a banner headline in Leadership newspaper, After Hell, It’s Lokoja! Many Houses nearly covered or some totally covered by water, a bridge nearly unnoticeable, and movement and transportation in horrific abeyance.

Life is facing near annihilation in Lokoja, Kogi State. The state government has not declared a state of emergency, and the federal government has responded with equal insane ineptitude and a seeming disdain for the pain of others. People have lost their homes, that is, those who were lucky to escape; farms are washed away or totally overwhelmed by some kind of torrents of water comparable to Noah’s deluge.

Enough to herald a bad day, but not for me today. I will choose my colours and images, they have to be bright ones. I went to a stack of newspapers and pulled out a copy of Thisday of October 3, 2022, which I particularly like. It has a photo cover, World Champion Unveiled as GLO Ambassador. It is Tobi Amusan (Oluwatobilola Ayomide “Tobi” Amusan) smiling at the world.The other day she cried while being crowned at Oregon in the United States, for conquering the world of athletics. But it is harvest time now and the world can enjoy her beautiful smile and give a little harvest back for her efforts. The smile brightens the day and brings distant sunshine into touchable bloom.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics when Usain Bolt set a new 100m record, the commentator asked, where were you when Usain Bolt ran this race? The answer for me has been a constant; I was in the Vanguard Newsroom. If you refresh the question and ask, where were you when Tobi Amusan shattered the world record in Women’s 100metres Hurdles? I was home trying to read a novel and I couldn’t even concentrate because I couldn’t bear to see her not win that race? That night she won, shed tears of joy and brought tears to so many faces, as President Muhammadu Buhari himself would confirm. The nation had been starved of so much good news and she brought a whiff of it to us all.

GLO again! The organisation has an uncanny way of arranging ambassadorial coronation for entertainers – musicians, actors and actresses, comedians, writers, sports personalities and a host of others, distinguishing themselves in their various fields of endeavour. Tobi is only the latest addition in that venerated pedigree of recognition.

While Tobi expressed joy to Globacom chairman, Dr Mike Adenuga, Jr. for the opportunity, promising to represent the company well while affecting the younger generation, Lagos Regional Manager of the telecoms service provider, Lawrence Odediran, credited the athlete as follows: “She is an embodiment of the Nigerian spirit of resilience, hardwork,and enterprise which enabled her to excel irrespective of the enormity of the challenges she encountered in her quest for success.”

In speaking about Tobi, Odediran has unwittingly given a summary of the Globacom story. The Globacom Chairman does not wear the colour of failure or frustration. He is foresighted and enjoys obdurate perseverance in pursuing his dreams.

His journey into telecoms began with Communications Investment Limited (CIL), one of the winners of the digital mobile licence, popularly referred to as GSM, in 2001, but got interred in a puff of controversy. He reincarnated in Globacom in 2003 and took off with the blast of the wind. He doesn’t plan small but executes very big, leaving giant and legendary steps in his tracks.

Globacom came into the telecoms market at a time two other companies were already enjoying commodious positioning in meeting the spongy demands of a people that had been denied telecom services. Yet Adenuga kept pleading that he knew how to make the impossible look very simple with refined ease and create a shock wave in a market where the low hanging fruits were already gone. Others had dug in, so where would the magic wand come from?

Far away in the background but with the distance exaggerating his ever looming persona, Adenuga took his management team and a team of journalists into France and Germany to meet with equipment vendors and manufacturers, to state his needs and be able to communicate his activities back home. A native was coming into the telecoms market and the difference in service offering, going forward, would be as distinct as the shade between cheap red wine and burgundy.

Per second billing was born in Glo wearing the colour of the nation. This was a little flashy green circle with some seductive white imprints. Those who conceptualised the brand scored an “A.” It has been a dream ride for the organisation except for the market challenges which, in our nation, are rife, mostly fuelled by bad governance and an intolerable inability to read the signs of a changing world and its nuanced demands.

