Nigerian Media 2009: An eventful year

unpublished versiion

By Yemi Olakitan

In many ways, the year 2009 was an eventful year for the Nigerian media. It was both an interesting and sad year for the media in some respects; a year of mixed occurences, both postive and negative. Numerous issues and events came up during this year to make it so. The year will definitely remain memorable in the minds of all media stakeholders. It was in that year that the Nigerian media lost one of its brilliant journalists, the late Bayo Ohu of the Guardian Newspapers, Bayo was murdered in cold blood in his apartment at Egbeda, a Lagos suburb by unknown gunmen.A visibly shaken editor of the Guardian,Debo Adesian who visited the hospital expressed the general exasperation at the loss. Ohu was yet another, in the list of journalists' murder in Nigeria. One was Dele Giwa, Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, who was killed by means of a parcel bomb on October 19, 1986.
Another journalist, Godwin Agbroko, the Editorial Board Chairman of ThisDay newspaper, was gunned down at Oshodi-Mile Two Expressway in 2006 on Christmas Eve. Yet, another puzzling death was that of Abayomi Ogundeji, also a member of the Editorial Board of ThisDay newspaper on August 17, 2008. He was shot in his vehicle on his way from work late in the evening. The gruesome murder of Bayo Ohu happened to fall on the list of major events in the media sector during the year 2009 and it was the sad one. The Nigerian Police, as always, promised to unravel the mystery behind the murder but nothing has been heard hitherto.

Media Awards
True, the death of Bayo Ohu was sad and tragic especially for the Guardian Newspapers. It was also during that year that the Guardian won the Newspaper of the year award twice. It was given by two separate entities. The Nigerian Media Merit Award,NMMA which gave the award to the Guardian first at Nikki Lake Resort, Enugu where the ceremony was held while the Diamond Media Merit Awards, DAME honoured the newspaper at Ocenview Restaurant in Lagos..

Another media award in that year was the Wole Soyinka Award for investigative Reporting.The Wole Soyinka Award for investigative Reporting aim to encourage the exposure of corruption and human rights abuses in the country through the mechanism of investigative journalism . The body gave prizes to various journalists from the print,radio, television and online category. It also added another feather to its cap by honouring the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commision, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. The Wole Soyinka award for forinvestigative Reporting reamin one of the prestigious awrds in the Nigerian media sector.

However, the most interesting of the awards ceremonies was the NMMA in Enugu that almost turn into a Drama with the unexpected absence of the Governor and the cold reception given to journalist that vsisted the cold city. The prize given ceremony nearly flopped due to the unexpedted absence of the Governor who was to preside over the opening ceremony. According to earlier reports on the events the event did not finish untill about 2 a.m. and guests witnessed a rushed ceremony.
There were conflicting reports on the state of health of the Governor as many said he could not attend because of his health. There were also unconfirmed reports that he was poisoned at another event. The secanario made the 2009 event less memorable compared to other ones that were hosted in previous years. There were signs of lack of adequate preparation when journalists were taken round the state to have a first hand coverage of the State Government's various projects. This exercise was cut short when it was discovered that officials at some of the places visited were not aware that such visitors were coming. At one of the venues, journalists were barred from taken pictures. The angry journalists eventually demanded to be taken back to their hotel rooms, as it was apparent that the state government did not inform most of the officials at the designated projects sites about the tour. One can only hope that the organizers of the NMMA will do better in the year 2010 and give the Nigerian journalist a more befitting event.
Winners of the 19th edition of the NMMA 2009 were The Guardian Newspapers, which bagged the Newspaper of the Year and its editor, Debo Adesina, who won the Editor of the Year. There were 47 awards in all, 35 in print, six in radio and six in television media Initially slated for November 6 and 8, the shift in date was due to the FIFA’s U-17 soccer championship being hosted in eight cities across the country including Enugu state at the time. As one of the most organized national Award scheme in Nigeria, NMMA future hosting for 2010 have been confirmed, the event will be holding in Lagos while that of 2011 is scheduled for Borno State in line with an earlier commitment of hosting expressed by Governor Ali Modu Sheriff to the Trustees of NMMA.

