How I blend journalism, telecoms, politics – Sunday Dare

Daily Trust: Having been an active journalist, how smooth would you say the transition to a government appointment has been? Sunday Dare: It has been smooth to an extent, but also, it has been a bit of a learning curve because they are two different worlds. The journalism world is a fiercely independent one where […]

Daily Trust: Having been an active journalist, how smooth would you say the transition to a government appointment has been?

Sunday Dare: It has been smooth to an extent, but also, it has been a bit of a learning curve because they are two different worlds. The journalism world is a fiercely independent one where you are more like a prosecutor that investigates. You can ask people questions and write your stories. I come from an investigative journalism background. When you compare that with a political appointment in government, it is a totally different kettle of fish. You become a public servant, and there are rules and regulations. You also have to deal with people who have been in the system for years.

So, it demands from you some extra hours to bring yourself up to speed about, not just the rules and regulations of where you are working, but also of that particular sector. It has been a learning curve and I have already turned it, and I’m comfortable in my skin. But then there is also a striking similarity, when you look at the digital revolution. It has revolutionised everything, particularly journalism. We have moved to digital platforms. The advent of web 2.0 changed everything. Then you look at how journalism itself has become digitalised. And who are the guardians of this technology? It is the telecom sector, primarily because of the platforms provided by telecommunications. So, it’s like moving from an analogue world to a digital one.

DT: The sector which the NCC superintends is vast, and as Executive Commissioner, what role do you play?

Dare: Basically, it’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management. Every sector has stakeholders, but my own is to manage the stakeholders in the telecoms industry. Don’t forget, as a regulatory agency, we have a number of licenses we issue to operators in different segments of the industry. We also monitor their activities to ensure compliance. But beyond that, we also protect the interest of over 172 million subscribers in the country. We insist that the consumer or subscriber is king. We ensure they enjoy quality service and that the operators do not exploit them. We make sure tariff structure and pricing is right.  We make sure there is no dominance. I manage the various levels of stakeholders. We have the MDAs, the MNOs, both the big and small ones, corporate bodies, and the security agencies. Virtually all the state governments are stakeholders. They all need and enjoy telecommunications services.

So, it’s a balancing act. We protect the interest of the providers of these services and that of those who enjoy the services. As a stakeholder manager, you also try to guide the processes within the commission that has to do with the overall regulatory efficiency of the sector.

DT: You’re also an accomplished journalist. Do you miss the newsroom?

Dare: Yes, I do. Given my years of experience, I have worked in print, broadcast, and also a bit of online journalism. My background is print. I have worked with The News magazine and Tempo in the time of military rule, part of the radical guerrilla journalism era. I’m glad we survived it. The excitement or adrenaline you get, when you either get an exclusive interview, or when you are investigating a story and you know that no other paper has the exclusive. But also, as a journalist, you know how it feels, especially when you have risen to the top of the pack.

The role of the media is critical in any society.  Remember what the former American President, Jefferson said, if he had to choose between ‘a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter’. It explains to a large extent when they say the media is the Fourth Estate. You also know it is a function of how you as a journalist are able to prove your mettle. The quality of work you do, and the respect you earn. When they see your byline they say you write well, or you write the right stories. So, over the years you have gotten that validation, meeting deadlines in the news room and so on. So, I do miss journalism, but I take care of that because I write a lot. I am much more a writer now. Sometimes I write on Facebook or opinion articles in newspapers. I’m still a journalist at heart, you could say. Once a journalist always a journalist.

DT: You were also Chief of Staff to one of the most prominent politicians in Nigeria. Between that and journalism, what scale of experience from them will you say you are applying to your current position?

Dare: I have had people so many times say politicians cannot do without journalists. But the media is practically dead without the politicians. They are sometimes best of friends, other times worst enemies. I think, for my role as a Chief of Staff then, my work as a journalist prepared me, unknowingly. It simply brought it all together. I found my experience as a journalist invaluable. My network became valuable in managing Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As many people who love him, there are also a bunch who disagree with his political philosophy.

Sometimes when I read the stories they write about him, I wonder where they get them from, because I work with him. As a journalist, I know they are not true. So, I have to manage, not just his politics, in terms of communicating what he stands for on every issue in such a way that the public understands his perceptions, but also his reputation.

I had to be bold sometimes in defending my principal or defending a particular idea he believes in. Fiscal federalism, progressive politics. We were in opposition for a while, defending and staying with the opposition and contesting for power at various levels. The long hours I spent on the road, and in the newsroom were vital, because with Tinubu, there was no start or end time. It was atwenty-hours-a-day job. You just keep going, day folds into night.

DT: Having been in the orbit of politicians, is a bid for public office in the cards for you?

Dare: Yes, and no. Last year, I was one of the aspirants for the governorship of Oyo State. I come from Ogbomosho and I aspired to pick up the APC ticket. But beyond that, it was the unfolding of the first stage of an agenda to seek public office. Because I have lived outside Oyo State for a while, and also outside Nigeria. I was born in the north and grew up in the north where I lived for about 30 years before I ventured out. I was out of the country for ten to twelve years. There was a need to reconnect.

