Unity FM is achieving inclusion, unity for Plateau people – Nakande

What motivated you to establish a radio station?One of the motivations for the station was to engender peace and unity in Plateau state. Since 2001 we have gone through series of crisis and I recall with very sad feelings in 2010 when another crisis erupted. A former Commissioner of Police in Plateau State did a […]

What motivated you to establish a radio station?
One of the motivations for the station was to engender peace and unity in Plateau state. Since 2001 we have gone through series of crisis and I recall with very sad feelings in 2010 when another crisis erupted. A former Commissioner of Police in Plateau State did a conference and claimed that some Muslim youths had attacked St. Michael’s church in Nasarawa Gwom and it was never like that.
Despite Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama’s plea that no church was attacked, crisis erupted and unfortunately, our own state radio, Plateau Radio Television Corporation (PRTVC) kept publicizing that Muslim youths had attacked a church and that was why the circle of crisis expanded beyond control.
The coming of Unity FM is to breach such divide and ensure inclusion and show that broadcasting can be done differently and in a positive manner. That is why we call ourselves Unity FM. We promote unity in our communities, Plateau state and Nigeria. We have included everybody in carrying out this objective and we will continue to do that. The station has won so many awards in peace and other areas and we are happy that what we are doing is being emulated by the other media organizations.
So, all of us combined, including of course the PRTVC, I am sure we will be able to help Plateau state to achieve the desired peace.
 
It’s been a year since the station went on air, have you started making returns?
When you start a new product, it will have its own ups and down. So far, no, we are just on the margin because if you listen to our radio station and listen to the others, you will notice that the quantum of advertisements they get is far higher than what we get. We are still rather new.
We are not getting the big conglomerates yet. It is not easy, especially in this part of the country. Here in Plateau, it is believed that everybody doing radio should be in government. They wonder how big and strong you can be as an individual to start a radio station, so it has not been easy.
Even at that, in our overall plan, between now and December we hope to start a second radio station in Lafia, Nasarawa state. We have at least gone half way in terms of processing and the purpose is one, to capture the southern part of Plateau because this radio station has its limit from here. From Lafiya we will be able to get the entire southern Plateau and then we will have the benefit of Nasarawa itself, Benue and parts of Taraba.
 
How far do you intend to go in terms of expansion?
This one in Lafiya will soon be set up. When it starts running and begins to break even and balance itself, we will set up one again in Bauchi. We are not the only ones, there are other stations. I know of Freedom FM, they are in two places in Kano, they are also in Katsina, Jigawa and they are going to Port Harcourt now.
That is why we have formed an association: the Northern Media Broadcast Owners Association. A lot of us have the objectives of going into television; we are going to Lagos for another meeting on digitization soon and you know now they don’t give license for television, it is now all on cable so we are putting our heads together to apply for a network license.  
If I want to start television now, I can go to StarTimes, pay them for a particular channel and then I can start my programmes and then go and put it in the station. But I hope that if we get this network or license then maybe we can all start easily and it will be cheaper for us.
 
What are the financial implications of starting a radio station?
It is costly, considering the economic situation especially for some of us in the north. One of the ironies of the situation is that people in the north listen to radio more than any other group in the country, yet we have fewer radio stations, and it is because of the cost, because even for licensing I paid about 20 million naira. In my own case I bought the house where the station is located, then you have to now import all the equipments and of course the staff.
So it is quite a big project. And again, let me put this on record because a lot of people think that because I was Minister of Information that was why I established a radio station. No, I applied for a radio station and I have all my documents. Around 1996-97: that was when I actually bought the form and started pursuing it.
 
Why did it take you so long to actualize the project?
I wasn’t really following it up and in fact it was after I left office as a minister that I started pursuing it and the process is very long. You have to seek security clearance, they will profile you, make sure that you are capable of holding a radio station and will not do anything to upset the peace.
For example in our radio station here, if we are to mention anything, more than two million people will listen to it, so you must be careful, you must do things within the law so you don’t do things that are capable of upsetting people and crating problems as we saw in 2010.
 
What have been the major achievements and challenges of Unity Fm in the last one year?  
We have brought about inclusion in terms of broadcasting because before the coming of Unity FM, for most of the radio stations, I think except one, they didn’t even air programmes in Hausa and there is a huge chunk of Hausa speaking people, not Hausa people but Hausa speakers. Hausa programmes are not meant for Hausa people alone, which is why most of the international media, in America, Britain, Russia, China, all have Hausa programmes, it is not meant for Hausa people, it is for the Hausa speaking people and they are plenty across West Africa. So before now, they were not included.
Secondly, we have been able to come up with community programmes that seek to promote peace and unity among the various communities. We started with seven major languages within Plateau. We do programmes in Afizere, in Berom, in Tarok, in Gomoe; that is Shendam people, in Maghavul, in Fulani and then Angas and the response has been tremendous and that is why the Nigeria Society of Engineers’ award was actually for our innovation in coming up with this programme. And we prepare the theme, which is all on peace and unity, tolerance and good neighbourliness. That again has increased our listenership in the process and we keep appealing for sponsorship.
I spoke with a member of the House of Representatives, Bitrus Kaze and he was quite happy about the programme and told me of his intention to sponsor the one for Afizere, the community where he comes from and Senator Pwajok is picking Afizere, Berom and I told him to add Fulani because they are part of his community.
So we hope they do, so that our finances can pick up like Daily Trust. For the challenges, majorly, it has to do with power. It has been very hectic for us in terms of power. We are always on generator and even where you have power, its erratic nature has tended to affect some of our equipment and so we have had to change some few equipment at very high costs that we didn’t plan for. In terms of training, most of the staff we have are artists and we must train them so that they can meet certain standards that are expected in the industry.
We have sent many on courses to older radio stations and they take our staff free of charge. Some we take to the Jos Business School. But despite the challenges, we are on and I pray the station will outlive me.