Glo is a product of grit and determination and unrepentant self belief. Because building out a telecoms network is not really the same thing as picking up a beautiful piece of cake from Chocolate Royale, Adenuga had to prepare himself to play with the big boys in the continent’s telco ecosystem. And by himself, he introduced the fear factor by building an underwater fibre optics cable, Glo-1, from Europe to Africa with the cable landing in some countries before terminating in Lagos, Nigeria. Before this time, only NITEL represented Nigeria in SAT-3 which belonged to a consortium of 48 telecom operators across the globe. The Globacom brave heart shouldered that challenging responsibility with salutary effrontery and national pride.

Being a businessman, Adenuga knew how to build from scratch upwards. This is why he may have dedicated his network to supporting and telling the story of ordinary guys, people from very inconsequential backgrounds who have become some kind of global rage. At other times it is to reinforce the narrative of a beautiful culture which Nigeria has contributed copiously to the world in a very distinguished way.

From Music to Nollywood, and from Sports to Creative Writing and other endeavours, Glo covers them all with a most fascinating brand umbrella. At one point in 2015, Glo announced the signing on of 28 brand ambassadors drawn from various fields. Since then the collection has only grown richer. Whether it is the story of Odion Ighalo, the footballer, Anthony Joshua, the boxer, Wizkid, the musician, our own RMD, the ageless, dimple-faced lady’s eye-popper of Nollywood, and the very recent Tobi Amusan, there is always something positive, a story that elevates from the dust to stardom, a traction between the building of a brand and the promotion of culture through personal struggles and little victories that coalesce in moments of national glory and international recognition, Glo has yielded its platform and resources to nurturing an enchanting tradition that will shine gloriously into the future.

One night in June 2008, Adenuga simply overwhelmed the little country of the Republic of Benin with one of Nigeria’s cultural exponents and export, and frontline Glo ambassador, Chief Sunny Ade, to announce the launch of Glo services in that nation. If Cotonou didn’t feel the impact of Adenuga and Sunny Ade that night, then truth is accidented in the world.

There is always a shade of difference around Glo and that shade is expounded in national colours through our numerous stars and national heroes. Tobi is donning the Glo appurtenances now and many more will follow. In consideration of all this, Glo for me, remains a number one brand ambassador for the nation and should be allowed to enjoy some privileges, the sort enjoyed by such outfits in other parts of the world.

October 12, 2022
For Amadi, a tech testimonial – By Okoh Aihe

I have a lot of respect for one of my young friends, and he would not understand why. Not because he gave me a call on Sunday night. Really, that call came with some balm that my spirit needed. At this particular time in our nation, there are so many things to trouble the mind, but, for me, topmost is the fate of the university students who remain at home after seven months of industrial strike called by the university lecturers under ASUU. This is why the call was coincidentally refreshing. It means that hope is not dead yet.

Under the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, there was another ASUU strike that got irritatingly intransigent. The government had to set up a Presidential Task Force to manage the crisis. The Task Force had a number of Ministries and highflying Parastals to contribute ideas to resolving this recurring irritant in the education sector once and for all. They were also to contribute to a common fund dedicated to putting a final nail to the crisis.

My former office was a prominent member of the Task Force. In one of those days, an emergency meeting was called, and the overall boss in whose office I worked (May God bless his memory) had travelled. We needed a new head to lead the team from our office. Fortunately, he picked his call while in transit.

Do you know this young man in Procurement? Please take him to brief the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, who would now lead the team. Once getting out of my office on the 6th floor, the young man was on his way to another meeting when I intercepted him straight away. Go and get your meeting notes, I told him, we need to quickly update the Commissioner before he leaves for the meeting.

Let’s go to him, please. Once I introduced our mission to the Commissioner, I ceded grounds to this young man. This guy gave a thorough breakdown of previous meetings he had been privileged to attend as a middle level official, with some senior team members. Without notes. And with elevated sang-froid. The picture was graphically painted – the demands and the expectations. My respect for this young man grew. I like cerebral people who don’t carry any smoke of importance on their heads. I like people always prepared to do their assignment without depreciating others with their inadequacies and petulance.

The young man is Dr Chimezie Paulinus Amadi. When Amadi called me on Sunday night, it was to break the good news that he was taking some time off from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to serve as Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Governance in Imo State. Once the necessary explanations were made, I was excited for him and quickly extended my congratulations. He was gracious enough to share with me his notes, what he calls the The Digital Imo Agenda.

