‘UNILAG’s application for pure broadcasting precedes the establishment of NBC’

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has brazed trails in a number of ways, chief among which is the institution’s position as first Nigerian university to obtain broadcasting licence from the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC). UNILAG’s broadcasting Odyssey started with Nothingcasting to Narrowcasting and now Broadcasting; from Radio to Television, as explained by Professor Ralph Akinfeleye. The institution was instrumental in the struggle to deregulate Nigeria’s airways, as government in 1992 signed the deregulation policy. The deregulation policy was designed to stop the monopoly of the airways by the government, hitherto before 1992, the radio and television were run 100 percent by government both at the federal and state levels.

In this interview, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye of Mass Communication Department, who spearheaded the fight that yielded both the Radio and Television licences for UNILAG, narrates to Osa Victor Obayagbona, Assistant News Editor, the long journey that led to these groundbreaking achievements. Excerpt:

Sir, as a catalyst for campus journalism, what is your drive for campus journalism?

I attended the University of Missouri School of Journalism, which is the first school of journalism in the world that awards Bachelor Degree in journalism.

After my studies I returned to Nigeria. Then I was appointed at the University of Lagos as the Director, Station Manager for UNILAG’s Linking FM. When I was employed, Professor Okpobo was our Head of Department (HoD) and I told them that I didn’t see anything in broadcasting. The print was doing fine. We had a print shop, and I told him there was need for us to let our students understand the other side of journalism – that is, radio and television. So, I told him at that time that it was important that we do it very fast.

Tell us how UNILAG got its radio licence?

Immediately, we started the processing for the radio. After my intervention with Professor Okpobo, we were able to move up from ‘Nothingcasting’ to ‘Narrowcasting.’ Narrowcasting was within our office, and we were just playing with ourselves and that was not all right with me as a graduate of Missouri. That was when we now decided to go into broadcasting, and then we applied.

The journey started with Nothingcasting to Narrowcasting, and now to Broadcasting. You can see how we have moved. So, we are proud to have the licence, and then the minister of information and the then director of Federal Radio Cooperation of Nigeria (FRCN), Dr. Christopher Kolade, supported us.

He was coming here to teach part-time, and every succeeding government – military or civilian – said no that they won’t give any licence to any university to operate a radio station, and we also were unable to move because there was no National Policy on broadcasting, especially in 1992 under the Ministry of Information. However, with the support of Prince Tony Momoh, who became the minister of information, all the heads both in the industry and the university were summoned to formulate a National Policy on Information and Communication.

We were able to do that successfully and passed it to the government, and the government in their own wisdom in 1992 signed the deregulation policy. Deregulation policy is to stop the monopoly of the airways by the government, hitherto before 1992, the radio and television were run 100 percent by government, either the federal or the state level.

Whether you like it or not, in 1992 former head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, signed the deregulation policy. That was what gave birth to AIT and also Radio UNILAG. How did we pursue it? Every government would say no, your university students would use it for aluta, they will not be able to manage it well.

So, we kept on applying. In fact, some of my colleagues said to me, Ralph you are wasting your time, this government, they will not give it to you. So, in Obasanjo’s first coming we applied they didn’t give it to us during the military then, but when he came back as civilian we applied again. It took us over 20 years.

In fact, our application precedes the establishment of the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). Eventually in 2002, we were lucky to have the director-general of the NBC, Danladi Bako, who was a graduate of this place, UNILAG, I taught him 1981 – 1982.

I said, Danladi help us. So, one afternoon in 2002, Danladi just called me. He said, “Prof! Breaking News – I said what’s the breaking news? He said the President, Olusegun Obasanjo had just signed our licence.

I asked how he did it. He said he (Obasanjo) called him for something else and that for Obasanjo you have to read him like a book to know when he’s happy and when he’s not happy.

So, that time he told me that Obasanjo was in the best mood. After discussing with him he came back and said to him, “Your Excellency Sir, this issue of UNILAG Radio has been here for a long time. You know I’m not from the South and I think that we should do it sir.”

Obasanjo told Danladi that if government gives approval to UNILAG Radio, they would use it to abuse him. But Danladi said, “No Sir, they will not use it to abuse you Sir. NBC has the machine. If they are doing anything against the government that is not professional we don’t need to come to Akoka. We will just press one button and they will just go off the air.”

Obasanjo said, “You have that. Bring it let me sign it.” So, that was how Obasanjo signed our licence for Radio UNILAG.