One of the negative event was the recent bomb blast attempt at a Lagos televison station; Superscreeen . An Eyewitness to the incident was a media executive who spoke with the Guardian Newspaper in anonymity.He was on a business visit to the superscreen office during the explosion. He said he narrowly escaped death as he was on the 3rd floor of the building when the bomb exploded. The bomber himself was on the 4th floor. He revealed hat he was able to engage the bomber in some questioning before the police arrived. The bomber came up with a story that a certain man gave him the wrapped bomb, at gunpoint and asked him to deliver it to the television station. The bomber who failed in his mission had his hands and a limb cut off and was blinded by the explosion. When asked why he unwrapped the bomb, the bomber said he did so out of curiosity, since the bomb was wrapped like a chritsmass gift. He in police custody receiving medical attention. All these is part of the risks that journalists face in discharging their duties; the risks to life and property. It shows that socity as a responsibility to protect media men and their place of work. Many journalists risk their lives daily by reporting the truth and therr many men who do not want the truth reported and they will do anything to eliminate those who try to report the truth. Another incident was the fire outbreak that gutted the multimillion-naira African Independent Television studio, the Dome. The entire AIT studios were nearly razed by December. The cause of the fire outbreak at AIT is yet to be ascertained, although some have attributed it to saboteurs.

Media debt

Media debt remains one of the major challenges of the media sector in year 2009. It has been identified as one of the banes of the communication sector. Huge debt in the media has come to remain with us. It has become a culture among advertising practicitioners to owe media houses huge debts running into millions. This practice has come to be accepted by the media organizations themselves who felt that thee is nothing they can do to stop the problem if they want continued patronage they most continued to render media services to the debtor companies despite huge unpaid debts.
Speaking with Mr. Taiwo Ayodeji, CEO Tee-mark Limited, an integrated marketing communications and advertising agency. He said the idea of piling up debts affect media houses. It is a way of killing the media sector since they cannot continue to run their operations without adequate fund. According to him these debts would kill off such advertising agencies themselves eventually because it is a sign of lack of integrity and bad management and it will run into other sensitive areas in the company.
Ayodeji said advertising agencies must learn to operate within the confinement of their agency commission and pay the media houses as soon as they render the required services. ‘‘This is the only way there could be peace in the business environment and when there is peace, there would be progress,” he said.
While saying noting that the culture of media debts is must end for the sake of progress in the entire media sector, Ayodeji noted that agencies, which owe huge sums of money, are usually those that treat their staff badly. “Members of staff should be seen as key partners in the company, not merely employees,” he said. This, according to him, will help the advertising agencies to grow in leaps and bounds.

The Lagos Signage and Advertising Agencies was one of the major actors in 209. The Lagos State government said it wants to ensure that the streets are orderly and that billboards are not placed haphazardly. It also wants to generate income for infrastructural development. However they have continued to receive critisms for the outdoor advertising companies who have not mince words in condemning the activities of LASAA. As reported, LASAA had went out into the streets of Lagos uprooting billboards and signpost worth millions of naira.

While the objective of the state government is noble they should ensure that the industry do not die because of the activities of LASAA. One thing to avoid is oligopoly and a rise unemployment. If outdoor advertsising companies fold up, many Lagosians in that sector will become unemployed wich will further increase the poverty level. LASAA must engage the companies in solidarity roundtable dialogue and work together to build a better outdoor advertising sector for Lagos.

The Freedom of Information Bill
Chief of the issues in 2009 was the freedom of information bill sponsored by Journalist/senator, Hon. Abike Dabiri. The Freedom of information Bill had been with the Nigerian parliament since 1999. President Olusegun Obasanjo refused to sign it then for fear that it will give foregners access to official information. However, the Bill, if passed into law, will give every Nigerian a legal right of access to information, records, and documents held by government bodies and private bodies; carrying out public functions. Information has been described as the vehicles of democracy. It is near impossible to fight corruption without access to information that could expose corrupt public officials. The freedom of information Bill applies to all arms of government: the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary as well as to all tiers of government: Federal, State, and Local governments.
At present, Nigeria has no law, which guarantees citizens access to public records and information.
A situation where many Nigerian laws have secrecy clauses prohibiting the disclosure of information such as, the Official Secret Act, the Criminal Code, the Penal Code and many more cannot help our democracy. Most public servants are made to swear to oaths of secrecy when employed and the general consequence of these is an entrenched culture of secrecy This will not help public opinion, and professional journalism. It will also cover government inadequacies and corruption.
The freedom of information bill has continued to generate interest since inception. However it has continued to be delayed for reasons that are not clear.
However, The National Assembly Committee in charge of issues pertaining to the bill has refuted claims that the proposed law has gotten stuck in a legislative limbo. According to Deputy Chairman Francis Amadiegwu, "The the lawmakers are fine tuning aspects that will affect national security. He promised that the Freedom of information bill will be passed.