I am not excited because he got a political appointment. Rather it is because he earned it and there is a value proposition he is putting on the table.

“The Digital IMO project aims to train 100,000 youth, women and people living with disabilities in core 21st century skills in software development, blockchain, game development and other technical vocational skills,” he states as introduction to his document.

The mission Amadi has set out for his Ministry is “to build smart cities which leverage digital technology to drive governance, innovation and entrepreneurship while promoting value creation and prosperity for all.”

Is this just some fanciful language to dazzle and beguile some unsuspecting politicians and a government headed by Senator Hope Uzodinma, the Governor of Imo State? I don’t think so, as I can claim to be in a privileged position to speak to such doubt based on the document I have seen.

Always, the problem with us in this part of the world is that we want to do a job without stating how; we want to embark on a journey without defining the route. Everything is buried in our imagination and assumed sophistry, which evaporates when subjected to very little interrogation.

Amadi’s document contains Action Steps, Timelines, Who to do a job, and expected outcomes. For instance, Action 3 states: Faciliate Broadband Penetration in all LGAs of Imo State. How? 1. Crowd-source Broadband Penetration and efficiency across all towns, villages and LGAs in Imo State. 2. Facilitate Broadband Penetration to Underserved and Unserved locations in Imo State via private sector partnerships, deployment of state-owned fibre highway for interconnection of business districts, communities and LGAs.

Some of the stated expected outcomes include: Improved Broadband penetration and coverage, Increased e-Government activities, Improved Digital inclusion and literacy levels.

The documents detailed how the Ministry will pull 100,000 young people from across the local government areas of the state and instil digital skills and competencies into them. The Ministry will be an enabler and a one-stop-shop for digital knowledge acquisition for the entire state operation. The Ministry plans to train other Ministries on tech skills for the new Imo state that will run operations on technology and thus, be able to maximise resources for development.

The document is no baloney or a tech gobbledegook. This is about reality, something doable. As l look at the CV which has equipped Amadi for this job, my mind went to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the kind of recruitment that used to be done there, my mind went to Engr Ernest Ndukwe, hunting for talents across the states of the federation, to build one of the best parastatals ever in this part of the world. It was about knowledge, about capacity and the readiness to go to any place you were sent; it wasn’t about tribe or connections. When we travelled all over the world, we walked with a swagger and gait because we knew the head was loaded with enough stuff to captivate and titillate any audience. And there was demonstrable industry performance to add fillip to the enthusiasm of the nation’s tech ambassadors.

Something has prepared Amadi for this new assignment, and the CV shows that unequivocally. At the NCC, Amadi worked in various Departments which include: Procurement, Projects, Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement, and most recently, Research and Development, where he headed the Emerging Technology Unit. This gave him the opportunity to design and organise nationwide stakeholder fora in the ICT space to facilitate ACADOPRENEUR, which is a collaboration between Academia and Industry.

Plus his impressive educational attainment, Amadi attended several training programmes on 5G: The Path to Next Generation; Digital Transformation: Unlocking the Potential of IoT; Enabling the Full Value of Wireless Technology: Game Changing Technology For the Digital Age; and Ethics Intelligence, among others.

The easiest verdict to give here is that Amadi is fully prepared for his new job as the Commissioner for Digital Economy and e-Governance. But that is not the way it works in government, especially at the state level, where petty jealousy and frivolous gossip are credentials for daily governance, where urgent files would go on circumlocutory journeys and may never return. It is the responsibility of Senator Uzodinma to empower his new Ministry and support it to use technology to straighten administrative processes , and make governance, businesses and investment appealing and attractive. In fact, be the first to run a state on technology.

In Amadi, the Governor of Imo State has made a good appointment. He will earn good returns from such a valuable choice. Imo State has scored a good goal.

October 5, 2022
Recommended: Sleepless months ahead for the NBC – By Okoh Aihe

Today, a new political journey into the future begins for this country. But let’s do a recall. It may not be total. My friend once told me a story, long ago, which still makes my heart bleed. In one of those satanic periods after the elections in Nigeria, there was conflagration up north, and lots of killings, provoked by the utterances of a former leader of the nation, a contestant, who thought he had lost everything and would never have the opportunity again. This former leader cried for power. The rest as they say is not good history.

