Nigerians Mourn Whitney Houston

As American celebrities and members of the black community in the US converged at New Hope Baptist Church , venue of the funeral to pay their tributes to the American star singer and six-time Grammy Award winner , Whitney Houston, Nigerians are also mourning the late singer.
Whitney was widely popular in Nigeria in the 80s and 90s. Most of her great hits were equally loved by Nigerians as they are loved in America. In a chat with Fadeke Adeniran, a university of Lagos post graduate student, Whitney was one of the most loved superstar among young Nigerians. "Her melodious voice would be forever remembered." She said. Another student, Paul Obe, said that Whitney had the greatest voice in the world, followed by Michael Jackson. He said that her high soprano voice cannot be rivaled by anyone. Emeka Ike, a businessman said, the world would forever miss Michael Jackson but Whitney would be missed more.

Reports say, Houston, 48, died Feb. 11 in a Beverly Hills hotel. The cause of death is still under investigation, but, over the past several years, her history of substance abuse and erratic behaviour overshadowed a stellar entertainment career as a recording artist, actress and producer.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bobby Brown , former husband of Whitney , Oprah Winfrey, Elton John, Bill Cosby, and Stevie Wonder were among the early arrivals at the New Hope

event.

There was New Hope's rousing gospel choir, which performed several religious songs ahead of a series of speeches and performances planned for the service, which lasted several hours.

Speaker after speaker paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston .

New Hope Pastor Joe Carter said, "We're here today, hearts broken, yet with God's strength, we celebrate the life of Whitney Houston.

Jesse Jackson , a leading black American activist and politician, said , "The memories are so powerful, the music will be with us forever. We have a lot to rejoice about.

Gospel singer Kim Burrell, a long-time friend, said, "As popular and powerful as she was, she was so brilliantly liberal and was generous with others.