Community Radio
There have been a lot of hullabaloos on the benefits of the community radio in the country even in 2009. However, despite the announcement by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission that it will launch Community broadcasting in Nigeria soon, not much has been achieved in that regard. Nigeria, with its huge population, no doubt required an effective media, not only for the advancement of its nascent democracy, but also for her economic prosperity. Radio remains the only media that has the capacity to reach the widest possible communities in the country. It is the media that can cheaply access the remote areas of our nation. This is because of its portability and affordability. It is also a medium that can defy the epileptic power situation. In a nation where majority of the population remains largely uneducated and illiterate. Community radio stands the chance of being able to inform, enlighten, and mobilize for democratic and economic advancements in all part of the country. With a demographic index of about 150 million people; two of every five West African resides in Nigeria. As the most populous black African nation in the world with reports that Nigeria will hit the 200 million mark in population in the next 15years, Nigeria needs community radio scheme.

It is obvious that the media will play a significant role in shaping our democratic stability and the development of freedom of expressions, information accessibility that will lead to progress. As a result of its pluralist and grassroots-friendly nature, radio has come to be accepted as the pre-eminent medium for development all over the world.

At a forum organized recently for African media Laeders. Media Leaders attended the forum from all over the African Continent, Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa, Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Nigeria’s international radio network spoke on the relevance of Community radio in the development of Nigeria’s economic and democratic advancement.

According to Jijiwa radio has demonstrated its power in many parts of the world, radio is continuing to demonstrate the capacity to enhance economic development, contribute to technological growth, improve health and education, strengthen national security, combat crime and corruption, give expression to cultural pluralism and promote democratic process. It is not surprising that many countries in the developing world are putting radio at the center of their millennium development goals.

Nigeria has remained the only country in the ECOWAS sub region without a clear-cut policy framework for the emergence of community radio with all its attendant benefits. What we have in Nigeria his urbanized, private/commercial and public radio stations. Radio stations in Nigeria have concentrated in the city because of the drive for Profit. The government owned radio is clearly not enough to deliver the advantages and benefits of the community radio system in Nigeria.

The African Charter on broadcasting calls for the development of three tier radio environment in which the development of public/service. Private/commercial, and Community radio will work hand in hand to further the goals of democracy, individual freedom of expressions, information dissemination and economic advancement.

Community radio ensures easy governance as the government can measure easily, grassroots response to unpopular or popular government policies. Community radio will expose and monitor crime, ensure accurate information in health related issues and destroy the yoke of ignorance, religious fanaticism, eradicate violence while promoting the values of unity and peaceful co existence.

With the inexhaustible benefits of community radio, it is hoped that that Nigerian Broadcasting Commission will take the bull by the horn and step in quickly to ensure that the nation take its rightful place in community radio broadcasting, thereby reaping the benefits of this indispensable media.


APCON AT 20.