In those dark moments, a father so concerned about the safety of the daughter on Youth Service – serving the nation – was calling her phone consistently. Now you never knew that a phone call could be answered from hell. That day hell was in Kaduna. Some demonic entity simply picked up the phone and asked: “Is this your daughter? I just killed her now.”

News of the daughter’s death has been broken to him. Just like that!

Welcome to elections in Nigeria. The story has hardly changed. Desperadoes send their agents to kill and destroy while they wait to enjoy the spoils of office they hardly deserve. They swim through the blood of the innocent to get to power and they imagine that blood will depart from their lineage, forever.

Ever since some stakeholders have been concerned about election safety in the country. Those whose regulatory activities and demeanour could affect the conduct of elections, even on ancillary scale, have had to dust up their regulatory documents to stay on top of the dangerous game that is politics in Nigeria.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is one of those organisations, and this is not a time of the year I envy those who work in that establishment. Originally designed to regulate broadcasting, it has found out that regulation includes a lot of things, including managing the strange expectations of the government. Fortunately, this agency has tried so hard. There are some rites of passage that must lead to election – a time with broadcasters, to appeal to them about the contents of broadcasting, including advertising; the need to be fair to all political parties – although NTA, Radio Nigeria and state broadcast stations don’t understand the meaning of that fairness, fake news, the dangers of hate speech, and why really the operators must play by the Code.

Yes. There is The Nigeria Broadcasting Code which agglomerates all those things and has a comprehensive compilation of dos and don’ts.

For it’s tradition and also by way of pouring libation on those electoral rites, the NBC has appealed to broadcasters not to use their stations to promote hate, violence and chaos as this electoral phase unfolds. Speaking at a sensitisation programme in Lagos, titled: Towards a fair and responsible broadcast coverage of the 2023 general elections: a multi-stakeholder dialogue, Mallam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, the Director General, threatened to evoke the contents of the Code to deal with broadcasters who go on the wrong side of the law.

He urged broadcasters to provide equal distribution of airwaves for jingles and programmes throughout their peak period while appealing that they must act responsibly

“Things won’t go on as usual. The dissemination of false information, hate speech, and disparaging remarks must stop on broadcast media. We must advocate for nonviolence rather than violence, educate rather than misinform, and defend rather than dismantle society,” Ilelah called out.

On this wise, we agree with NBC. This nation is on a tinderbox or right at the edge of a precipice, with the fuel supplied by a government with absolute disdain for fairness or balance. Just a little spark of fire or a little shove, the nation will either be on a massive fire that cannot be controlled or simply keel over. Either way the nation is nearing the very end because of one government’s failure. The broadcasters need not exacerbate by their actions. The issue of fine doesn’t excite us here because it is better for it not to happen than for sanctions to be pursued.

The 6the Edition of the Nigeria Broadcast Code is very clear on this, depending upon the version you have. Sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 under Professional Rules deal with this very lucidly but let’s stay with 3.1.2, which says: “Broadcasting shall promote human dignity, therefore hate speech is prohibited. The Broadcaster shall not transmit any programme, programme promotion, community service announcement or station identity, which is likely, in any circumstance, to provoke or perpetuate in a reasonable person, intense dislike, serious contempt or severe ridicule against a person or groups of people because of age, colour, gender, national or ethnic origin, disability, race, religion or political leanings.”

This is articulately expressed but I wish to appeal that in the matter of a breach which should be very clear, the NBC should follow the stipulated process of meting out discipline to the erring station instead of being coerced into knee-jerk punitive action by personalities in government.

The regulator should earn believability. What happened when the list of broadcasters owing license fees was released, shouldn’t happen again. Quite a few people believe that the names of Federal Government stations were deracinated with attention focussed on a few private stations the regulator wanted to embarrass. So truth was carefully laced in deceit and programmed obscurantism.

I am however more concerned with equal treatment to the various stakeholders, the political parties, in terms of equal opportunity to the broadcast space. There have been complaints in the past where government stations – federal and state – did not accept news materials or even adverts from opposition parties. Revenues that should accrued to the government and, by extension the people, were rejected because some people in government wouldn’t bear to see some faces, especially if they were labelled as enemies.