Alex Ibru and the Nigerian Media

By Yemi Olakitan

When it was announced that the late Alex Uruemu Ibru, founder of the Guardian Newspaper has passed away, numerous observers were quick to recollect his celebrated escape from the hands of hired assassins who were sent to end his life under the administration of the late military dictator, General Sanni Ababcha under who Alex ironically served as a Minister of Internal Affairs from 1993 to 1995. Alex was a symbol of Nigerian journalism and freedom of expression although; he was never an active reporter. Many have observed with curious enthusiasm the hidden intention of the late dictator when he appointed Ibru as a Minister. It was clear that the junta wanted Alex to use the highly respected newspaper to promote Abacha’s political agenda in Nigeria. Abacha failed to remember that the motto of the Guardian Newspaper was Conscience nurtured by Truth, a motto that the newspaper had stuck with to this day. This has earned it immense respect in Nigerian journalism and placed it in a position of honour since it stood by its avowed codes of conduct. Ibru believed that journalists who loves the profession and are willing to use the media as a tool for societal emancipation should run the Guardian. Trouble started when the Guardian, contrary to Abacha’s expectations remained critical of the military junta. Ibru could have used his position as the chairman of the Guardian Newspaper to influence editorial content in favour of Abacha but he did not do this even at the risk of his own life. Alex succeeded in making the Guardian newspaper a force to be reckoned with in Nigerian journalism. He believed in the truth and he did not accept that truth should be purchased with money or even position. He therefore allowed his editors to practice journalism without any parochial interest and express what they sincerely believe, in accordance with the dictates of their conscience. This stance has earned the newspaper, the title: flagship of Nigerian journalism.
Anyone who is a journalist or has anything to do with the media at one time or the other has something to do with the Guardian. This is the high pride of place that Ibru’s integrity has placed the Guardian Newspaper. He allowed the Newspaper to serve as a tool for mass communication and professional journalism practice with a sense for national responsibility. The success of the Guardian Newspaper was an inspiration to other Nigerian newspaper and news magazines such as News-watch magazine, Tell, Tempo, The week and many others who were responsible for the emergence of guerilla journalism in Nigeria. It led to the rise of a Nigerian media that was determined to oppose anti democratic forces despite persecutions from the government.
An example of this scenario was the Nigerian press during the years of military rule. The Buhari and Babangida regimes utilized draconian legal instruments such as Decree 2 and Decree 4 to disturb the media. The notable collisions of press freedom and military dictatorship resulted in the incarcerations of many reporters under those regimes. Under the Babangida era, the suppression of the press was fired up with the parcel-bomb killing of Dele Giwa and the proscription of Newswatch magazine. The Abacha junta also declared war against the press. Reporters were tried as conspirators in coup-plots and jailed without appropriate trials. The regimes murdered journalists such as Bagauda Kaltho. Security operatives’ harassed even newsvendors while The Guardian were shut down on 14 August 1994. The assassination attempt on Ibru On February 2 1996 left him with one eye. His car was sprayed with machine gun fire from men who had trailed him in a deep-blue Peugeot. Both Ibru and the editor-in-chief Femi Kusa were flown to England for treatment of their injuries After Abacha's death in 1998, his Chief Security OfficeR, aL Mustapha and others were charged with the assassination attempt on his life/
Abacha’s demise in 1998 and the return to democracy in 1999 were seen as a much-deserved victory for the Nigerian press.
In addition, Alex ibru was able to simultaneously craft the Guardian Newspaper into a successful business operation without compromising those high values. It is clear that the media entrepreneur must focus on two goals: truth and profit. Truth is the correct information to give to a society and a society that must move forward require knowing the truth and nothing but the truth.
A newspaper is also a business and requires profit to validate its existence. Ibru was able to achieve this and this is what all media entrepreneurs should take from him; the ability to stand firm for the truth and to sustain the media enterprise as a profitable business.
A publication devoted to truth should yield profit. This ideal situation is also the rarest. Media entrepreneurs all over the world also find it necessary to balance the two objectives and it can be a delicate situation. The goal of truth is subordinated to the bottom line. It is in this tragic situation that the Nigerian press sometimes finds itself.
Ibru was also able to detach himself from the newspaper. He refused to influence the newspapers editorial content while holding to his post as a businessman. He gave the journalists freedom to do their job. According to Debo Adesina, the present editor of the Guardian, the newspaper will outlive Ibru and continue the good work.
Ibru was born on 1 March 1945 in Agbhara-Otor, in today’s Delta State. He attended the Yaba Methodist Primary School (1951-1957), Ibadan Grammar School (1958-1960), Igbobi College, Lagos (1960-1963) and the Trent Polytechnich in the United Kingdom (1967-1970), where he studied Business Economics
Alex Ibru was appointed chairman of Rutam Motors. In 1983 he met with newspapermen Stanley Mecebuh of the Daily times and Dele Cole also formerly of that paper and Segun Osoba, formerly of the Nigerian Herald. With 55% funding from the Ibrus, they launched the Guardian newspaper in 1983, with Alex Ibru became the chairman. Ibru also provided funding to the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), established during the military regime of Buhari's successor, General Ibrahim Babangida.
Alex Ibru died on 20 November 2011, aged 66

Broadcasting is a national service-Amin Moussalli

MD/CEO of Wazobia fm, Cool fm and Nigeria Info

Amin Moussalli is the CEO of three leading radio brands in Nigeria. He founded, the popular Pidgin oriented Wazobia fm, coolfm and more recently, Nigeria Info. Moussalli came to Nigeria in 1975 and founded AIM consultants, a company that is focused on architectural Engineering designs. His success in that field lured him into other ventures such as radio broadcasting which he considers a passion and a national service. He has since founded several stations in Lagos, Abuja, Port-Hacout, and Kano. In this interview, he speaks with Yemi Olakitan on his latest effort Nigeria Info, and many other plans for the future. Excerpts:

· How it all began
The story of AIM Group began in 1886 when the grandfather of my wife, Mr. Michael Elias immigrated to Nigeria. He was actually on his way to see to his grandparents in Brazil, but in those days the ships sailed through the West Coast from one port to the other, and from Lagos to Brazil. Mr. Elias was made to spend his money on gambling on board the ship and was therefore dropped off in Lagos. In 1975 my wife and I came on a visit to see my late in-laws. My late father-in-law, Mr. Fouad Elias asked my wife to see the late Gen Murtala Mohammed, who then had plans to build a new capital. We were so excited because we had studied about the planning of the Brazilia, built in 1957, and now a new Capital would be built! Since then we have made this place our home, because to us a home is where you spend most of your precious time, a place you have your friends, a land where you re-invest. As you can see my two daughters are now with us, and my two grandchildren are also here.
· Let us talk about your latest project Nigeria Info
Nigeria info is a total talk radio station that was created by my daughter, Tatiana. We wanted to start a completely new format that would compete with our existing stations. In order to start a new radio station, you need to do research. My elder daughter who started the whole project decided to rely on the research services provided by a Nigerian company, called Media Planning Services, MPS. They conducted a research and she found out that 40% of Nigerians want to talk when they are on the radio and 30% wants to listen to news and the other 30% wants to listen to sports. It means that radio broadcasting have changed from what we have in the 90s. It is no longer more music. Music is not really the number one attraction on radio. People want to listen to interesting talk and they want to participate. This prompted us to create Nigeria Info, which is a total talk station and less music. The station would be focusing on sports, news, national issues that affect every Nigerian. I think that people would be enjoying more sports on the radio now. It is more interactive than what they have been listening to before now and it is a big brand because Nigeria is big and it is about Nigeria. Anything, you want to know about Nigeria, you would get on Nigeria info. When you get on Nigerian info, you will listen to news and you get a very good opportunity to express yourself. Everybody has a chance to talk and be heard. You get to talk about issues that affect the nation, the family and the government and it is toll-free.
We wanted a station that would compete with Wazobia Fm and our other our stations. The problem we have and it is a problem is that Wazobia has gone on top of the roof and it has gone as far as it can go. When that happens if you don’t take action, the next place to go is down and we do not want that to happen. We would like to maintain equilibrium. In order to do that, you need a competitor and the next competitor to Wazobia is all the way down. We decided to create another competitor so that these guys in Wazobia would not feel relaxed. They can see what is happening now and we can put them on their toes. The facebook for Nigerian info is very active and we have Nigerians between the ages of 17-50 listening to Nigeria info. The research has been very revealing. What new thing are we doing with Nigeria info? We ensue that our listeners talk. Our broadcasters are moderators. What do the conventional radio broadcasters do? He plays music, he talks. The situation is different on Nigeria info, he introduces a topic, and he let the people talk. In every show, we have two people and it is like a cross frire.it is just like the CNN show in 1990 called the Cross Fire. The station is also toll free. We have about six lines that people can call free of charge. It is expensive but we allow everyone to talk. The situation is actually a national service because it is very expensive to run it as designed. We allow a man sitting down at the Bar Beach to express his mind although we put in some checks. When people become rude we have to correct them. NBC cannot monitor every thing, individual stations must take responsibility. If you want to talk about the President, you have to say, His Excellency or Mr. President. When a person becomes the president, he becom3es the number one person in the country, the leader of the nation. You have to show respect, there must be decorum, and there must be protocols.
We are the only radio station with scriptwriters in Nigeria. Scriptwriters are usually for the television but we have scriptwriters in our station now. This is all in an effort to ensure quality broadcasting.
· You brought in an American broadcaster called Bill Torch. Why and what is so special about Bill Torch?
Bill Torch is a veteran broadcaster in America, although he is retired now. We brought him in to train our people here. He started broadcasting in the United States when cable was free to air and nobody was on it. He used to come up in the morning and he brings a donkey with him to the studio and he reads the news. The next day, he brings a dog and he broke the norms. He makes the news interesting because he puts a lot of drama to it and everybody loves it. He was able to draw Americans attention. He would be coming back to Nigeria by January. I never knew in my life that we were going to work with Bill because we love him so much. When we first contacted him, he said, I have never been to Africa. When he came, he fell in love with Nigeria. He loves the country so much. He has been training our people. We have the sole license on him because we do not want other people to hijack him once he gets here. Don’t forget that he is a retired man, and he loves our girls. (Laughter)
· Who designed the Logo? It is an interesting one.

