Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State recently put smiles on the faces of media workers in the state and rekindled their hopes when he paid an unscheduled visit to the state owned media houses. Places he visited are Radio Kwara, the Herald Newspapers and the State Television Authority (Kwara TV). This visit came at a period when most of the media workers were losing hope of livelihood, not because of backlog of salaries owed them, but because of their uncondusive working conditions, unpleasant working environment as well as obsolete working tools.

The visit was quite revealing as it was unplanned for. The usual colouration, cosmetic arrangement and red carpet reception that always characterized the visit of state Chief executives were not there. This gave the governor and his entourage which included some members of his kitchen cabinet to see things practically and undiluted.

Governor Ahmed could not believe the deplorable condition of the state media houses he physically saw in terms of studio equipment, dilapidated buildings with leaking roofs and falling walls, faded paints, unserviceable vehicles and even the workers who are looking hungry, angry, dejected and frustrated.

Immediately after his departure, from the various media houses, the staff gathered in pairs to do an overview about his visit. It was then the turn of the various chief executives to brief workers on the outcome of the visit of the Governor.

Governor Ahmed was quoted as describing the situation in the various media houses as pathetic and promised that the state government would as a matter of urgency carry out a comprehensive overhaul to reposition and restructure the three state media houses, namely; Radio Kwara, the Herald Newspaper and Kwara State Television Authority. However, these promises were not without a caveat.

One would recall that, the lawmakers in the Kwara State House of Assembly had urged Governor Ahmed to as a matter of urgency, carry out general overhaul of the equipment in the state Television outfit to ensure adequate coverage of events in the state. The house in a notice of motion titled “Repositioning Kwara State Television for efficient performance” which was moved by Hon. Ebun Owolabi and seconded by Hon. Nimota Ibrahim expressed worry that the station was still operating on analogue when the global trend is digital communication. The lower legislative chamber also expressed concern that the station had the capacity of 10.0kilowatts for maximum reception but is currently operating below four kilowatts. The state TV came into existence during the administration of former Governor Shaaba Lafiagi now the Senator representing Kwara North Senatorial District at the National Assembly. The Television station has partially lost patronage due to very poor signal.

If Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed eventually fulfills his promises to the media houses, then, official activities at the affected state media organs will no longer be business as usual. However as agencies of government self-generating outfits, other responsibilities fall on them as they would even go to the extent of not only paying salaries of their workers, but making returns to the coffers of the state government as revenue generating agencies.

Ordinary, the media have the role of social responsibilities, but with the proposed plans, such roles might be uncertain. Patronizing state media houses will be highly competitive as it will be the case of the highest bidder for the media houses to meet their present financial challenges.

Below are some of the problems confronting the state media houses:  for the Herald Newspaper with Rasaq Adebayo as the General Manager, the newspaper house that hit the newspaper stand on 19th October, 1973 used to be the pride of Newspapers in the country in the early seventies has now become a shadow of itself. For the Herald Newspaper to bounce back, the media outfit needs well equipped modern printing equipment in a befitting environment that will attract clients to do business. Brand new circulation vans are needed to cover the North central geo-political zone and states sharing common boundaries with Kwara to be able to meet up with modern Newspapers business.

The government has to provide internet facilities as against current improvisation via modem which is grossly inadequate for serious Newspaper business. One other aspect that affected the glory and faith as well as sustainability of the Herald Newspaper and other state owned media houses which Governor Ahmed needs to look into is the poor patronage by Government agencies and Ministries and even individuals. And where such patronage is enjoyed, it is always on credit which eventually will, not be paid for, with the saying that it is the same government to Government. The personnel in the state media houses work under unbearable condition coupled with irregular payment of salaries and other allowances.

On its own part, before now, it was Radio Kwara and other radio stations not only in Kwara State but the entire North central state of the federation. But in the past few months, the station that was hitherto the pride of Kwarans has been running epileptic services due to financial crunch that has not only hit the station, but the state and by extension the entire country due to National financial crisis occasioned by the drop in oil revenue.

The Radio station which began functional broadcasting in the fifties as a relay station of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), presently has Alhaji Abdulateef Adebowale Adedeji as the General Manager. It was then known as Provincial Broadcasting House. The situation of Radio Kwara is like the myth that the cat with nine lives which has refused to die.

With the promise by Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed to reposition the station and other media houses in the state, Radio Kwara is hopefully going to maintain its rightful broadcasting position as the leading Radio station in the North Central Region of the Country. Kwara State Broadcasting Corporation as constituted today, formally came into being with effect from first April, 1978.

The government hopefully will ensure a complete repositioning of the Kwara State Broadcasting Corporation in terms of people, process and technology, while all the three digital studios would be refurbished, re-equipped and re-modernized to meet contemporary global demands.
The governor however, quickly declared that “the broadcast outfit would be responsible for the payment of salary of its workforce and ensure that returns of the government’s investments on the station are remitted to the government’s coffer”.

With this development, Kwara State Electronic Media outfits will be able to join its counterparts in the country to meet up with the global media trend, particularly the digitization process which is a directive of the International Telecommunication Union to all broadcast outfits to switch from analogue transmission to digital. Also, with the investment of the state government to the media houses, it is likely for them to key into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) of the state government which is already being implemented by tertiary institutions and other revenue generating agencies of the government.

No doubt, the administration of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has been media friendly since he took over the mantle of leadership of the state in 2011, more so with the composition of his vibrant media team which includes the Senior Special Assistant on media, Dr. Muideen Femi Akorede and the Comrade Chief Press Secretary, Alhaji Abdulwahab Oba. One media house “The National Pilot Newspaper” though is a privately owned outfit under the leadership of Alhaji Billy Adedamola also deserves government’s bail out considering the publicity the Newspaper has been giving to government activities and some stakeholders in the state.

Governor Ahmed has since realized that there is the need for the state government to provide new direction in broadcasting standards and other media related practices in our media outfits.
The Governor is also aware that the media is not just the fourth estate of the realm, but a place where justice is championed and protected.

The Chief Executive of Kwara State knows that the media around the world is considered the mouth piece of the people, hence he cherished their comfortability and has always promised that no civil servant in the state civil service including Journalists would lose their jobs in the ongoing restructuring in the state.

If Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed ends up fulfilling his promises of repositioning the state media houses and make the media workers to smile home regularly with their salaries as it was the case in the past, no doubt, his name would be written in gold as a governor that came, saw and resolved the long term crisis faced by home-based Journalists in the state.

Tunde Akanbi writes from Ilorin