Connect with us

Opinion

A Background To Radio Rivers

Published

on

An article titled “History of Radio Rivers” by Baridom Sika chronicled the birth of Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation (RSBC) through Edict 78 of 1973 following which the implementation process of procurement and staff training commenced. Subsequently, on June 1, 1978, Mambo Tumbowei signed on the station as Radio Rivers; that was the beginning. This article presents a background to that beginning.
Reflexively reacting to the earthy percussion that introduced Se Acabo by Santana Band, a DJ on Radio Nigeria, Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), William Jumbo Street, GRA, Port Harcourt identified the African roots of the pulsating and compulsive multi-conga rhythmic patterns of the song. In a moment of music-induced madness, he leaned in on the microphone, crooned “Ubleke! Ubleke!! Ubleke!!!” and hailed his invisible multilingual audience in the call-response greeting that is peculiar to his community. That was in 1972 when Radio Nigeria was the only radio station in old Rivers State. The program, “Ship Ahoy”, was a mixed-music morning magazine presented in English Language.
As the DJ stepped out of the studio, his producer, the guitar-strumming and broadminded piper, Seniboye Itiye, roared an oral query: “You spoke your language in my program!!! You think we all understand your endless iyeiye greeting?” “I’m sorry sir; I got carried away by the music”, apologised the DJ. “Calm down; this is radio, not night club or afternoon jump”, said Itiye, reassuringly. Incidentally, the DJ was cofounder and bassist of Blackstones Band, which was the first rock band in the history of old Rivers State; the band’s imitative repertoire was heavily laden with the then evolving earthy and heavily percussive songs that characterized the dissident departure from the Mersey beat of the sixties. Following two and a half years of basking in flashlights and the youthful escapades of rock musicianship, the DJ and two other members of the band opted to return to school; he chanced in and sojourned on radio as a stopgap measure. The language glitch that morning was, therefore, a residue of his immediate past profession.
Mixed reactions came at the heels of that professional indiscretion: while he received raving reviews from his community, his colleagues at the station and the wider Rivers society frowned at what was considered a projection, propagation and promotion of parochialism. Unbeknownst to everyone, the Governor of Rivers State, Navy Commander Alfred Diete-Spiff was listening attentively.
One afternoon, the DJ and his Duty Continuity Announcer (DTA), the beautiful and brilliant Stella Amachree, left the studio in the care of a trainee DTA called Chima Okor and went to Catering Rest House within the vicinity for lunch. Returning through the street now known as Cookey-Gam Drive, they chanced on Governor Diete-Spiff strolling outside the confines of Government House. Expectedly, they stood still on the side of the street in deference to the Governor who, surprisingly, stopped astride them and inquired after their names. To their great delight, the Governor knew them and their radio shows. He commended them, spoke glowingly about their program “Shaft Corner” (a foursome that attracted national attention) and casually said “We should establish a radio station for Rivers State”; thereafter, he walked on.