Yet the Code says in Section 9.3.1. The Public Service Broadcasters (PSB) shall: (a) ensure that programmes and news broadcasts reflect the divergent view points and plural nature of the Nigerian society; (b) give all sides equitable time to air their views; and (c) not accept political adverts but may cover campaign rallies of all registered political parties and give equal airtime for broadcast of same.

With particular reference to the beauty of the Code, there are no small parties and no big parties. All the political parties are equal before the Code. This is why I believe the NBC has a lot of responsibility on its shoulders in the days and months ahead. The organisation should empower the Monitoring Department to play its role. Apart from encouraging good broadcasting that can promote peace, awareness and the health of the society in the days ahead, the Department should be equipped well enough to perform at such an elevated level as to enable the NBC confront broadcasters with wrong judgment of facts or plain mischief. In the next few months, I appeal, there should be no sleep for the NBC.

September 28, 2022
Travelogue: From Ekpoma to Benin with pain – By Okoh Aihe

I write this material with profound sense of pain, a hapless witness to a history of degeneration, and painful descent into a life of near worthlessness and hopelessness, a sustained devaluation of the 70s and 80s quality of living which has become a referenced nostalgia.

I write in honour of the voiceless and the traumatised people of Edo State of Esan, Etsako and Uhumonde extraction, especially those living in the propinquity of Ekpoma and Ehor axis, whose means of livelihood have been denuded and totally ruined by an express road that has become a curse, people who die or see death daily, people for whom frustration has become even an acceptable standard of living because government has left them behind or totally abandoned them to atrophy slowly.

I write in recollection of the beauty of life, growing up in Ishan and attending one of the best Secondary Schools in the old Bendel State, Annunciation Catholic College, Irrua, and being privileged to go into the University of Benin for undergraduate studies. Life was good. There was water, electricity and the roads were well maintained. One could travel to any part of Ishan at any particular time, day and night, and evil was hardly a consideration.

Reflections and recollections can make a smile break on the face. Such recall can be so overwhelming and really therapeutic, living in the present a life once lived but which has now receded to the realm of the dodos, a life fabled into existence but which once upon a time, was reality.

How can Esan land become a fabled reality to me, a native son, who grew his wisdom teeth in the village and can lay claim to knowing some of the mores and deep secrets of the people?

Pain! Lots of pain!! Life has hardly grown here ever since, instead a shameful diminishment, forlornness and a recourse to primitivity, of sheer wickedness and mindless humiliation of a whole race, has been steadily elevated.

I am seated in this Big Joe bus, which is more of a contraption than a vehicle that should actually be on the road. A friend is by my side but he doesn’t know the storm going on inside of me but which almost immediately is finding an expression through my nose as it is beginning to run immediately from dust and the threatening environment.

The journey from Ekpoma to Benin was a dash in those days, a quick trip that cost very little, but not any more. The road is broken extensively and completely dilapidated. This road built in the 70s was one of the very best; they called it an express road then even when that name was overfit. The road is in ruins and one can say it has nearly assumed the ignominy of wreck and devastation.

One part of the road is completely taken over by trucks or trailers, and the trailer line on this very day was close to Ehor, which is midway between Ishan and Benin City. That is the way we used to estimate the journey but is actually about 22 km. Just imagine the horror of fighting for space with angry trailer drivers for all of 22 km!

Some of these vehicles are trying to make their way to Okpella, to the cement factories owned by either Dangote or Bua. Yet some of the trucks should be heading to other parts of the country including Abuja. But they are stuck on this disaster called a road that looks more like an entrapment than a road. Some of the vehicles have also succumbed to the harshness and cruelty of the road, broken down with help very far away. Yet some others simply just tumble over and deposit that load and sometimes containers by the road side. It is chaos that is playing out between Ekpoma and Benin and the situation could boil over very soon.

In my growing up years, I used to be very angry with trailer drivers because of the menace they cause on the roads, because of their speed, and sometimes some accidents that could be very fatal. But growing up has come with some more understanding, that the vehicles wasting on the road are peoples’ investments, their goods, including perishable items; they are wasting because the government they voted into power overtime fill their hopes with sawdust.

