1st Uyo Public Forum Organised by NBC

AN ADDRESS PRESENTED BY HIS EXCELLENCY CHIEF GODSWILL AKPABIO, ON THE OCCASION OF THE FIRST UYO PUBLIC FORUM ORGANISED BY THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMMISSION (NBC), ON THURSDAY THE 15TH OF OCTOBER, 2009.

I feel a great sense of responsibility in welcoming you all to our state and at the same time addressing this public forum organized by the National Broadcasting Commission. Broadcasting, more than anything else, has knit the world together and turned it into a global village as predicted by the mass communications scholar, the late Marshal McLuhan. But much more than that, it has metamorphosed into one of the greatest influences on societal and individual values, behavior, conduct and attitudes.

Broadcasting has come a long way. The first broadcast occurred in 1906 when a man called Fessenden sang a song, read the Bible and sought for financial backers for his broadcasting. The entrepreneurs of those days scorned him, they were slow to realize the power of this medium which reach was incalculable and which would become one of the greatest influences on our lives.

As broadcasting grew, it attracted more patronage. The deep and abiding relationship between the broadcast industry and Government was largely defined in its infancy by President Roosevelt of United States of America who addressed his country frequently in what was called the “Fireside Chats.” This set the stage for frequent presidential broadcast addresses like President Ike Eisenhower’s “Chew the fat with Ike,” Lyndon B. Johnson’s “LBJ’s Bull Session,” and George Bush’s “Hooked on Phonics and Strategy Hour.”

I believe that truth-telling and social responsibility in your profession has brought you to our state capital for this Public Forum. However, let it not only be an avenue for you to weigh our stations’ scorecards, and obtain constructive suggestions to reposition our nation’s broadcast stations for the challenges of the digital broadcast age. Let it also serve effectively as a feedback mechanism to enhance professionalism, ensure the delivery of quality broadcasting and address the ethical and moral issues which affect broadcasting in Nigeria.

The importance of a regulatory body for the electronic media, like the NBC, in a country of diverse interests like Nigeria, cannot be over-emphasized. The gripping power of television in combining sound and vision and the powerful and pervasive reach of the radio can only be abused at grave consequences.

In Akwa Ibom State we have initiated policies like the free and compulsory education of our children up to senior secondary school, free medical treatment for pregnant women, children aged five and under, and the elderly. We have tarred over 600 kilometers of road all over our state, including Federal Roads. We are developing the Ibom Industrial city, an industrial mix of oil and gas-support services, dockyard and watercraft repair facilities. When fully operational it would employ over 200,000 people, increase the export base of the state, put the state on the oil and gas map of the world, and the seaport will open up the state as one of the gateways to the world in the Gulf of Guinea. Our Independent Power Plant is poised to give us uninterrupted power supply before the end of this year and our International Airport which we test landed a wide-bodied aircraft on September 23, 2009 is set to go fully operational this year.

We are also building a N33 billion composite entertainment complex in Uyo, the State capital to be known as Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre. The foundation stone laying ceremony was performed by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua on October 24, 2008. This flagship project will on completion serve as a world class entertainment destination in the West African sub-region. The facility comes with: a 16-storey, 250-bedroom Five Star Hotel, International conference centre facilities; shopping malls; Cineplex etc. sitting on an 82 hectres of land spanning two ring roads. We are doing a lot more but let us use these few as case points.

At the inception of some of these projects we ran into withering storms of criticism. This was because the people did not understand our concept and were misled by some mischievous people. And as you know in every battle between light and darkness, light will prevail. Courtesy of our broadcast stations which explained these projects to our people, light prevailed and the people now support these programs. Developmental journalism may not chart a course for development, but if it creates the enabling atmosphere for development, it has done society a great service.

I am happy that you intend to discuss the challenges of broadcasting in the digital age. Not only should we think in terms of digitalizing the broadcast process, we should also think of doing away with terrestrial television and going for satellite television. Europe has already set a timetable for the complete transition to satellite television and the process has reached an advanced stage. Digital processes lend themselves more to satellite transmission than terrestrial and we should set a timetable for this. Let us change with the world and march with them technology-wise.

I am happy that the NBC is making every effort to ensure that the third tier of broadcasting, the community radio, come on stream in our country. I urge them to pursue this with all the zeal it could muster because it would serve a great purpose in mobilization at the grassroots level.

I also commend you for trying to control the violent contents in films aired on our stations, and the lewd lyrics which predominates music on our radio and television stations. In this television age, what our children hear is interpreted as their reality. Studies have linked media violence to youth violence and we need to guard the minds of our children with due diligence.

The NBC has made noble strides and they have done a difficult job well. I wish you more success and innovation as the years go by. Nigeria is a growing nation with attendant challenges, and I expect the NBC to grow with the nation and be alive to whatever challenges the nation faces. The NBC should endeavor to put in place policies that promote the things which bind us together over and above those that tend to divide us.

There are many good and noble things about Nigeria. The NBC should mobilize the broadcast media in the country to be at the forefront of the rebrand Nigeria project. For we are a better people than the world gives us allowance for. I must specially commend the AKBC and NTA, Uyo, for their high degree of professionalism. The peace we have enjoyed in our state has been made possible by their strict observance of the rules of sound and ethical journalism. In appreciation of their services we recently acquired an outside broadcast van for AKBC and plans are underway to construct a befitting broadcasting house for them. We also tarred internal roads in the NTA, Uyo, in addition to training many journalists on digital broadcast techniques.

I thank the management of the NBC and other stakeholders in the Broadcast industry for this opportunity of being your Special Guest of Honour at this special public forum. May you realize your deepest aspirations in the course of this public forum and may our country be the better for it.

Thank you and God bless.