Stella and the DJ practically flew back to NBC studios and narrated every detail of the encounter to their colleagues. The station, which was manned by Rivers State indigenes, went agog. Matthew Miesiegha, Bernard Graham-Douglas, Mike Oku, Steve Bubagha, Peter O.C. Adiukwu-Brown, Pat Ketebu, Ifiemi Ombu, Florence Olali, Cornelia Omoniabipi, Bobby Bikefe, Monima Kelly-Briggs, Emmanuel Dokubo, Chituru Wachuku, Boma Erekosima, Sunny Meshack-Hart, Tony Alabraba etc. were in high spirits. Given the antecedents of the governor in the sphere of human development, the news held the potent promise of a radio station to call their own. Ernest Ogbanga and others in the engineering department shared the excitement; even Florence Olali, who was feverishly preparing to join her betrothed in Germany, was not left out of it. And it came to pass that that spontaneous statement by a young man who was yet to turn thirty years morphed into public policy and Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation was created on August 24, 1973 through Edict No. 8. The rest is history.
While the following divergence belongs in another narrative, it is pertinent to mention that Radio Nigeria, Port Harcourt was a beehive of crazy but highly creative and fiercely focused fellows. Most of the DTAs, news writers and radio personalities keyed into the generational thinking educational policy of the Diete-Spiff administration and developed themselves. Bernard Graham-Douglas, Ifiemi Ombu, Emmanuel Dokubo and Tony Alabraba studied Broadcasting in the US; Mike Oku did same in Scotland. Stella Amachree studied Law in Oxford University, Peter Adiukwu-Brown read Metallurgy at Manchester University and Pat Ketebu read Accountancy in Scotland. And by the way, our dramatis persona also studied Broadcasting in the U.S. and, having graduated in 1975, became the first person in old Rivers State to take a degree in that discipline. Furthermore, as Senior Special Assistant to Secretary to the State Government, he accompanied his boss, Professor William Ogionwo, who represented Governor Melford Okilo at RSBC Headquarters on May 2, 1981 where and when Dafini Gogo-Abbey signed on the newly added FM Station, Radio Rivers 2.
The above episode lends itself to robust intellectual interrogation within the themes of leadership and human development. Without venturing into the academics of these two concepts, it is necessary to state that it took the visionary leadership of Diete-Spiff to conceive and establish a radio station for the State and create opportunities for people to be trained in the relevant fields. On the other hand, it took the desire for individual development on the part of our dramatis persona and his colleagues in NBC to tap into the opportunities presented by the policy to produce the workforce that eventually manned Radio Rivers. That is the constructive collectivism that births personal, group and national development.
Dr Osai is an Associate Professor in the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.