So, my first agenda was to reconnect to Ogbomosho, my roots and by extension, Oyo politics. I did that in several ways, to such an extent that at least I became no longer an unknown quantity, politically. I became known amongst my people beyond merely recognizing me for my journalism career only they also got a taste of my political mind and capacity to mobilize.  Of course, having learnt at the feet of one of the greatest politicians in this country and being a student of politics, overtime it all came together. So, I had eight months of political campaigning and engagement in Ibadan, Ogbomosho, and a couple of local governments and wards.

I have started that process and it’s going to unfold as the years roll by. I am on that journey already.

DT: During your journalism career, you were the chief of Voice of America’s Hausa service in Washington for nine years. How would you describe that period of your life? 

Dare:It was epochal, very significant professionally, because it marked a transition from print journalism to full-time broadcast journalism and international broadcast journalism. I recall that I had just finished from Harvard University where I had a one-year academic programme under the Neiman Journalism Fellowship, reputed to be the best journalism program in the world, and right after my Harvard study I was given the job. I got it on the strength of my experience as a journalist and a writer, on the strength of my understanding of Nigerian politics, and of course my academic qualification.

But then different expectations came with it, because this was a language radio service embedded within an American broadcasting bureau. So, virtually all the materials that came in English, we had to translate to Hausa. We also had a couple of stringers across the country who sent in reports.

The period came with its challenges. We had a stiff competitor in the BBC Hausa Service, and I had the challenge of trying to make sure that we were able to meet them shoulder-to-shoulder in the quality of news and reports. In the daily audience, by the time I got to the fourth year, we were at least able to go neck-and-neck in terms of our listening audience. We broadened our programmes, so we were able to compete also in terms of the depth of programming we had, and brought in some talented people from Nigeria.

Also, I was embedded within the American life and political system with all its dynamic and developed political structure. My being in VOA went beyond being the chief of the Hausa service; it was a full American experience, a new kind of education that was total. So, I was a journalist, an administrator, a supervisor, and a leader. I think the work at VOA brought everything together for me as a career journalist.

DT: As a boy from Ogbomosho, how did you come to speak, read and write Hausa to a professional level?

Dare: My parents, until they moved back to Ogbomosho, lived in the north for 59 years. When they came to the north, the first place they settled in was in Gombe, Bauchi province, and then shortly moved to Jos. I was born in Jos and lived about 30 straight years there and had all my schooling in Jos, Baptist Primary School, Baptist High School. When we came to my A-level studies, I went to Ile-Ife, and then came back to ABU Zaria, in the north. I later went to University of Jos for my Master’s in Law.

When you are born and live in the north, you live the northern life. My friends were northerners. We spoke English and Hausa at home, and rarely spoke Yoruba. Most of my friends were Hausa. In school, Hausa was also taught. On my own, I deliberately read a lot of Hausa books. I spent time with my Hausa friends, watching Hausa movies. So, it came naturally. At least sixty-five percent of people around me spoke the language. Over time, I found out I had an affinity for the language. And here we are today.

DT: You have authored a number of books. Which one would you say was more daunting to write and why?

Dare: I’ve written five books. There is ‘Guerrilla Journalism: Dispatches from the Underground’, and I have worked with a team of other senior American editors on a book called ‘Making a Killing: The Business of War’, which looked at countries in Africa where you have resources and then you have the incident of conflict. Angola with its oil conflict, Nigeria’s Niger Delta, and blood diamonds in South Africa. I wrote one also during my studies at Oxford University, and that is more of a journalistic book. It’s called ‘We Are All Journalists: Africa in the Age of Social Media’. I also wrote one for my fiftieth birthday, a compilation of my op-ed articles through my career of over two decades in journalism titled ‘Datelines’.

‘Guerrilla Journalism’ was most daunting because it was nonfiction. I had to tell the story of what happened under military dictatorship, beginning from  generals Babangida to Abacha, how we survived it, the June 12th annulment, the struggle, Abiola’s incarceration, his death, the birth of The News magazine, the floating of Tempo magazine, how we had to go underground and dispatch our stories . That whole experience. I remembered virtually everything, but there are some critical things that took me a while to recall.

I tried to tell the story as factually as I could, but I had a compelling urge to be able to convey in a near-cinematic manner for those who only heard, read about it or never witnessed it. I wanted them to read that book and it would seem like they were watching a movie. So, I wrote that book essentially through my personal experience. As I did my work professionally, and then the people I connected with also did similar work, and then provided a bit of Nigerian background. How we got to military dictatorship, what its ills were, what kind of agitation occurred. Then the near-revolutionary dictatorship that began. How we began to have a critical mass of pro-democracy activists, the critical, radical and progressive attitude of the media and everybody coming together to confront military dictatorship, and insist that this country deserves democracy. It was all about how it gelled, confronting the military and then transmitting to civil democracy. That was most challenging, I’d say, as I wrote the book over six years after we returned to democracy.