A Few Carry the Flag...

Excitement went unabated as Ray Power 100.5 FM came on air in 1993, so followed by Minaj Broadcast International as a counter to its television arm, African Independent Television. But these heralds of private media broadcast ownership just like their prints counterparts have not in any way changed the lot of the

Nigerian journalist nor producers. Even as it would have served the purpose of their owners in self aggrandisement or ill-prepared venturesomeness; and there remains the social impact that media people are doing a good job guarding popular interest therefore ensuring social accountability.

I was not into it yet. I simply longed to be in, but it meant breaking out of some of the confinements in order to be professionally part of the exciting world of private broadcast media. The major reason why I would miss all the excitement was simply because Nigeria's university system had and might still have a way of making knowledge gained from training impracticable. That is to say vocation which is the greatest need for a communication media scholar to possess was simply absent in my skills as a Communication Arts graduate from one those hurriedly contrived campuses. Therefore an average employer would spot the difference between mass communication and communication arts.

I could not even become a professional music artiste, because I did not acquire enough skill to even think of surviving in Lagos, where Ray Power 100.5, Nigeria's premier private radio station took off. The airwaves was saturated with the voices of the likes of Steve Kadiri, Kenny Ogungbe and D1 on the brand new radio. They seemed to have become replacements for the like of Jones Usen, of Radio Nigeria 3.I simply gave up after trying to corner Jones to listen to me at a friends place, while he was new in retirement. That was about the time Ray Power increased my longing to be in broadcasting..

The publishing firm I worked for simply made things worse. On a salary of USD$30, by today's equivalent, I could not even cope with a traveling allowance of about USD40, to cover three states in the enchanting North-East zone of Nigeria. But in every two weeks I would cover the zone to sell a government sponsored publication to corrupt local council civil servants, who could divide an average subscription fee of about USD1,800 under the table. My colleagues were deep into, while I carried on dreaming just to work for a broadcast media outfit. I resigned in protest after spending more than a month in Damaturu, capital of Yobe, without adequate nutrition, and surviving off Potiskum girl., whom I had sex with every other night.

It was simply the trend amongst entry level corporate graduates of the mid to late 90s. Bosses owed salaries up to six months; and in the media where I belong salary arrears simply ran up to six months. My boss could not see any reason why I reached him home at to get my salary, for the Easter celebration of 1998. General Abacha was in power, after General Babangida stepped aside for a civilian stooge; and life was not not easy. Quartered at a very high monthly rent of USD8 a month in a YMCA block, I got kicked out of a friends apartment, when I could not afford it any longer. On the street again like it was in the very early 90s, I finally put up with a friend from the same ethnic group.
[BB]
I wrote for the Diet Newspapers founded by the present Governor Of Delta State South-South zone;, whose sole aim for setting up, might have been to promote his political ambition, especially as an Abacha boy. I left there after six moths without satisfactory payment of earnings. Fortunately for me General Romeo Ishola whom I met by stroke of luck, paid my way to Enugu, capital of Nigeria's Eastern Region in the 60s.

It was in the course of a job offer by the first Managing Director of Minaj Broadcast International, where I work now as a producer. It meant by some Design I had to work for the first manager of one of Nigeria's foremost private media outfit, before I could smell a broadcast house. My experience was simply pathetic, because he is still owing me six months salary. If I had known I would have settled down to shooting musical videos. Indeed my only qualifications to become a producer then on two productions were my ingenuity at creating original stories out of mere challenges he thrust at me; and my maiden membership of a camera crew. That is when I was supposed to double as the Assistant to the Executive Producer of a biographical movie on Rev. Fr. Michael Iweren Tansi, beatified by the present pope in 1998

I arrived Lagos, fare fully paid by Minaj Broadcast International's Executive Vice Chairman, who appealed in the sweetest of voices that the broadcast outfit needed me more than ever. Not minding the fact that back in Enugu, where Minaj Cable operated I heard stories of how staff were owed salary. I simply ignored that tradition common to most broadcast media houses in Nigeria. Except may be Channels Television, where the policy is all about small size and professional management. So after the ceremonies of interviews and being applauded for my brilliant answers, I came to get to used to be owed salary in the first three months after resumption. It is no secret and it is a lot of pain, that the media in Nigeria, especially the private one are simply ruining the lives of talented Nigerians. Therefore there is a certain peculiarity.

It is simply the fact some older professionals, who left units like the government Nigerian Television Authority or Federal Radio Corporation, before the Obasanjo government, because of non-payment of salaries flooded the private ones like Minaj and AIT. Regarded as experienced they might still be occupied with misappropriating money for their selfish gains. Moreso the moment the owners of these outfits realise this, they also device means of taking away any money coming in via commercials.

Another factor responsible is the issue of ethnic politicking. The owners of private media were at a point under real pressure from the extended families to employ their kinsmen, who might know next to nothing about the profession. Therefore everyone including their kinsmen get occupied with diverting company income. Hence discrimination and fraud may come to remain Nigeria's private media most potent enemies. An average media professional suffers and sometimes gets ruined by these two factors. That is notwithstanding they are also the prime culprits in Nigeria's bad fortunes.

Indeed journalists, who do well in Nigeria, might simply be for luck or strong patronage by the economic and political powers. And it is less dangerous, only now that democracy may have enhanced the performance of the media, especially in the post-Abacha era. And going back in time we can remember when Dele Giwa the Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch Magazine was bombed. But that would help radicalize the practice, which became really potent from 1999.

On the whole media people are doing a good job, though surviving mainly on patronage. We are exacting social impact that has however not been really effective because of low income for the professional and even the establishments. Many communication schools graduates have come to find jobs, though they hardly get paid for a job that a few serious one do. But the few conscientious one are simply carrying the flag of media practice in Nigeria.

By Efefiong Akpan - Sixfei.mediabroadcast.com Lagos Nigeria.

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