BEVERLY HILLS, January 16, (THEWILL) – Some players in the Nigerian broadcast sector under the auspices of Directorate of iREP Documentary Film Forum have slammed the Economic and Finantial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over the “untidy manner” it is probing the Director-General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Mr. Emeka Mba over a purported N15bn fraud, stressing that contrary to the sensationalism in the media, no money is missing in the commission.
The group in a statement forwarded to THEWILL warned the anti-graft agency against “using this curious case of ‘fraud’ involving the NBC boss” to compromise the 2017 deadline for the proposed full migration of the Nigerian broadcast industry to the digital platform. This was as it noted that the country had missed two deadlines of 2012 and 2015 and expressed fears that the ongoing case may cost Nigeria the 2017 deadline.
While claiming that the so-called missing amount is securely placed in a bank as collateral for an ongoing project of the commission, the media group explained that “the placement of the said money in the commercial bank was done before the TSA policy of the federal government came into effect.
“Upon introduction of the TSA policy, the management of the NBC began the process of returning the money into the Central Bank vault as required.”
“As a matter of fact, every and all amounts leftover in the MTN Lease fees was transferred to the TSA, following introduction of the policy.”
“The management of the NBC indeed wrote a letter to office of the President to notify him of its action concerning the TSA operation.”
“Those selected in the bidding process for the DSO were appointed based on their stated and proven capabilities.”
“After the bidding and selection process, the appointed manufacturers of the decoders had insisted on the NBC guaranteeing the loan they were obtaining from the banks to procure the equipment.”
“It is well known fact that the federal government policy was committed to granting subsidy to the STB manufacturers and that was what the NBC paid out.”
“The entire process of selecting the STB manufacturers was transparent and in accordance with necessary approvals. In all, 13 manufacturers bidded in the process, and it took between 8 and 12 months of a very rigorous process to finally select the winners.”
“The NBC-adopted process has been universally hailed and commended by the Commonwealth Telecoms Union (CTU), which has thus recommended it as a model to be adopted by other African and Commonwealth countries in overcoming their DSO challenges.
“That it was the success of the NBC model that commended the DG, Mr. Mba for the award of the African Broadcast Regulator of the year award – some three weeks before his curious ordeal began.”
Regretting that EFCC has in the course of the investigation compromised the sanctity of facts and fed the public with half-truths and false impressions, the broadcasters warned that the current trial of the DG of NBC based an obvious spurious petition by some disgruntled stakeholder could lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs by Nigerians who are already engaged in the manufacturing processes.
It listed other consequences of the trial to include “loss of investment by the participants in the DSO project as many of them have already committed huge sums of money in sourcing equipment and parts of the materials that would be needed for the manufacturing of the decoders
“Adverse impact on the agenda of the federal government for overall national economic growth, having regard to investor confidence in government reforms and the need to mobilise private sector funding.
“The undermining of the expressed desire of the government to empower the youths and encourage free expression within that vital segment of the society.
“Wrong signals being sent to public servants on the need to innovate and be creative, within proper procedure, in the implementation of policies and the promotion of sectora growth.
The forum in the statement signed by Ilemakin Soyinka, Femi Odugbemi
And Jahman Anikulapo further insisted that Mba’s travails has the potential to discourage good, quality professionals from accepting public sector appointments, where their talent, skills, patriotism and commitment are in dire need at the moment.
According to the statement, “In addition to the foregoing, we are specifically worried that an improper handling of the investigation or the prosecution of a collateral motive to the stated anti-corruption objective of the case could have unintended adverse consequences for the broadcast media industry. In this regard, the following points should be stressed.
“Transition to digitisation is a very expensive venture, it requires a lot of money, which the government could not provide; the head of the NBC had been innovative and proactive in sourcing the funds, however it would seem that rather than appreciation, he is being hounded for his deployment of creativity to bail out the country.
“To realise the full potentials of digitisation, especially to benefit a huge number of the citizenry, decoders have to be manufactured locally, and made affordable. And this is what the DSO project of the NBC had embarked on through a creative approach. The current case may jeopardise the dream and kill the project altogether.
“We reckon that Mr. Emeka Mba’s intervention has been to be creative in getting the decoders manufactured locally. As a matter of fact, the need for a critical and successful handling of the transition to digitisation was one of the reasons why he was brought in to manage the process through his headship of the NBC. This is to draw on his success story at turning around the fortune of the National Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB, where he had held forte as Director General.
“We appeal that the Federal Government should be circumspect in taking actions that could derail the ongoing journey of Nigeria’s broadcast sector to full digitalization by the 2017 deadline.
“Already the journey has been tortorous, leading to two derailments already. 2017 deadline must be realised but it’s realisation could be frustrated by actions such as have been embarked upon by these negative forces.
“The Digital switchover offers immediate expansion in job creation in the broadcast industry, increase in revenues derivable from broadcast operations, improved content creation, and expansion in small scale industries that serve the bigger creative industries like Nollywood. And with over 37 million television sets in Nigerian homes, the economy of television broadcasting in Nigeria would be worth billions of Naira. It is a win-win for the federal government as the regulator but especially so for serious media entrepreneurs whose broadcast licenses can finally mean more to Nigerians beyond selling over-priced airtime slots to advertisers. The projected earnings from subscriptions to programming alone will run into billions of Naira.
“With these advantages, one could ask why has Nigeria not been committed to realising the transition – missing two deadlines in the process, even when tiny Rwanda, which does not have half the resources at disposal of Nigeria, has been able to successfully complete the process. The answer is both simple and complex. Whereas government gave approvals for the plans and issued all the necessary right statements to drive its vision, it never allocated the necessary funds to kickstart the plans, While the TV stations played along and understood the ticking timelines and deadlines of the DSO, the investment in digital transmitters and equipment plus the content acquisition or production plan to fill the increased programming offering in a broadband capacity did not happen.
“The NBC plan under Mr Mba had been to circumvent these apparent lack of commitment from both the government and the TV owners by bringing in investors who will be willing to take the risk, and this move had been one vital factor that restored confidence in the project, and set Nigeria back on the path of realising the seeming perennially troubled project. Mr. Mba’s current travails for a supposed offence that is yet to be established really could wipe off all the gains that had been made in past two years since he became head of the NBC; and more significantly it could seal the fate of the project altogether.”
The forum listed its requests to include:
* We call on the EFCC to clarify rather than befuddle the case against Mr. Mba, by stopping the Media trial which gives the wrong impression.
* If there are other issues for which Mr. Mba is being tried, other than those relating to administrative matters stated above, this should be made clear to the public and the seriousness of any potential crime be defined as a justification for the long-winded nature of interrogation and long spell of detention to which he has been subjected for some time now.”
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