When will the Nigerian broadcast media grow?

If so, where does the impression come from that professional standards in the industry have drastically fallen? As a first generation graduate in a broadcast newsroom, I remember vividly that some of our elders in the business were half-educated typists/clerks who only rose through the ranks.  Such people can obviously not talk about any golden […]

If so, where does the impression come from that professional standards in the industry have drastically fallen? As a first generation graduate in a broadcast newsroom, I remember vividly that some of our elders in the business were half-educated typists/clerks who only rose through the ranks.  Such people can obviously not talk about any golden age.
Again, I am unable to believe that my time could have been more glorious than that of my computer-literate successors.  There is no doubt that with improved numerical strength and facilities leading to the emergence of specialized desks, many stations can perform optimally if allowed to do so. What this suggests is that it is erroneous to assume that because broadcasting in Nigeria is better equipped today in terms of both human and material resources, it means the occupation is growing. I will return to this shortly
Before then it is important to quickly make the point that because of our blatant preoccupation with primordial politics, neither the broadcast media nor any other sector of the nation is growing. Not that politics is itself growing; it is not, because the pattern of our elections has not substantially departed from that of even the colonial period.
The clear difference between politics and other sectors of the nation, however, is that that unlike other ‘unimportant’ areas, politics claims 99% of our attention and resources. As one veteran journalist imagined the other day, the amount of money spent on electioneering in the nation in the last one year could have built a brand new refinery. If that was done, perhaps our current ineffectual delivery of petroleum products would have taken a different turn while the incessant hardship which our citizens go through in long queues at petrol stations would have been ameliorated if not avoided. Our political leaders do not appear to have listened to one of their own, Governor Rochas Okorocha that if politics and nothing else grows, the nation would suffer from what he calls ‘kwashiokorism’- a situation in which a person’s head grows so big that the rest of his body cannot carry it.
Back to today’s subject-the stunted growth of our broadcast media, it appears inexplicable that it is not growing despite my testimony that it is better equipped today than in the past. What then is the problem? They are many but the most worrisome in the context of this piece is ownership control. The public broadcast media in Nigeria would have been one of the best in the world but government-its proprietor has never allowed that.
Apart from undue political consideration which informs the choice of its leaders, once in office, they are never allowed to act professionally or to apply personal initiatives to resolve issues. Rather, all manner of political jobbers are empowered to whittle down the powers of the leaders.  Nigerians needn’t be told that certain unwholesome programming in the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) for instance, emanate from the Presidency.
Indeed, Network News can be delayed by Kitchen operatives. This writer can testify that it has always been so. In fact, Vincent Maduka, NTA’s DG emeritus once stated that in his days, the NTA was not allowed to announce even a regular meeting of the opposition parties. It is, however, simplistic to federalize the dilemma which ownership control imposes on the media because what happens in stations controlled by state governors could be more horrendous.
For example, only four days ago, a group of citizens from Akwa Ibom State raised their voices against their state owned media outfit which allegedly gives ample airtime to the government of the day, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its agents, but always blanks out other political parties and individuals who are not sympathetic to the government or the PDP and its agents.
As if the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) which is responsible for regulating broadcasting in the country will be allowed to do its work, it was requested to redress the situation. Well, broadcasting in Akwa Ibom has always been so coerced to be naïve.  During the last governorship elections in the state, the citizens had to take solace in the more reliable broadcasts of the then newly established Radio Nigeria Atlantic FM 104.5.  Media partisanship happens everywhere and should thus not surprise the Akwa Ibom people although everything in their state is described as ‘uncommon’.  
In Edo, -this writer’s home state, which has an exposed governor, the state broadcasting service with tested professionals was still manipulated to perform below average during the governorship election of 2012. The station did not only deprive candidates of other parties of being heard, it occasionally defamed them while constantly reminding its viewers/listeners of what the incumbent would do in the future.
From what we have said so far, it stands to reason that the broadcast media cannot grow simply because it has more men and materials than before. Having taken away its credibility, it stands to reason that no one would believe what it transmits or any government information for that matter. It is therefore in government’s interest to have a rethink and allow our media to perform in line with global best practices.  
If it functions well for the next two weeks, people may be persuaded to look forward to any political debate before the elections. If on the other hand, operatives of the ruling parties continue to foist on our public media, hate campaigns and documentaries of calumny, it is only the undiscerning that would watch the debates in which maligned candidates would justifiably refuse to participate.