Some guy lamented that Governor Godwin Obaseki has let Ishan people down. I found myself defending him in spite of my self. Ishan is at the centre of an orchestrated neglect and rot. The major roads leading to Ishan – Benin to Ewu, Ewu through Auchi to Lokoja and Abuja, and the road from Uromi to Agbor, are all Federal Government roads. It is the failure of governance at the federal level that has brought a lot of shade on the state. Unfortunately, some unnecessary distractions of his administration have not helped his case at all.

I am aware that contract for the dualisation of the Benin – Ishan – Abuja road was awarded under the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration but the contract was hardly funded. Under this administration the road has enjoyed no attention at all despite its strategic importance to vehicular movements. The story ahead is not very good because a government that lives a life of borrowing has predicated its next year’s budget on what it can scrounge from people, and has no provisions for infrastructural development.

The story gets even worse. The wait for any intervening amelioration may be much longer. In the past efforts were focussed on dualisation but with the road having failed completely, only a complete reconstruction will return life to that part of the state. Business and social activities on that route have to be restored. The people have to be reassured that they are part of the state and part of this country.

But I feel a lot of premonition because life has been politicised in our nation, even truth is politicised, to the extent that a failed government will want to paint pictures that don’t exist, pictures quite antithetical to the lived experience of the people.

This is not just a story of gloom and doom. Time has come for truth to win. I am old enough to know that this government does not have the money to embark on massive road construction across the states of the federation. But something needs to happen. The government must confess that truth and spruce up its image to attract organisations that are ready to participate in Public Private Partnership (ppp) projects. The government must do documentation with sincerity to protect participants from unnecessary litigation. This is one strand of development in most parts of the world. People must be able to collect their money once an investment has been made.

Unfortunately, this government has spent nearly eight years pursuing shadows and sowing untruths, and it is the lot of the people to suffer pain and frustration for not using their vote wisely.

September 24, 2022
A little memo to the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Pay-TV – By Okoh Aihe

By 10am tomorrow, an ad hoc committee of the Senate will deliberate on what appears a most important concern to the nation. If we have not succeeded in reordering God’s natural cosmology and tomorrow really comes, the Senate Ad Hoc Committee investigating the Pay-TV Hikes and Demand for Pay-Per-View subscription model, will be meeting with critical stakeholders of the industry by way of exploring opportunities to bringing prices down to friendly levels.

The meeting holds at Senate Conference Room 231, Senate New Building, National Assembly Complex, Abuja. Invited to this all important meeting are the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, National Broadcasting Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Bureau of Public Enterprises, All Pay-TV operators – DSTV, TSTV, MYTV, OURTV, GOTV, Star Times, CSO/NGOs, with interest on the subject, and the General Public.

Quite a full house. They will gather not to discuss some other compelling issues like the ASUU strike for about seven months, the lack of infrastructure, including connecting roads between states and even within states, the failing aviation industry, insecurity – well, thank God for some humble achievements lately, inflation of over 20 per cent, pervasive hopelessness in the land, and, in fact, a general lack of faith in the present administration which has led to a mass exodus of our youths, but they will discuss cost of Pay-TV and how to knock prices down so that Nigerians can enjoy a good diet of beautiful TV programmes. What an ingenious endeavour!

The Ministry of Information and Culture which controls the fortunes of the broadcast industry was overlooked in the list of invitees. I hope this unfortunate error is immediately corrected.

If you have ever heard of the phrase, elite conspiracy, this is a shouting paradigm. The elites would usually gather to consider matters of immediate interests, either the ones that tickle their fancies or those threatening their inordinate appropriation of good life, and take decisions which usually exclude the ordinary folk out there. So in September 2022, when a majority of Nigerians are praying for the life of this administration to come to a fleeting end, the Nigerian Senate is discussing Pay-TV.

I take it as my unfortunate responsibility this morning to inform the Committee that the last time I did a search on the Pay-TV subscription figure in Nigeria, it was less than 7million. Were the figure to climb to 10million, it would still be less than five per cent of the population, that is, assuming the population of Nigeria was to stand at 210million. Tomorrow, the Senate Committee will meet to cater for the interest of a minuscule fragment of the population. How disingenuous at a time the nation is looking for leaders to deliver its people out of a seething cauldron, that is daily living in this part of the world.