It was also in 2009 that the Advertsising Practictioners Council of Nigeria celebrated its 20th year anniversary. The anniversary was held both at the sheraton Hotesl, Ikeja and the Civic Center, Victoria Island, Lagos. It was a gathering of who is who in the advertising sector. The council also used the anniversary to honour former Military President of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida who signed into law, the decree establishing the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria. the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria has cause to celebrate. it has succeeded in taken advertising to a greater height, making it one of the most advanced sectors of the Nigerian economy; yielding billions of naira in revenue every year, employing hundreds of professionals and training a handful every year. These were the reasons for the gathering of stakeholders in the marketing that sector, Minister of Information and Communication, Prof. Dora Akunyili, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island Lagos on Thursday, November 12, to celebrate 20 years of robust growth and unprecedented achievements in the advertising sector and to honour those, who have been a part of the success story of APCON such as Badamasi Babangida, past Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola and his counterpart then, Prince Tony Momoh (Information).
APCON was established by Act No 55 of 1988 and revised by Act No 93 of 1992 to regulate advertising practice in Nigeria.
The event, which started with a cocktail and the rendition of the National Anthem by an orchestra of violins, had Prof. Akunyili on the high table with the chairman of the occasion, Chief John Nnia Nwodo Jnr, Prince Ajibola, Alhaji Farouk Usman and Mr. Bayo Atoyade.
The Chairman of APCON, Mr. Christopher Awusa Doghudje, in his welcome address, congratulated the three eminent persons who were conferred with the Honorary Fellowship Awards of the council.
These people, he said were the ones who brought advertising to the forefront in Nigeria. The chairman said without them; APCON would not be celebrating its 20th anniversary. According to him, it was an honour well deserved.
The chairman said the former President, who was represented by Alhaji Bala Adamu Aliyu, ensured that the council had a legal footing by enacting a law that backed it up.
Doghudje, who at an earlier media briefing took stock of the progress recorded over the past 20 years, said APCON, has succeeded immensely in professionalising and regulating the practice of advertising in Nigeria.
Other Nigerians who were also honored included Professor Charles Okigbo, who was the first chairman of the council, Dr. May Nzeribe, who was honoured for being the third chairman and Chief Olu Falomo, for being the second. They were conferred with the APCON Special Recognition Awards.
Falomo, in his remarks, said through the 14 years that he served; he knew that the council would go places. He expressed gratitudes for the honour done him and his colleagues.
He said the awards was not for any individual but for all those who worked as a team to bring APCON to a fine peculiarity with international advertising organisations all over the developed world.
A number of distinguished practitioners also became fellows at the event. They were Mr. Yinka Adepoju, and Mrs. Bunmi Oke, who became the first female practitioner to rise to such a level in the industry. Mr. Rufai Ladipo of Angel Communications and Feyijimi Awosika of Insight Communications were also honoured as fellow.
Speaking at the event, Professor Akunyili enlightened advertising practitioners on relevance of the national re-branding effort of her ministry to national development.
According to her, advertising is a major stakeholder in re-branding Nigeria project. She said the project is about changing the negative image of Nigeria and Nigerians in the international circles.
"We have allowed others to tell our stories for us," she noted. "We are not treated well at airports around the world, once they see the Green Passport, you will be asked to stand aside. This is as a result of our battered image, many foreigners who come to Nigeria have discovered that what they see is far different from what they were told in their countries.ÕÕ
She continued, "when I came to the office as the image-maker of the nation, I felt strongly that the negative image of Nigeria should not be left alone. We studied the situation and came up with the re-branding project. We also came up with a slogan for re-orientation and attitudinal change with the aim of imbibing the spirit of patriotism: ÔNigeria, Good People, Great CountryÕ
"We have people that have excelled in their various fields of endeavour and achieved international acclaim. Nigerians are very hardworking people and honest. Our nation has spearheaded peacekeeping operations in many parts of Africa. We were at the forefront in the struggle against Apartheid. Many Nigerian civil servants donated their salaries to fight the Apartheid regime in South Africa. We have helped in bringing peace and stability to many countries but we have allowed other people to define who we are. We dont talk about our contributions to global peace, stability and progress. We have allowed a few criminals to define who we are as a country. We must make a statement and we must make strong impressions that our nation will not continue to be defined in negative information. Nollywood is the second most vibrant film industry in the world. We must say these things loud for all to hear."
She added, "we are working with over 17 millions Nigerians in the Diasporas. We are going to establish units in schools to encourage the spirit of patriotism in young people. Re-branding will complement infrastructure and economic development. It is important to national development it does not stop it."
The celebrations, which started on November 11, at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, with an advertising career seminar for undergraduates and fresh graduates continued at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers on Friday, of November13.
The event attracted members of the governing council who are from the key stakeholders in the advertising industry and other interests.The stakeholders and interests such as Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, Outdoor Advertisers Association of Nigeria, Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria, Advertisers Association of Nigeria, Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Information and Communications, Federal Ministry of Health and Tertiary institutions offering advertising related courses.