Ahmed Abdulkadir is the Maiduguri Zonal Director of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). Owing to insurgency in the zone, the zonal headquarters had to shift base to Gombe. In this interview with IBRAHIM RAMALAN, Abdulkadir speaks, among others, on how easy it could be for the NBC to yank off a station at a breach of broadcast regulations after digitization come June 2017.
Could you tell us briefly about yourself sir?
What a question! Well, I could begin by saying that I actually didn’t start my career in the broadcast industry. When I graduated I started teaching English language and literature in a secondary school for about 8 years before I joined Katsina State Television as a Current Affairs Officer. I could recall how I rose from a Reporter, News Editor and to the position of Manager News before I joined the NBC in 2000 as a Chief Public Affairs Officer.
I spent 3 and a half years in NBC before late President Umar Musa Yar’adua appointed me as the General Manager, Katsina State Television Authority. That was how I went on second-ment from the NBC and was there for 2 and a half years before I returned to NBC to continue my career.
Luckily, upon my return to Commission, I was made the acting Public Affairs Officer and served for one year before I was posted as the Zonal Director of Kaduna Zone of the Commission. I spent 4 years there and then went on to Sokoto Zone for another 2 years. From Sokoto I was posted to Maiduguri Zone where I currently am.
You have been around broadcast journalism for quite some sir. What would be your assessment over the years?
Well, I would say that there has been a tremendous improvement in the broadcast industry, especially since the sector was deregulated in 1992. Before the deregulation, I could remember that there were only government broadcast stations at state and federal levels, but now there are so many privately owned broadcast media outfits. So with that, I would say that a lot of improvements have been coming into the industry.
What about in terms of deepening democracy?
Wart and all, I believe broadcast industry in the country has helped a lot in deepening democracy, because people are now more enlightened and are always given opportunities to express themselves, their political and social views through the broadcast media.
Now, having served in the two capacities: as broadcast journalist and a regulator, where do you think is the nexus?
Ideally, the two are two sides of the same coin: a broadcast practitioner and a regulator of such practice. However, I think for one to be a competent regulator one has to have requisite experience in the broadcast practice. Because one needs to know what broadcast content entails before one could regulate it based on the government accepted broadcasting code.
Why is it there that there has always been a regulatory crisis between NBC and broadcast stations?
Well, human beings are always like that. Whatever rules that is put across, they would always break them. Whenever human being is involved, he tends to break laws and if you don’t put in checks and balances, you would be in trouble as a regulator. So in every country of the world you would always find broadcast stations always breaking the rules and their regulators always punishing them, and this country is no exception. And by putting in place organizations like the NBC, these excesses could be curtailed, and in that process, crisis is bound to ensue.
Sir, how can you put the NBC in a futuristic perspective, especially with digitization around the corner?
I believe NBC in the years to come will become one of the robust broadcast regulatory agencies in the world, especially with the digitization of the sector. The commission is going to experience a boost in its activities because the numbers of stations currently being monitored are likely going to double. One single channel is likely to multiply up to 20 times. So by implication, there is likely going to be more stations, and the commission is going to grow bigger to be able to monitor the stations and regulate them.
What is the Level of compliance of broadcast stations to digitize their stations ahead of June 2017?
They are really complying. Let me tell boldly that stations will have to comply, otherwise the sanction would be severer. However, as at this moment, it is a bit difficult to punish a station because NBC has to follow a longer process, but after digitization, there is going to be a signal distributers that are going to carry the signals of all the stations. So it would be very easy to yank off a station at a breach of broadcast regulations. So by that time, stations would have no option but to comply.
Your appeal to the broadcast stations sir
We in NBC always appeal to the broadcast stations to be compliant by following the rules and regulations of the commission so that the country as a whole would be a better place for all of us.