Continue Reading

Opinion

Hurray! Another Feather For Fubara

Published

on

Before the Saturday, October 5, Local Government Council Election to midwife the rebirth of elected Local Government administrations in Rivers State, it was hard on me to believe that general elections can hold in Nigeria without the Nigerian Police and other statutory security organisations’ participation to provide security. So when the Abuja High Court restrained the Nigerian Police from giving security for a seamless, hitch-free election processes, I was startled on the security of election materials, adhoc staff of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and the voters, even though legal luminaries posit that it is not within the ambit of Federal courts to legislate on Local Government matters. Many people thought that the Inspector-General of Police’s decision to promptly obey judicial orders would either truncate the process or trigger voter apathy.
However, the outcome: violence-free, massive participation of voters even the participation of those who confessed that they had not exercised their franchise in the last 24 years of Nigeria democratic dispensation, does not only prove me wrong but also speak volumes of a people yearning for self determination at the grassroots. It also shows that the time of a marked departure from the ugly, repressive and dictatorial past has inevitably come to an end. It underscores the emergence of  a new political order and structure that are the prerogative of the people and a function of legitimacy from the people, not a structure that is a product of a coercive, repressive , and other measures that negate democratic values and norms. For once, Rivers people have sent a message that they remain a distinct political entity with the right to decide who leads them.
The people of Rivers State, from the Ikwerres, the Kalabaris, Etches, Ndonis, Wakirikes, Andonis, the Ekpeyes, Ogonis, Abuans and several other micro ethnic and language people as a resilient and brave people have gained consciousness to dislodge the human instrument that perpetrates oppression even as Karl Marx said, “It is only when people are conscious of the fact that they are oppressed can they rise to dislodge the instrument that makes the oppression possible”. The October 5, Local Government Election, shows that despite its ethnic  and language diversity Rivers State is homogeneous, united in  corporate interest and goal. Rivers people have  proven that general election without the presence of Nigerian Police is possible. Some voters have also alleged that considering the peaceful election achieved without the presence of Nigerian Police, the crisis-ridden elections in Nigeria may have been the architecture of the Police. Some believe that their presence poses a discomfort to voters and an uneasy calm in voting environment.
Now that it is possible to conduct elections without them the Federal and Sub- national electoral bodies can reduce cost of conducting elections. The huge budget allocated to security for election purposes presupposes waste, so can be channeled to other critical sectors. This laudable achievement-a peaceful election without Nigerian Police would have been elusive without the peaceful, mentally and emotionally matured, God-fearing disposition and Rivers First mantra of the Executive Governor, Siminalayi Fubara. The Governor’s passion for peace and development even amid provocative and inciting statements by detractors and enemies of Rivers State, has endeared him to the people and whittled down the influence and relevance of the opposition in Rivers State. It is not gainsaying the fact that in recent times, the Nigerian Police has flagrantly violated professional, ethical and moral standards.
The high command seems to have sacrificed their statutory obligations to the people on a whim for personal relationships and filthy lucre. They seem to have allowed pecuniary gains to dull and cloud their sense of reasoning and their primary statutory responsibilities of crime detection and prevention, protection of lives and property. The occupation of Local Government Council Secretariats in the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State by the Nigeria Police, preventing Caretaker Committees and staff of Local Government councils to access their offices to carry out legitimate duties when States with caretaker administrations functioned without Police interference, is a dent on the credibility and integrity of the Nigerian Police. At the wake of the political upheaval in Rivers State, the Executive Governor of the State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, received his dose of the rascality of some men of the Nigerian Police. Canisters of water were shot at the Governor as gleaned from viral videos and other media outfits.
How could the Nigerian Police have descended so low to derecognise the Executive Governor who is the Chief Security Officer of Rivers State? What came on them to compromise their duties to the people and Government of Rivers State? How on earth could they have deemed serving the interest of one man in Abuja is paramount and transcends that of the generality of Rivers people? The Nigerian Police by their inactions and untoward activities in Rivers State, tried to convey a false assumption that there are two Governors in Rivers State. This animosity on the state lends support for the quest for and against State Police. A State Police formation will be necessary, Purpose-driven and effective under a cool-headed, humane, objective and listening governor like Governor Fubara. However, a State Police in control of the opposition in Rivers will be the German Nazis – an instrument of torture, oppression, and autocratic governance.
The Nigerian Police should be and be seen to be professional, neutral, non- partisan, conscientious and sagacious in their conduct, if they must earn the respect of the people. The Nigerian Police and the Judiciary should resist the allures of being used as anti-democratic institutions to truncate Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy. No doubt every profession has its hazards. If the challenges of a profession do not allow a person to uphold integrity and ethical standards, it is better to quit the job. It is honourable to die for what you know is right than living for the shadow, and the mundane. When money and wealth are lost, nothing is lost but when integrity is lost everything is lost.