Our logo was designed by my daughter and it is a sign for talk. What the logo is saying is that it is time for talk. Come, let us talk about Nigeria.




· Can you share some of the challenges you are facing with us.
One of the biggest challenges that we face is electricity. It is a big challenge indeed. We set up a radio station in Kano; Coolfm and the experience is hell because of electricity problems and we have two transformers there and yet we still have issues with electricity. We have lights here and we still complain because it is always going and coming. We have to run on generators but Kano’s electricity supply is very bad. The electricity situation here does not help the generators because the lights keep tripping off. It’s a challenge. Our adverts rate is low compared to other countries. We have one of the lowest in the world. In Benin Republic, the rates are 30percent higher and they have stable electricity.
On air, the challenge we have is that we to beg people to turn off there radio sets. Everyone wants to hear himself speak. I am enjoying the process though with all the stress. It is like playing Tennis. I know that Nigerians are going to love it as much as I do.
· Let us Talk about the Broadcasters
I have engineering background and I have since left Broadcasting. I left it to other people to run it. I have to come back because my daughters said that if I have to maintain quality, I have to be more involved and this has basically increased my workload. You have to sleep by 3am and wake up by 6am. Sunday is a good day because you can rest. Well, about the broadcaster, we have Tolu, who used to be on the Midday Oasis on Coolfm in the nearly days and now she is back on Nigeria Info. She is on the morning show. She went to do some television broadcasting and she was on Channel 24 but when she listens to the station she likes it and now she is back. She is such a confident person and you need to listen to her in the morning. Katherine is also a very good broadcaster and her story is very interesting. She listens to the station and she got hooked and she wanted to be on it. She had not been with us before and now she is with us. You see, one thing about broadcasting is getting the right person. You can get a lot of people but to get the right persons is not very easy. The right person in the right place is the challenging part. Matse is another interesting person. You know, she said that I want to be on Nigerian Info. I need a change in my life. We say why? She was doing well on Wazobia Fm. Matse is a very intelligent lady and she made it a point of duty to do international courses online and I credit her for that. You know, she is the first Nigerian to break facebook record for the highest number of friends on face book. You can have about 40, 000 friends and she was the first Nigerian to break that record because of her show on Wazobia Fm. She is very hardworking.
· What is your relationship with your former staff members such as Dan Foster and many others that are no longer in your employ?
I am a very friendly person. You know people come and when they want to go, you cannot force them to stay. We always maintain a cordial relationship with all. Some have spent 30 years with us. Some have an ambition and they go out to make it work. Some time, it can be a success and sometimes it is not. You have to make sure that your ambition is a concrete one.
When I look at Nigeria. The first problem is see is unemployment among the youths. We have a huge population of youth who are out of school. When we create a new business. We are trying to help out by solving some of our national problems. We are not alone in these. We have other people such as Aliko Dangote, who is doing incredible things all over the country.

· About His National Honors
I have a MON and a very great Nigerian recently nominated me for another MON but I have to beg them to remove my name from the list because I already have an MON. To get an upgrade, you need to wait for five years. If they give me another MON, I have to wait for another five years to get an upgrade. I asked them to drop it.

· What plans for the future?
We know that the future belong to Internet radio and so we are working on that and getting prepared. We have Cool ink. We are working on that so that internet service can become so cheap that cybercafés can be built all over the country. We can work with the local governments in different communities so that Nigerians can have cheap access to the Internet. We have signed agreements with a certain company for the purpose of satellite services so that Internet access can be provided to all through cool link. Internet is going to become very cheap and we are going to ensure that every one have access to it all over the country. Next year, we are putting the issue of television into God’s hands and looking at what he would bring.

Long Walk To Digitization of Nigeria’s Broadcasting

By Yemi Olakitan
The switch over date for the digitization of Broadcast Media from analogue in Nigeria as set by the late former President Umaru Musa Yar Adua is June 17th, 2012. Few months to the date, Nigeria is still miles away from realizing the target. Yemi Olakitan examines the need for stakeholders to wake up to the task and deliver on the promise of excellence in broadcasting which is required for national development.


