Why we invested heavily on website upgrade – VON DG

Mr Osita Okechukwu is the Director-General (DG), Voice of Nigeria (VON). He speaks about the operation of Nigeria’s external broadcasting outfit, the challenges and the efforts made to reposition the organisation.   How have your experiences been as the DG of VON? I have stayed over one year in office, going to two years. And […]

Mr Osita Okechukwu is the Director-General (DG), Voice of Nigeria (VON). He speaks about the operation of Nigeria’s external broadcasting outfit, the challenges and the efforts made to reposition the organisation.

 

How have your experiences been as the DG of VON?

I have stayed over one year in office, going to two years. And my experience was that the Voice of Nigeria suffered in line with other agencies. It was impacted heavily by the locust years. At a certain point, we had eight transmitters. We now have only two. Our website was elementary. So, we upgraded into a modern website suitable to a broadcasting house, created internet centre and inserted our news via -TuneIn, Simple Radio and Radio Garden Apps in smart phones. Those are our little achievements.

 

From what you have noted from your vantage position, is your impression of VON different from how it was before you became the DG?

No, I can’t give myself any assessment. But what I keep doing daily is to try to upgrade the equipment that I found and to create a new platform on social media. I told the management and staff that our business as a broadcasting house is to look for the audience and not for the audience to look for us. For today, we have thousands of channels competing for the attention. So, attracting substantial audience to your medium is the big task. That’s why my credo is to chase the audience. I told them that if broadcasting had migrated to internet, then why should we get stuck? We invested heavily in upgrading the website of Voice of Nigeria and our migration into TuneIn, Simple Radio and Radio Garden Apps, found in Smart Phones. Today, VON can be easily listened to in all the six time zones on earth seamlessly, especially, when very few people today use Short Wave Radio in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Middle East and South of Africa. Accordingly, our emphasis is to continue to hunt for our audience with modern gadgets.

 

Have you commenced the project or the service?

We are almost in the final phase of when one can climb to the roof top and shout that VON is the league of modern Online Broadcasting Platform. Some of my staff have been very cooperative and hardworking, while few could not appreciate the huge fund we invest to upgrade.

 

What would you say are the challenges of the organization?

Like every human being, we wake up in the morning with one challenge or the other. Some challenges are anticipated, others are not. That’s all what has been my experience. But I intend to return the agency to modernity in comparison to similar national assets worldwide.

 

At a point you had 8 transmitters, now you have two. What could be responsible for that?

I don’t want to go in to that. The only fact is that the agency was not immune to profligacy. But I am trying to fix them.

 

What are your plans towards changing the organization for the better?

We are pursuing modern online platform and getting our voice back to the Smart Phones, so that you can listen to us wherever you are. We are also trying to learn what burden the cost of diesel has become to any meaningful operation in the country. It is also worth the while to the federal government of Nigeria to raise the ante and invest more on solar and other renewable sources of energy. The cost of diesel is impacting heavily on cost of our management. It is the most expensive component in our transmission.

 

What fresh insights have you gained about the mass media from your experiences so far as the DG of VON?

The audience is the king. We would have to chase our audience. In the six different time zones, they don’t use short wave any longer in almost five, like South America, North America and Europe. I told them to chase our audience there. So, we have to go on website. It is imperative that you have to know where your audience is. This is why we are in partnership with Ministry of Foreign Affairs in extending our frontiers round the globe.

 

Are there areas of improvements in the media that you wish to see?

The media, throughout history, had always metamorphosed with technology. It is unstoppable and nobody can control it. When internet was discovered, nobody knew that radio, television and newspaper would find themselves in the smart phones. And it is the same telephone that somebody once said it was not for the poor. But it’s now with the groundnut seller. So, it’s the media, it has no boundaries. A lot of newspapers had closed down their paper printing products. But they have gone into the website on YouTube and other platforms. So, this is what I want Voice of Nigeria to change into and transform urgently as well. We must retain the short wave, for those who use transistor radio and via local FMs in different countries.

 

What would you say of your life pursuits that may have prepared you for the task of being the DG of VON?

I never prepare to come this way. It is providence and Mr President who assigned me to VON. But it has been a fruitful experience to be on top of an organization of this magnitude with over one thousand staff. 

 

Don’t you think that your role an image maker may have prepared you for this kind of task?

I wasn’t looking that way. I was just saying okay -what do we do to change the social conditions in Nigeria? That’s all. But I was worried with the level of looting that was going in the country. I was very worried.  That was my greatest phobia because Nigeria was sliding towards a failed state and I think we are bringing Nigeria back. It might take time. But that’s the truth of the matter. 

When you know that if you have N10 million and that amount would be focused on projects, salaries or pension arrears – not that somebody will take it without doing any job and without paying anybody. It can’t happen again. That’s where we are today. That is why I said it is President Buhari’s critical revolution. One prefers to call it RRAP-Rails, Roads, Agro & Power projects. Why people don’t know that there is revolution going on in democracy is because they don’t see the bang. The growth in democracy throughout history has been incremental. It really never has a bang. So, what we have is incremental. Today, it’s becoming very difficult for anybody to loot the way it used to be. And even if you loot, which bank will you place your money with the Bank Verification Number? The Voice of Nigeria cannot now have an account in a commercial bank. In the past, we used to have about seven different accounts which sometimes make the money yours.  Today, it’s no more your money. Before it drops from the central system, you must explain what you are doing with the money. So, those are social revolution going on. It might not be noticed now. But some of us who are social scientists are aware that what President Buhari has instituted will help to build a foundation for a prosperous and progressive country.