Igbiki Benibo

Continue Reading

Opinion

As Nigerians Await Tinubu’s Cabinet Reshuffle…

Published

on

That President Ahmed Bola Tinubu plans to reshuffle his cabinet is no more any secrets. Before now many notable Nigerians, civil society groups, socio-cultural bodies and even Mr President’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have called on the president to weed-out non-performing officials from his government in the face of worsening hardships engendered by poorly conceived and implemented federal government policies. Mr President had himself hinted at heeding the calls when he warned that top government officials whose periodic performance reports turn out poor would be dropped from his government. “If you are performing, nothing to fear. If you miss the objective, we’ll review it. If no performance, you leave us. No one is an island and the buck stops on my desk,” President Tinubu had warned cabinet members and other top government officials, during a three-day retreat last November. Since then, a Central Delivery Coordination Unit headed by Presidential Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, has been established to receive ministerial reports and measure performances. But while the criteria for performance verification and rating remain unknown, no publication has been made by the unit since its inception.
Nearly a year after inauguration, Tinubu’s cabinet remains the same in the face of worsening state of affairs, except for the suspension early this year, of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Minister, Dr Betta Edu, following a financial scandal that so embarrassed the administration. Many had long expected far-reaching measures from President Tinubu to reverse the worsening economic hardships in the country. However, after rising unrests culminated into major nation-wide protests in August, and another billed for October, grapevine sources inside the presidency revealed frantic considerations of the calls for cabinet change. But would Mr President play to the gallery by appearing to yield to popular demands, or has he finally reckoned that rising poverty is pushing the nation towards breaking points, hence the need to re-tool? As lofty as the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ sounded, to many ordinary Nigerians, the reality of the mantra is nothing but abysmal failures.
But having dragged for months, it appears the supposed tonic of cabinet reshuffle poses a hard nut to crack for Mr President, which had set herculean tasks for presidential aides to continuously deny the hushed effort, until presidential spokesperson, Mr Bayo Onanuga, finally acquiesced to the veracity of the rumours. Ever since, the whirling vortex of rumours shifted from it being a possibility, to how soon it comes, much as speculations now brew on who makes or has made the new list, and who gets or got dropped from the current. Intense lobbies said to have been mounted at the presidency may have caused Mr President so much distractions to force him scamper abroad with the unfinished list, on a pretext of going on vacations. The inability of Mr President to make swift changes that quickly respond to urgent challenges reflects the complexity of our system and how sourcing for trusted technocrats, contending with vested interests and the need for political balance, may hamstring a government’s ability to maneuver through troubled times.
It is note-worthy however, that lasting solutions to many of Nigeria’s problems lie much not in cabinet make-ups than in corruption and the lack of sincere, political will to getting problems solved, which situates Mr President at the centre of blames for much of our nation’s current woes. For instance, if Mr President is determined at tackling Nigeria’s major economic failures of recent past, the first consideration should be to critically review the declining performance of the ministry of petroleum resources, which serially became lacklustre since the portfolio got vested on Mr President’s office since from the time of President Mohammadu Buhari in 2007. With the sole heartbeat of Nigeria’s mono-economy entrapped at the very busy office of Mr President, who has no time to over-see the day-to-day affairs of the petroleum sector, yet is so immuned to accountability summons, no one should wonder why the petroleum industry, as well as the Nigerian economy, has degenerated ever since. Coupled with general insecurity, the decline in official petroleum production data since then led to dwindling foriegn exchange, ballooning official debts and the current general inflation.
As for the performance of the ministry of defence, whose past lapses led to the destabilisation of Nigeria’s agricultural sector by bandits, the current momentum at last, against terrorism and banditry, looks encouraging. But while it is worrisome that sources reveal that some saboteurs who fraternise with terrorists also seat in our nation’s high offices, the direct accusation by a sitting governor against no smaller personality than the current minister of state for defence, is an alarm that should not be neglected. Even as the accused denies and reverses the accusation, government should beware that the presence of such controversial figures is a burden to the image of government. Mr President also needs to take serious reviews at the performance short-comings of our nation’s ministry of interior which over-sees law enforcement and compliance establishments. Bedevilled by corruption, inadequate financing and institutional weaknesses, some of these institutions fall short of expectations and reportedly bow most times, to the whims of corruption. The current Bobrisky saga for instance, has put the Nigerian Correctional Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in gloom spotlight, and reflects how badly our institutions may have been compromised.
It is advisable however, that the move to scrap the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry may not be good for ordinary Nigerians who pass through the harshest consequences of the policies of this administration. Even if the ministry faces distrust from many due to years of non-transparent distribution of reliefs worth billions, and from which so many vulnerable Nigerians did not get a dime, Nigerians still desperately in need of bail-outs would prefer a disciplined and better managed public welfare ministry. The current situation in the country requires the collective concentration of all to ensure full recovery. The president should therefore beware of cabinet members who would let themselves be drawn to divisive political grand-standings that not only drain energies needed to restore the economy, but distract the focus of his government at tackling pressing challenges.
So, as Nigeria and Nigerians await President Tinubu reshuffle his cards for another chance at good governance, history beckons on him to set name and good marks, in gold.

