THERE is an uneasy calm in the camp of the advocates for the establishment of the community radio stations in the country. And the reason is not far-fetched. Eight months after President Goodluck Jonathan made a public pronouncement during last year’s edition of the International Conference for African Broadcasters (AFRICAST) on October 19, 2010 through his deputy, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, to the effect that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) should commence the licensing of community radio, no community radio has been licensed. Even, series of follow-up workshops, seminars and conferences involving international organizations such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to draw attention to what stakeholders in broadcasting have now dubbed “flouting of presidential order”, appear not to have yielded any outcome.
The perception in the sector now is that the community radio campaign has joined “the litany of unfinished projects strategic to the growth of broadcasting in the country,” which the regulatory agency (NBC) has more or less become incapacitated to drive.
They list digital migration for which June 17, 2012 has been picked as switchover date and on which the federal government is yet to come up with a categorical statement since June 29, 2009 when the Presidential Advisory Committee on Transition from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting submitted its report; the long process of reviewing NBC Code commenced since January 2010; the cloudy atmosphere on licensing one private TV and radio network completed since December 2009 as other issues that should have commanded assertiveness of the regulatory agency.
But on Thursday in Abuja, the Director- General of the NBC, Engineer Yomi Bolarinwa was unequivocal explaining step-by-step efforts being made by the government parastatal to ensure that Nigerians’ right to quality broadcasting is not only guaranteed but is protected, preserved and promoted at all times. He used the occasion also to update Nigerians on some of the broadacsting issues that have become subject of public debate, especially community broadcasting. The interaction went as follows:
Because of litany of unfinished projects strategic to growth of broadcasting in the country, the public perception now is that the NBC is seemingly incapacitated to perform, what is your take on this?
There is nothing like ‘litany’ of unfinished projects strategic to the growth of broadcasting; and the perception that NBC is incapacitated to perform, is wrong. The word litany indicates ‘many’ but I know of two major issues in the industry today. You talk of community broadcasting and you talk about transition from analogue to digital. Those two can’t amount to litany of issues, especially with the phrase, “strategic to the growth of broadcasting.” Now, often times, as a government parastatal, you are misunderstood. Often times, people, for criticism sake, or for just wanting to say something, will say certain things. A few years back, there was nothing like community broadcasting in Nigeria. In the last six years, from zero, we have had 23 campus radio stations, except today that people now come up and say, the academic community is not a community, and I found that curious.
We have more than 23 higher institutions licensed and over 90 per cent of them are operating. UNILAG has rolled over on its second licence duration, meaning UNILAG has been on air for more than 8 years. And these campus radio stations are scattered all over Nigeria. In all the six geo-political zones, you have higher institutions that have radio stations, which is not only for training, it is also to serve the community.
But curiously, some people say that is not a community broadcasting, so, I wonder what the definition of the community broadcasting is. As far back as 2006, the fourth edition of the NBC Code has a whole chapter devoted to the regulation of community broadcasting, which every person in the industry is aware of. Whether government is slow, whether government is not slow is not the issue. But I believe government needs to think through and be sure of steps before taking community broadcasting to the informal and unstructured sector. What do I mean by unstructured sector? The academic community is a structured sector, where you have a VC who is at the helms of affairs that you can hold responsible. But when you go to the other communities, if it’s not properly structured, then you have the situation we had in this country, when community licence for banking was free for all. An individual takes a community banking licence goes into the community, when he/she has disagreement with the community, he closes down the bank and walks away. Broadcasting is more critical than that, critical to our lives in terms of the programmes they air, so, we can’t afford that.
A proposal had been made to government that if you are going to license a community, the community must have a board of trustees and represented on that board of trustees must be all segments of the society — the chief, the youth, the women, the market women, the artisans… and these people must meet quarterly to determine the programme guide for the station. So, if you say a station is a community station, it would be truly the voice of that community, not the voice of an individual or a particular group.
In other climes, community radio had been done piecemeal and no country is the same. And anything you import that does not meet your own attitude, your own culture, your way of life, is not likely to last, if it works at all. So, if you look at community broadcasting, we must tailor it towards the Nigerian culture, towards Nigerian way of life. If you go to the UK, they we tell you they have so and so number of community broadcasting, it is the same language that cuts across, so, it is not an issue you want to define a community by language. But in Nigeria, you can define a community by language! And I dare say that there are some communities if you define community by language, you must give them licence to cover the whole of Nigeria. I think the issue of community broadcasting is a question of time. We were all present in October when the vice president made the pronouncement concerning the community radio…
(Cuts in) this proposal you talked about, was it before the October pronouncement?
Yes! The issue has been on in the last five years (since 2006). In 2007, a proposal in form of a memo went to the executive council twice. And between 2007 and 2011, the memo went to the council once. And every time there is a challenge, we must face that challenge, solve that problem and go back to the council. I am sure very soon, we would see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Still on that presidential announcement, what is really happening that 8 months after, no single community radio has been licensed?
If the private individuals come to a meeting and say from now on, this thing goes… if they say they would disburse a sum of money at the end of every month, if there is no memo to back up such decision from the head of that organization to the account section, you wont get a kobo by the end of the month. Until the head of finance gets a memo, it is not official. And the way government works is, if you do not get a memo from the president or the man who has authority to give you directive, you can’t implement anything because you do not have the authority.
Since it’s being perceived that government is slow in this matter, what steps can the supervising ministry take to ensure that this presidential pronouncement becomes a reality?
I do not believe government is slow. And nothing is hidden concerning this matter, after all, the Information Act is now alive… the fact that we have taken measured steps to ensure that all the perceived problems are taken care of does not mean we are being slow. And it does not mean government is being slow.
When should public then expect the roll out of the community broadcasting licences?
Very soon, we will definitely cross the bridge. But let it be known that community licence is not for an individual. It is for a community, so, people should not assume they have the money, so, they want to set up community radio and they want to come to the NBC and apply for licence as individuals. The community should set up a board of trustees that is going to be registered by the Corporate Affairs.
Also, the impression being bandied about by certain group, who are also probably anxious to get a community radio licence is that NBC is either not doing enough or is actually blocking efforts to get community radio off the ground. Can you kindly clarify this?
The latter part of the question that the NBC is blocking efforts could be further from truth. If NBC could make provisions in its regulating documents for the regulation of the community broadcasting, why would it make that provision if it was not ready to regulate community broadcasting? And that is very clear. Like I said, except the definition of community is different depending on who is talking about the community, if you say the academic community is not a community in the sense of… and yet we have over 23 of them across the nation operating radio stations. And it is not limited to government higher institutions, you have private institutions, Babcock University has a licence, the Catholic University in Kateritas has a licence running a radio station… And every where you want to start a new thing, you must have a pilot episode, you must have a test case, and UNILAG, the first campus radio station for the academic community in the country has being on for eight years. This is enough experience for us to cope with challenges that could later arise from community broadcasting. So, NBC is ready and NBC is not blocking. And we are doing enough within the limit of the law.
Source: Guardian.
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