Issues
Mainstreaming Broadcast Media In Educational Dev
According to the former Premier of Western Region of Nigeria and Asiwaju of Remo, Chief Obafemi Awolowo while speaking at the official opening ceremony of Western Nigeria Television at Parliament Building Ibadan in 1959, “Television will serve as a teacher and entertainer and as a stimulus to us all to transform Nigeria into a modern and prosperous nation.”
Awolowo pointed out that the aim of his government was to bring information about Nigeria and the outside world into people’s homes so that they might benefit from the knowledge.
As if that was not enough, he emphasized that the venture was initiated because the regional Government was convinced that it could play a major role in increasing both the pace and standard of education which was regarded as the key to progress in all other fields.
A critical examination of Chief Awolowo’s address, 61 years ago, shows due emphasis on the use of broadcast media in this case, television, to clearly serve as a teacher and promote the standard of education in addition to carrying out its traditional roles of creating awareness on government policies and programmes as well as its watchdog function, among others.
It is also inspiring to note that earlier in history, the pioneer General Manager of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Sir Lord Reith, while inaugurating the BBC Empire Service which later transformed to BBC World Service said the radio would become a connecting and coordinating link between the scattered parts of the British Empire and the home government in the United Kingdom.
This, again, is another clear thought-out road map to the use of radio broadcasting to serve its audience even to the educational development of citizens.
To this end, credit must be accorded some public sector broadcast outfits that had in the past used their platform to serve as instructional aid for direct teaching of subjects such as Mathematics and English Language offered in the General Certificate of Education Examination (GCE), WAEC and JAMB.
It is on record that NTA Channel 10 Port Harcourt, in the mid 1980s, had airtime allocated to the teaching of Mathematics while Radio Rivers 99.1 FM had a programme tagged English by Radio for the teaching of English Grammar.
This is not to undermine the programming of other radio and television stations across the country tailored to meet the educational needs of learners.
One thing is clear: scholars have posited in history that electronic media (radio and television) have removed the barrier of physical presence, walls of building and place in the process of acquiring knowledge.
In his book entitled No Sense of Place, Professor Joshua Meyrowitz of the University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA, himself demonstrated and eulogized how television has aided human communication and information dissemination with others without meeting in a place.
Accordingly, Meyrowitz, who was the winner of the 1986 Best Book on Electronic Media Award, noted that the physical structure that once divided our society into many distinct spatial settings for interaction has been reduced in social significance.
Better still, it is instructive to appreciate the fact that electronic media, long before the advent of social media, had been adopted to disseminate information to heterogeneous audience simultaneously.
It is therefore expedient to fully utilize the potentials of broadcasting media, radio and television in particular, during COVID pandemic era over virtual, e-learning or online learning platforms for teaching and learning in public schools across the nation.
It is common knowledge that Coronavirus, popularly referred to as COVID-19 pandemic has posed great challenges to nations across the world. Even nations with acclaimed best healthcare systems have been brought to their knees with businesses forced to close down, leading to sudden economic meltdown.
The education subsector of the global economy is equally affected as schools- basic, high schools and tertiary institutions alike are still under lock and key; jobs were lost and death toll increasing accordingly.
Examples abound of nations that reopened schools but were forced to close due to upsurge in statistics of casualties while some nations are observing a second wave of COVID-19 outbreak.
Unfortunately, no universally acceptable vaccine or drug has been discovered.
In Nigeria, for instance, high schools have reopened for candidates to write exit examinations and this is ongoing throughout the country.
It is still in doubt when all classes will resume studies nationwide.
It is truly a hard time worldwide as people and nations are living with conditions hitherto considered as abnormal and this is referred to as the “New Normal”.
The New Normal was a situation during the era of the great depression of the 1930s and financial crisis of 2008 where people lived in tempting environment hitherto not envisaged.
To maintain social and physical distancing, the use of virtual, e-learning or online learning have been clamoured by many to enable learners resume studies.
No doubt, virtual learning and other electronic devices and platforms are required in the new normal to save lives and undertake business transactions.
However, virtual learning cannot address educational needs of the critical mass of school-age children in an underdeveloped economy such as Nigeria.
For instance, the 2015 National Educational Development Survey (NEDS), there are over eleven million out-of-school children in Nigeria for which Rivers State alone accounted for 110,654 children.
This is why the Federal Government, World Bank and state Government are collaborating to mop-up out-of-school children under the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDSA) initiative.
The number of out-of-school children per state based on 2015 NEDS is as follows:
Kano 1,307,106; Borno 1,229,425; Katsina 1,135,379; Bauchi 1,031,524; Sokoto 925,621; Kebbi 814,945; Zamfara 802,049; Jigawa 764,586; Kaduna 727,766; Yobe 658,770; Niger 513,693; Gombe 453,030; Taraba 285,767; Oyo 272,847; Adamawa 239,564; Rivers 110,654; and Ebonyi 52,759.
Accordingly, 17 states are leading on the chart of out-of-school children with Kano, Borno and Katsina occupying first, second and third places, in millions while Adamawa, Rivers and Ebonyi are occupying 15th, 16th and 17th positions with respect to out-of-school children in their thousands.
Consequently, the use of virtual learning cannot address this emergency and tragedy when states are battling to reduce the gap.
Worse still, the data required to undertake the virtual learning is cost- intensive when compared to competing basic needs of life such as feeding, medicare, housing and clothing.
At this juncture, it is adviceable for governments, at all levels to return to their first love, which is the use of traditional media, considering the demographics of learners in question.
It is therefore not only elitist but a harbinger of gross insensivity to advocate virtual learning in post COVID-19 Nigeria when open air radio and television stations can address the inbalance.
The time to act is now!
Sika is a public affairs analyst.
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
