Broadcasting
Pat Utomi to Deliver ABS 30th Anniversary Lecture
Professor Pat Utomi, founder of The Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL), and co-founder of the Pan African University will deliver the 30th anniversary lecture of The Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) on the 4th of March 2014 at the Women Development Centre, Awka.
The theme of the lecture is ‘The Media, Politics and National development’. The anniversary lecture is one of the many activities planned by the ABS to commemorate its 30th anniversary.
Mr. Uche Nworah, the MD/CEO of the Anambra Broadcasting Service disclosed this to newsmen at a press conference in Awka.
According to him, “We are delighted to be rolling out the drums to celebrate our 30 years of broadcasting excellence. This coming in the year that Nigeria will be switching to digital broadcasting makes it all the more exciting as ABS is also on course for full digitisation”.
“Recall that the state governor, Chief Willie Obiano had in September 2014 awarded a N728 million contract for the digitisation and modernisation of ABS radio and television”, Nworah concluded.
Among the 30th anniversary activities planned by the ABS include the 30th anniversary quarterly raffle draw with a Kia Rio car as the grand prize.
Other prizes to be won include TV sets, refrigerators, generating sets, washing machines, smart phones plus other consolation prizes.
A solidarity thank you tour of all the 21 local government areas in Anambra state, the Miss Anambra beauty pageant holding on October 30, 2015, the Anambra Beauty & Make-Up fair holding on April 19 2015and the ABS Excellence Awards scheduled for December 22, 2015 are among the activities listed in the ABS 2015 events calendar made available to newsmen.
The Honourable Commissioner for Information, Culture & Tourism in Anambra state, Chief Tony Onyima remarked that “the ABS is a strategic government institution.
The Willie Obiano administration will continue to support the organisation to carry out their mandate of educating, informing and entertaining Ndi Anambra at home and in the diaspora”.
The Anambra Broadcasting Service came into being through Edict No.6 of 1985 which was gazetted on the 14th of March 1985. It operates an FM station (88.5) and a TV station (Channel 27) in Awka, and an FM station (90.7) and a TV station (Channel 27) in Onitsha.
The station has produced notable broadcasters including Pete Edochie, Boniface Offorkaja, Rosemary Azinge, Chuzi Iboko, Paddy Eke, Ngozi Ibegbu, Henry Omereye and so on.
Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) has established six committees to help strengthen and modernize the country’s broadcasting industry.
The committees will focus on content creation, skills development, digital transformation, sustainability, policy and commercial opportunities
The initiative aims to support industry growth and improve collaboration between broadcasters, regulators and media experts
The official launch recently, was led by Tony Akiotu, president, BON and attended by media professionals, program directors, former journalists and heads of specialized media organizations.
The event brought together several prominent figures in Nigeria’s media industry, including veteran broadcaster and trainer Bimbo Oloyede, Tony Uyah of M4S TV, Kingsley Uranta of Channels Television, Ismael Sani of Platinum TV and Ibrahim Shehu of Trust TV.
Together, they are expected to help drive innovation and support the growth of Nigeria’s broadcasting sector.
According to Akiotu, the committees are intended both to help shape industry policy and to provide a forum for dialogue between BON and broadcasting experts.
Akiotu said the ad hoc committees were intended to strengthen BON’s work and ensure that the umbrella body for Nigeria’s broadcasters played a more direct and meaningful role in developing the country’s broadcasting sector.
The six committees reflect the sector’s main priorities. The first focuses on collaboration and innovation to promote content creation.
The second is dedicated to training and talent development, while the third focuses on industry sustainability by improving the sector’s long-term financial viability.
A fourth committee will focus on digital transformation and work with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on regulatory issues.
The remaining two committees will oversee public policy advocacy and the development of sports and commercial rights to help broadcasters increase revenue and attract more investment. Together, the committees are expected to guide BON’s efforts to modernize and strengthen Nigeria’s broadcasting industry.
The committees, chaired by members of BON’s General Assembly and supported by the organization’s Secretariat, have an initial 12-month mandate that may be renewed if necessary.
They are required to submit a progress report within three months and implement approved recommendations within the following six months.
The arrangement is intended to ensure close oversight and the timely implementation of their work.
Akiotu also reminded committee members that Nigeria pioneered television broadcasting in Africa and urged them to carry out their work with greater effectiveness and efficiency.
Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) says it is investigating about 34 tertiary institutions over allegations that they failed to refund students whose tuition fees were paid twice under the Federal Government’s student loan scheme.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this during an interview on Arise Television.
Sawyerr said the agency had deployed a five-member investigative team, including operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and internal auditors, to examine the allegations.
According to him, the investigation was prompted by numerous complaints received from affected students.
“As of right now, there are 34 institutions that we are looking at closely with respect to this issue,” he said.
Sawyerr explained that the double payment issue arose because President Bola Tinubu directed that the student loan scheme commence in the middle of an academic session instead of at the beginning.
He said the decision compelled many students to pay their tuition fees to meet registration deadlines while awaiting approval of their loan applications.
“What happened is that a lot of schools got double payment; some from the students and some from us,” he said.
“The refund process is entirely out of our hands. It is the recipient of the double payments that is obliged to make refunds to the students.”
The NELFUND boss noted that many students had borrowed money from family members, friends and other sources to pay their tuition with the expectation of receiving refunds once the loans were disbursed.
He said while some institutions had promptly refunded affected students, others had failed to do so.
“Some have been very good at this. Others haven’t been so good at it,” Sawyerr said.
“I reserve judgement on the intentionality around it because, for some of them, they just didn’t have the process to make refunds.”
Sawyerr disclosed that NELFUND was exploring a tokenised payment system that would enable students to authorise tuition payments directly to their institutions, thereby reducing the likelihood of duplicate payments.
He said the agency deliberately chose not to disburse tuition loans directly to students to minimise the risk of fund diversion.
“Paying the funds to the students could really lead to the temptation for them to divert and do other things,” he said.
The managing director, however, acknowledged that NELFUND lacked the statutory powers to compel institutions to refund students or prosecute officials found culpable.
He added that many frustrated students had submitted complaints not only to NELFUND but also to anti-corruption agencies, including the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Sawyerr also expressed concern over increases in tuition fees by some institutions following the introduction of the student loan scheme.
He said NELFUND had declined to pay institutions that increased their tuition fees beyond acceptable levels.
“Some schools, because they get paid easily, started to put up their fees. We refused, point blank, to pay institutions who had hiked their fees beyond a certain level,” he said.
He reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to investigating every reported irregularity and strengthening the implementation of the student loan programme through continuous monitoring and internal reviews.
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