Samson Shaibu: Many were disappointed because I retired as D-G without being wealthy
You retired from FRCN as Acting Director-General. How has life been with you since you left that executive position?The background story was that I retired because I clocked 60 and I became Acting Director-General by the grace of President Jonathan’s policy that says if a DG retires from service the most senior director should take […]
You retired from FRCN as Acting Director-General. How has life been with you since you left that executive position?
The background story was that I retired because I clocked 60 and I became Acting Director-General by the grace of President Jonathan’s policy that says if a DG retires from service the most senior director should take over. That was how I came in. If not, under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have been mentioned as a Director-General.
How did you feel when you became the DG?
I didn’t feel anyhow. I came there by accident from President Jonathan. I have never lobbied for any position and will never lobby for it because I believe it is an opportunity to serve. When I was there I wanted to leave a landmark.Thank God I was able to do that.
What are the landmarks?
There are so many. I stayed as acting DG for only five months. When I came in, there was no functional bus for FRCN. The only one working now was bought by me. I bought cars for FRCN through initiatives. The 22 studio abandoned for many years is now functional. We started the foundation. We started the online transmission before I left.
How did you prepare for retirement?
In fact, it took me many years to prepare for it. When I was in my rudimentary junior years I started preparing. I started grooming myself by training and retraining. I started picking qualifications here and there and the ultimate one I picked is Ph.D. It is a license for you to have many alternatives in life. I am talking of a Ph.D that is not an honorary degree but the one that is earned. It makes one to be mobile in all areas of the economy. By training, I am a Theatre Artiste, so my PhD armed me to be mobile in areas of creative industry. If I want to go into film-making now I can go.If want to go into acting, I can go there and if I want to go into television I can do that or be a private producer. That is what my qualification did for me. FRCN also gave me opportunities to be trained in different areas. I became an international trainer. I am also a recognized trainer in Nigeria. These are other opportunities. Over time, I prepared myself to face the challenges of retirement.
Was it the last minute retirement tension and the fear that made you to prepare or you were already working on them in your 20s or 30s?
I picked the job after NYSC and because of my radical posture I was visualizing retirement from the Day One of my service. One, I was not ready to play to the gallery. Two, I was not ready to dance to the status quo. Three, I was not ready to be engulfed by corruption of the society. So from the word go I started preparing for my retirement. I started writing books. As I am talking to you now I have many books to my credit. When I was writing thosebooks I told myself that if I was prematurely retired from service, the worst case scenario was to be marketing my books and be sustaining on them. But the case has not even gone near that.
What books have you written?
I have written many formidable books on radio, television and even on my faith, Christianity. I also have many plays to my credit that could be turned into Nigerian movies. They are lying there. I don’t even know how to start marketing them. I also have many radio and television dramas and other series to my credit. I wrote several books on Mass Communication. The first one I wrote is Mass Media Practice In Nigeria: Gold and Land Mines. There I captured all the victims of press journalism in Nigeria – those who were killed, those labelled among coup plotters and so on and it was a best seller. The other series of books I wrote are on TV and Radio productions. I have competent delivery for TV and Radio in Nigeria. These were my practice over the years.
If you look back now, when was the most challenging period to you in your years as a reporter?
The most challenging period was the coups and counter coups period in Nigeria. At a point, when we were at Gwagwalada, the soldiers took over our station and we were held up there for many hours. If there had not been counter coup it would have been bad for us. Those are the challenges in radio broadcasting. But we were living up to those challenges. Again, in the heat of the Gideon Orka coup, I was in Lagos. I didn’t know there was a coup. I was going to the Broadcasting House, but the soldiers made me to lie down because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. We were held up in that entanglement for many hours. These are some of the challenges of the job. In the area of creative writing, I handle a programme called Zuma Echo on the radio for many years. It was a satirical series that challenged the status quo in government. People feared for my life, but I never got arrested for anything because I have a way of writing that would not let them arrest me.
How could you be so daring when FRCN that is a government radio station?
Yes, it was FRCN. I was daring because my training made me so. In the area of satirical drama you can attack a man, make him look like a fool and he would still be laughing, he won’t know. That was what we were doing.
What did the DG or the head of FRCN in those days say?
He just feared for me. But the nature of my writing was such that I won’t come out to be accused of libel or defamation of character, no. All characters in drama are fictions. But people will pick the images from the ones I have created on radio and television then. People were afraid for me but there was no how they could arrest me for libel and defamation of character because the characters were in my own imagination and they were live characters.
Where would you say the inspiration came from?
