Moles allegedly planted by the former Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Emeka Mba are leaving no stone unturned to rubbish the rising profile of the current DG, Ishaq Modibbo Kawu.
Reliable sources at NBC squealed that Kawu who has been in the fore front of ensuring a smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcast in the country had to contend with forces within the agency to achieve his dreams
For instance, the moles said to have been beclouded by ethnic sentiments had worked against all laudable plans conceived within the agency to ensure a smooth Digital Switch Over (DSO).
‘’ Yes I can tell you that Modibbo is not given to ethnic jingoism and that is why he’s been able to work with different people irrespective of tribe and background but some of these people are taking this for granted, what they do is to work against the interest of the country, we all know that Modibbo is a man of integrity who does not compromise standard but these moles have continuously frustrated his efforts. I think the right thing to do is for him to flush out these moles and this requires the support of the federal government” An insider who craved for anonymity informed this medium.
Those in the know have commended the new DG for working with the people Mba left behind although it is clear that he is doing this against good advise from well meaning Nigerians that he should change most of them.
“Mallam Kawu is a gentleman. He thought he could work with the team he met on ground. But now, they have shown to be vigorously working against the interest of the country. I hope the wool over his eyes have been removed and he will now make some changes to the Mba team that continues daily to work at cross purposes with him”
“the former DG jettisoned the clear and unambiguous policy of the Federal Government contained in the White Paper for the digital transition, introduced alien licenses and entities into the DSO chain with a view to creaming revenue into private pockets and deny the logical and legal licensees of rights and benefits all in an effort to scuttle the entire process and give advantage to illegal entities and one or two set top box manufacturers who continue to ferry the boxes without any form of accountability despite collecting amounts in excess of N13Billion from NBC.” Mba is reputed to have backdated the license issued to GoTV for personal pecuniary gain after collecting N2Billion for a license worth N10Billion.
Allegations are also rife that ITS may be converting digital exciters from old and obsolete equipment for use in the signal carriage process, a situation that may shortchange unsuspecting Nigerians and which the NBC must checkmate, if found to be true. Durability and reliability of equipment deployed remains critical to consumer confidence.
Our source congratulated the House of Representatives and its sub-committee on the DSO for the very revealing public hearing. Our source states “the public hearing by the sub-committee in house of reps showed that the switch over will continue to be a mirage unless and until things are righted and certain stakeholders kicked out of the DSO process.” However a quick conclusion and submission of the sub committee’s report will help sanitize the DSO process.
The source said that “any plan to remove the illegal entities created by Emeka will be seriously resisted as Emeka, his business partners and selected staff in NBC continue to rake in millions on a daily basis from the anomaly at the expense of the critical investors in the DSO.”
Malam Kawu has been very circumspect in his decision making but also appears to be too slow, given that he has already been in the office for a period of over one year with very little progress in turning things around for the DSO and the good of teeming Nigerians.
He needs to now take the bull by the horns as time is not on his side. This is the only way that the DSO process can be achieved in the shortest possible timeline
Those close to Kawu are perturbed that the reputation he built in the media industry may be tainted by these moles if necessary action is not taken.
He holds a Bachelors degree in Mass Communication and Masters degree in Political Science has deep and varied experience, having reported for Radio Nigeria, Radio France International, Radio Netherlands and BBC World Service.
He was one of the pioneer staff of Radio Kwara, pioneer general manager of Kwara State Television Authority and editor of Daily Trust Newspaper. He was later appointed chairman of the Daily Trust Editorial Board.
Before he was appointed DG NBC he was the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Abuja-based Word, Sound and Vision (WSV) Multimedia Limited, a media outfit that cuts across print, radio and television.