Joseph Nwankwor

Continue Reading

Opinion

Adult Delinquency In Public Space

Published

on

Over the years,  the remarks of Konrad Adenuar, (January 6, 1876 – April 1967),  a former Chancellor of Western Germany, that   ”in view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He (God) did not also limit his stupidity”,  has continued to agitate the minds of critics including public affairs analysts. This comment, which put succinctly, highlights God’s unfairness for  supposedly setting definite limit on man’s wisdom (intelligence) but  failed  to set the same limit on man’s stupidity, has  attracted wide spread condemnations from different sects; christians and non christians alike. Similarly, some critics, largely writers, hold the sentiment that society should not concentrate on juvenile delinquency alone but should also be concerned about what some identified as “adult delinquencies” since societal ills,grievious misdemeanors are traceable to adults, some of whom are leaders of thoughts occuping high offices.
Nigeria is replete with gutter Languages in public spaces deserving of concern and attention. One classic example is the recent outburst of Senator Adams Oshomhole, a former Governor of Edo State. It would be recalled that Senator Adams Oshomhole referred to the wife of the Governor of Edo State, Mrs Betsy  Obaseki, as a barren woman.Truly, it could be said that Mrs Betsy Obaseki  stoc the crisis when she referred to the governorship aspirant of All Progressive Congress (APC) Monday Okpebholo, as  a man without a wife. Political campaigns should be undertaken or conducted to discuss  issues and not insults to  enable the electorate choose a credible leader who can provide solutions to societal challenges. No doubt, it is regrettable that a former labour leader, governor and now a serving Senator, Adams Aliya Oshomhole, considered as  highly experienced to exhibit civility, maturity and superior acumen in a challenging situation such as this, particularly when viewed against the backdrop that the comrade- senator was not  speaking at a political rally ground.
Recently, the West, particularly Europe, is returning artefacts stolen from ancient Benin Kingdom more than a century and thirty years ago which politicians can discuss with respect to diversifying the economy as well as provide solutions to numerous difficulties facing Edo State and Nigeria at large.Worse still, can any parent boast of having or rearing children by his or her self as  to scorn an expectant family?. In the same way, the German statesman Konrad Adenuar cited above once  noted: “History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided”. For instance, the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru El-Rufai, once told foreign powers planning to interfere into the 2019 general election to  jettison the plan otherwise they would  leave in body bags.’Body Bag!’.
The expression “leave in body bags”,  is not befitting of a serving governor in all ramifications. As if that was not enough, the current Senate President and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State Senator Godswill Akpabio, referred to the contribution of a fellow law maker Natasha Akpoti Uduaghau as a “Night Club Comment”.This was another sad commentary and bad public communication made by a public office holder of equal ranking with a fellow colleague, because all senators are equal and therefore, the remarks by Senator Akpabio was regrettable even though he had apologized for his unfortunate outburst. Denigration of any sort should not be an option in pilloring the women folk in public places.
In fact, elder statesman, Pa. Edwin Clark, recently  called on the Inspector of Police and President Tinubu to arrest the minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, for saying he (Wike ) will put fire in the states of PDP governors and officials who want to interfer with his political structures in Rivers State.To put fire is ambiquous and has frightening implications. The Bible is apt and ever correct when in proverbs 15:1 noted that “Soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger”. The remarks cited above traceable to public officials and leaders  in public spaces  show pride, selfishness, arrogance and are capable of igniting crisis, if not nibbed  in the bud. In addition to the provision of infrastructure, elected leaders must learn the acts of engaging in public communication, speaking life and not hate speach to build society for the better.Jesus Christ speaks in John 6:63 thus: “The words I speak they are Life and Spirit”.
It is instructive to observe that before David killed Goliath in it is recorded in 1st Samuel Chapter 17:24 – 45, that Goliath was very insultive, boastful, denigrating the army of Israel at the battle field before a non-soldier in the person of David over powered him- Goliath. Pride, they say, goes before the fall of man. This is why leaders in positions of trust should retrace their steps and be mindful of the words they speak and transmit in communicating with the electorate,fellow polititicians or their party members to engender peace in the polity and promote peaceful co-existence in Rivers State and Nigeria at large. The time to act is now.

Baridorn Sika
Sika, is a public affairs analyst.

Continue Reading

Trending