It came from the society. As a creative person, it’s like there is radar on my head. For instance, as I was driving in now, I was seeing images and they are challenging me to put them into creative work. If I sit in a bus within 30 minutes I should be able to recreate the idiosyncrasy of the happenings in the bus. In the Nigerian society, there are so many idiosyncrasies – political idiosyncrasy, economic idiosyncrasy, social idiosyncrasy. This is a whole load of work for the creative writer. Lately, the book I am working on is about 300 pages and it is titled “Dialogue As Part of Mass Communication For Change, Progress And Development.” I have virtually finished it, but it’s a recreation from the society. In that book, you have poetry, drama, prose and from it you can make a movie because it’s the society you are drawing into the book for people to see themselves. My retirement offered a freedom to do what I am doing now for the society.
How was your first day at work like?
My first day in office was so exciting.
What year was that?
That was in 1980. It was a great day because immediately I started work they gave me a drama episode. The challenge was enormous. They titled it Radio Niger as Dramascope. The challenge then was that I was looking for a signature tune- in that was unique. What I did was to get a music and recreate it as a signature tune-in and you cannot get the equivalent any wherein the world. It was for originality, it was for creativity and I started the drama to mirror the society. It was topical satirical issues of the society. It afforded me the opportunity to unleash my pent up anger on the ills of the society.
One of the concerns of journalists today is that Journalism does not have second-hand value. What is your take on this?
The people who started Journalism in Nigeria started on a wrong note. They were enthroning mediocrity. In our early days, people would tell you Journalism is not book; broadcasting is not book; journalism is not qualification and they filled the profession with mediocres. There was no training and retraining among the people. If the original planners of Journalism in Nigeria saw beyond their noses it would have been practically impossible for most of these people to come into broadcasting because their qualification was a liability. That was why some of the people who were practicing before we came were not happy to see us. As far as they were concerned, it was atalent profession but they failed to realize that the talent can be enhanced through qualification. Like it is today, if you are relying on talent to impact on the society it will be garbage in, garbage out. Those who started Journalism in Nigeria were encouraging mediocre and that was why they couldn’t come out with any value. For instance, I came out from broadcasting journalism with a Ph.D and when people were angling for my job I was laughing at them because I have alternatives outside. You close the audio aspect of broadcasting and you throw me into the world that is so wide and I can fit into it. If you have qualification you can float in the society. Unfortunately, many of our earlier practitioners of journalism were not certificated. They came in after secondary school and they were basking in the deception of free wine, free women , free booze, free access to authorities and they lose they heads. In the process, when they retire they remain in the darkness of their illiteracy. We didn’t want to be like that. From the word go I came into broadcasting with a first degree, got a second degree and the third degree. But if you look at people in journalism some still don’t have certificate and couldn’t even fit into anywhere in the society. If you close my chapter in lecturing now I can go into the film industry. If you close the film industry I can sit down and write scripts for radio, television or Nigerian home movies. Can you do this if you have not got the rudimentary training? That is the tragedy of many of our people in the industry because they were lost in the deception that it would be glamour, glamour all the way and it would be glamour after retirement.
Did you enjoy the glamour of journalism?
Yes, I did enjoy it. The glamour was marvellous. It collapses the world into one small village. For instance, journalism afforded me the entry into some of the great countries of the world. I have been to Cuba, Orlando, Florida, Australia, UK and the US. It was this profession that gave me this glamour. Again, it allows you to talk intelligently virtually about anything or any profession in the world. Journalism is the only profession that gives you that latitude because our early training says you must know everything about any subject even up till today. For those who drink, I don’t drink. There is the glamour world for those who drink, then there is the glamour in fashion, socializing with the opposite sex and there is political glamour. It is the profession that gives you the boldness to face anybody in power, face him and ask him questions without even blinking an eye. The profession is like a poetic license. If you are in journalism you can penetrate anywhere, anyhow in the whole world. But the danger in it is that people lose their heads in this glamour and they don’t train themselves and that is why most journalists don’t have second-hand values.
One of the things we think now is how to own a house. How did you own your house? Was it before you retired or after retirement? Did you take a loan?