How often do we have to tell these lawmakers that the broadcast industry has been deregulated since August 24, 1992? Decree 38 of 1992, now an act of the National Assembly, National Broadcasting Commission Act CAP N11, which deregulated the sector, also created the Commission to regulate the sector and issue licenses to industry operators. Even this law does not encourage the regulator to fix prices for broadcast products or programmes but to generally superintend the sector.

The Act may have contemplated that in a free market economy, prices are left to market forces, until there is a gradual sedimentation, to the triumph of such forces.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Council (CCPC) tribunal, chaired by Mr Thomas Okosun supports this view as it recently reminded some complainants against Multichoice, accusing the operator of market dominance, that “Nigeria operates a free market economy,” adding that their argument on price regulation lacked merit. From the goings on at the National Assembly, market forces may be too slow for their peace, so let us do it the deus ex machina way, let’s enforce it!

Two major things are at stake here as per the published advert by the Committee – cost and technology. The Pay-TV business is for operators with deep pockets and not for tyros. Some operational facilities and items – transponder space on satellite, transmission equipment and programming are purchased in Dollars. While the Dollar has fairly been stable, the Naira has been on a free fall, which would usually lead to a seeming increase in the cost of goods and services, just like a vehicle whizzing by and giving the impression that the trees by the road are moving, when it is indeed the vehicle that is moving while the trees are static. The Naira has been moving, growing weaker against the Dollar.

On the issue of technology, let me state here that competition will resolve it. While one will want to explain that the Pay-TV technology is entirely different from GSM technology where an operator could easily introduce Pay As You Go services, the broadcast technology remains a challenge, a little tech riddle to be resolved.

While tech neutrality remains a convenient maxim for the regulator, I will want to reiterate that competition in the Pay-TV industry which has since been introduced by the regulator, will resolve all the lingering doubts, including cost of products and services. Like the GSM operators who had to look for convenient technologies to woo subscribers, the Pay-TV operators should be allowed to work on their business model to attract customers instead of being forced to do so.

It is not in the place of the lawmakers to tell an operator what technology to use in running a business, because they hardly know what the operators knows that has informed his business model, and it is not in their place to enforce a price in a free market economy because they know little or nothing about the cost elements that will inform pricing in such a market as Pay-TV.

Pay-TV is premium packaging for the elites. Those who build the programme bouquets have one thing in mind: to hit the upper crust of the society and retain their interests with bespoke broadcast services. Oh, is that what they call market positioning? Such a design has very little accommodation for sentiments but strictly business. Our lawmakers should know that.

But why should Pay-TV be the hottest item in the plates of the lawmakers when the nation is almost in tatters? Who wants to eat TV when hunger is on rampage? Who wants to watch TV when this administration, under which they serve, has sabotaged the future of our children?

Should they have so much love for the broadcast industry, let me draw up a little programme for them to rescue a sector that may remain permanently stunted. Since, it is their responsibility to make laws for the nation, the lawmakers should as a matter of urgency, review the Broadcast Act, remove the Act and the regulator from the satanic grip of a serving minister, who in extreme cases, can issue broadcast licenses above the regulator, review the tenure of the Board in the Act, and create the opportunity for the regulator to produce the Nigeria Broadcasting Code without humiliating pressure. Their oversight function should cover flagship programmes like the Digital Switchover (DSO), and intellectually stimulating programmes like Africast which has been overlooked by this government. The Africast used to be a flagship programme of the NBC and, for decades, it drew broadcast experts – intellectuals, content creators and aggregators, and talents from across the nations of the world. Africast brought light and focus on our nation. But at the moment it is dead!

With absolute reverence, I wish to apprise the lawmakers with whispers from the industry. Some stakeholders believe that the gathering tomorrow is an orchestrated witch-hunt for a particular operator, an irritating encumbrance and unwholesome pressure which are, unfortunately, paradigmatic of the very reason businesses are running away from Nigeria. Fresh businesses are not coming and those who are operating here in stilts, are being pressured to leave through bogus inquisitions, multiple demands, levies and taxations by the various governments, communities and even area boys. Unfortunately, they find little cover under the law. What a shame!

September 21, 2022