Aside from the importance of broadcasting to education, entertainment and information, the society cannot maximize its development and prosperity without a strong broadcast media which is also required for developing nations to move to the level of developed nations. Broadcast media organizations such as CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera have contributed immensely to the economic strength of their host countries. Few can deny the power of the media in shaping the destiny of any nation. Powerful media entities have often shaped global perspectives concerning an issue, a person or a nation. Experts have opined that the fine national rebranding efforts of former Information Minister Professor Dora Akunyili failed to have the much desired impact because Nigeria do not have a major media that was globally strong enough to shape international percep
tion of the nation as a positive brand.
Mass communication scholar, Dr. Ibrahim of the University of Lagos, said in a recent lecture that the potentials of the media as a tool for political and economic power cannot be easily measured. This is why nations around the world are moving fast towards the digitization of broadcast media. The global drive is so crucial because, digital format of broadcasting is of higher quality than analogue. According to experts, it enhances sound and picture quality and makes multi channel viewing easily accessible. The introduction of digital television, observers concur, represents the most significant innovation since the advent of television itself. Digital broadcast delivery, in addition to multiplying the number of available channels, will also transform the very nature of the television medium by making it interactive. The process of digitization merges technologies commonly used in broadcasting, computing and telecommunications and offers the potential for a whole range of new applications, such as electronic retail services, Internet access and pay-per-view facilities. The International Telecommunication Union has been on the vanguard of ensuring that all its members made the switch with a deadline fixed for June 17th 2015 and Nigeria has fixed its deadline to June 17th 2012. However, few months to the deadline, Nigeria is still miles away from the dreamland.
Former Minister of Information and Communication, John Nweke Jnr. announced deadline of 2015 as the year for full digitization. In 2007, the late President Umaru Musa Yar-Adua approved that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) pilot the country's migration from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) with a new switch-over date of June 17, 2012. The 2012 deadline is an attempt by Nigeria to meet the deadline three years ahead. However, it seems that the late former President was wrong in his assessment of the situation.
The nation faces many daunting challenges. One of the challenges of the switch over date is that of ignorance. Most Nigerians are unaware of the situation and many do not know that their fantastic television sets may no longer be in vogue a couple of months away since they will have to buy either a digital set-top box decoder or a new television. The costs of these can be best imagined among poor Nigerians. It means that all analogue television sets will no longer be useful for the consumers except they get a set up box. This is because for consumers to enjoy the benefit of the migration new television sets would have to be bought by television viewers through pay TV subscriptions. The United States of America has reportedly completed her own switch over about four years ago. Reports say that, even the US had to subsidize the purchase of a decoder for Americans. The project cost the US government about $2Billion. The situation in Nigeria, under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan does not show that the government is ready to invest in such subsidy for the teeming population of Nigerian radio and television consumers. Observers say, the problems of insecurity, particularly, the Boko Haram saga is enough distraction for the Federal Government. The issue of subsidy removal and the huge corruption in the public sector are some of the problems that might hinder Nigeria from meeting the June 2012 deadline. Besides, the Nigerian media has not given the subject much publicity.
Furthermore, The Federal government’s Advisory Committee on Digital Broadcasting had submitted a report, recommending the adoption of as new broadcast model. President Goodluck Jonathan had on receiving the report, resolved to present it to the National Assembly. The White Paper on that report is still being awaited. This means the federal Government has not given the transition a legal backing yet. Nigeria’s approach to the digitization project seems slow compared to other countries in Africa such as Kenya, Morocco, South Africa and Ghana. Nigeria needs to learn from the experience of some countries that began early digital migration and found the analogue switch-off date unachievable because of low consumer switchover capacity as well as others huge investment the sector requires to be success. Australia had originally planned a switch-off in 2008 but has had to delay to a date to be determined between 2010 or 2012. Another problem is the sole management of the digital transition project by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), a government agency and the exclusion of key stakeholders such as the broadcast companies themselves.. The Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) must urgently engage the private and public sector in the digital transition project. They must also involve all the state governments who own mostly analogue television and radio stations in order to work on the transition. The federal Government must rise to the challenge so that Nigeria can meet up to global standards of high quality professional broadcasting in the new computer age,