I wanted this interview to happen in one of my houses. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. From the word go in my civil service experience I told my wife after our marriage that we should not depend on government. The first house I built in life was at Gwagwalada. That time we were shuttling for coverage here and there. We used to come to the city and I have a 504 GL car then. I was picking boulders on the road to my site at Gwagwalada. You don’t need millions to build a house. I was picking stones, if I see stone on Airport Road I would pick it and put it in the boot of my car. One stone today, two stones tomorrow that was how I built it. I never bought any stone. It was building with tears and it took me over 15 years to finish the house, that was how bad it was. It was a two, three bed room flat. It took 15 years because some of us were trained in the regimented core values. I believe I could make it without being corrupt. That was the training that guided me over the years. When I travel, I won’t stay in the best hotel, I would stay in the one that would give me extra block. That was what I was doing over the years and I built the house without even taking a loan. When you first built a house it gives you the leeway to build other houses. Immediately I finished building it people rented it and I used the money to start another house. As I was starting another house they were renting the other house again. When Obasanjo was in power he sold government houses to us and I became another landlord, while still in service. I rented it out. At the tail end of my service I picked a loan and built another house in Apo here. This is how I have planned my own life over the years.
What was the most strategic decision you made that has helped you to live your normal life after retirement?
The strategic decision is not to play to the gallery.
What do you mean by that?
I decided to be a lone ranger in the civil service. I decided to pursue what I believed in. I decided not to give room to my bosses to query me and I decided to be anti-corruption. They can only hate you but they cannot do anything to you. At a time I was given a query pending dismissal from service because they could not tolerate my transparency. In my office, from the beginning of my service, when they are talking of corruption they wouldstop when I was near.
Why were you queried?
At a point in my career I decided I was not ready to toe the line of subservience. So when I was frustrated to a point I considered leaving FRCN, I applied to a place and I was given the job. My bosses said I did not followed the due process to get the job but I did interview and was qualified to be given. It was during the creation of Aso Radio here. I am a man of initiatives. I told General Jerry Useni to create a radio station in the FCT. He bought the idea and he said I should come on its board. I came on the board for implementation and we came up with a policy which led to the creation of Aso FM. When it came to recruitment, because I was fundamental in the implementation, I said from the position of the General Manager to that of the Messenger should be through due process and we must go through an interview. They declared all vacancies open and I applied. I excelled and was to be given a letter, but some dubious officials in the FCDA made it impossible for me to come in. They connived with my DG that I didn’t follow due process to get the job; then they queried me. After answering the query they transferred me to Lagos Training School. Immediately they took me there it blossomed and they were not happy. Those were the challenges but I overcame all. At the training school I was posted to as punishment I became a director there. The FRCN that was to sack me from the service I became its Director General. So, what other fulfillment can I ask from God?
How did you study for your Ph.D?
Oh, I was terrible. I was combining it with the job. It was on part-time within the period of five years. It was done with tears. I would drive from Abuja to Ibadan for contact session and I would see myself driving back again, it was not an easy thing. But I thank God I didn’t remember that anymore when I get the certificate, it was worth it.
How did your experience help you in your PhD thesis?
It helped me a lot because my case study was on the use of radio for social mobilization. All the experiences in radio broadcasting became an added advantage for me. While I was looking for review of literature I discovered that my experience became a literature review to me, in addition to the intellectual work that is not even relevant to Nigeria. These are the excitement about radio experience and my PhD thesis.
Could you have survived on your pension and savings as a retiree?
The answer is no. I couldn’t have survived on my pension. The pension is nothing to write home about.
What about your savings?
Overtime my savings were invested in different things. I was investing in books. I was investing it on the education of my children and the last thing they would want to see is to see their retired father suffering. These were my investments overtime. If I tell you that as at the time I was retiring from the FRCN I had no savings you wouldn’t believe me. I had none.
No one would have thought that you didn’t make a lot of money within the five months you spent as Acting Director General of FRCN?
In fact, that was the expectation. But I disappointed most people. I disappointed those who thought I should do what other people are doing. I disappointed some members of my family who saw it as an opportunity of a life time, I disappointed even some of my colleagues in office who felt this was my time to chop and I was not ready to chop. I disappointed so many people.
Did you as well disappoint your wife?
No, my wife tolerated my regimented anti-corruption posture. Why she did was because of the Christian principles she has overtime. She could say on this my husband would not do this or that. Even some of my staff knew Shaibu would not compromise because overtime that was my posture.
So, how has it been after retirement?
After retirement, life has been very interesting to me. When I retired it was like one door closing and many other doors are opening. When I retired they made me the Board Chairman of ELWA. It is the first gospel radio station in Africa. It was making waves in the early 1960s. I was excited about that. And immediately after this offer I picked some jobs. I was given an offer to teach in some universities and I made Bingham University my choice. That is where I am now as a lecturer in the Mass Communication Department. Immediately I started they made me coordinator of the Mass Communication Institute. It is so challenging and I am so excited about it.