I quickly went to the Vice Chancellor. Sir, breaking news. Our application has been signed by President Obasanjo. The VC was very happy. The VC asked what we needed to do. I said, looking at President Obasanjo, he fluctuates like the naira. He may change his mind tomorrow.

I said what we need to do was to call a world press conference to address the press. So, he drafted the world press conference and luckily for us that time, Atoyebi, who was a former student of UNILAG, was the director-general of the FRCN. They had a mast that they were not using, so, I called him and said, “Please, can you give us this mast as part of your donation to our radio station. We have just gotten approval.”

He said, “Yes Sir. No problem.” So, I wrote, and after thanking the Federal Government and President Obasanjo, I said in pursuance of the approval, the government had directed the FRCN to donate an equipment for us to start.

So, we addressed the world press conference and then later on, we backed it up with a letter of appreciation to the President. The approval came 2002, but we needed also to get frequency. We didn’t get frequency until 2004, because they were telling us no spectrum in Lagos. We had to go through the National Communications Commission (NCC), and eventually we were given frequency. They gave us a frequency that was jamming another station. We lived with this for almost six months, but later on they helped us streamline it.

During that period we were jamming other stations, we were so close -103.5, 103.3 and 103.1, eventually they were able to separate us from that jam jam and we started our broadcasting in 2004. The radio was commissioned by the Vice President Atiku Abubakar. He came to this campus to launch it. We then became the first campus station in Nigerian universities.

What is of interest to us is that we have to thank the NBC. They could have said “no, don’t give it to any university, they will abuse it, but the NBC said they would be used to impact fully and for their practical. As a baby of the NBC, they helped us get started and we have been very successful to the extent that today at the last meeting we held, I formed the Association of Campus Radios in Nigeria (ACRN).

How has the journey been for campus radios in Nigeria?

We met recently in Ibadan, and instead of UNILAG Radio alone we had 50 radio stations in Nigerian universities, polytechnics and monotechnics and similar institutions, and they don’t have to wait for 25 years, as the road had been cleared for them. So, the NBC is the regulatory body, but sometimes over regulate. After approval was given, they told us to pay a licence fee of N10 million.

We had to write Danladi that we are an educational station, and don’t have such money, kindly give us a waiver. Danladi also responded, and they gave us a waiver for N1 million for renewal of our licence every five years, instead of N10 million.

It is that N1 million that was approved for UNILAG that other universities are benefitting from. They didn’t know the history of how we were able to get that one. So, because we have been so successful, NBC has been happy about it.

Tell us about your television licence?

When we got the radio licence, I said we needed to apply for the television licence. It was not easy, but I told the Vice Chancellor and he said that would be good idea. But, in applying for television it is capital intensive. I saw an advertisement in the paper by the World Bank.

They were asking for the establishment of a centre of excellence where you can learn journalism in this country. I applied. They asked me to bring eight materials from the university; the charter – the Act establishing the University of Lagos, the audited report of the past three years and 10-year strategic plan. I was not sure whether the university would give me, so I ran to the VC, Professor Odugbemi. He was here in 2012 or there about. Before I left his office he called the school’s bursar to tell him I was coming for something, so they released the documents.

They gave me, and we supported it with our application together with my colleagues. Dr. Tayo Popoola was part of them with Dr. Okoye. We formulated the proposal and sent it to the World Bank. Eventually, by October 2013, they invited us to Abuja to make presentation.

They said we should work with some universities and polytechnics. We invited University of Nigeria (UNN), Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), and American University in Nigeria to work with us.

Suddenly, they disappeared and we appeared in Abuja to meet them as our competitors. In fact, they called them before us, as UNILAG was the last to be called. UNILAG made its presentation before the World Bank. We were working with the Ministries of Information, Education, National Planning, Finance and National Universities Commission, and the World Bank. We made our presentation and they asked questions.

After a long time, they just called us and said, “We are sorry, UNILAG did not make it.”

What followed?

I have been working with United Nations agencies. I spent my sabbatical at the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) as country communication specialist, and I have worked with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), so, I know the system. I know the linkage.

We sent a letter to the headquarters of World Bank and the UN telling them that we applied for this project, and they told us we would get response in two weeks’ time and that now somebody called us from Abuja that we didn’t make it.

What I want sent to me was the universities and polytechnics that got it and the ranking so that I would be able to report to my Vice Chancellor who had given me the material. You know, the white people are very nice. They just sent to me three assessors – the first assessor gave us 85, the second one gave us 84, our lowest mark was 82.

They asked, “Who says UNILAG did not make it. We are surprised.”

I quickly ran to the VC, telling him about the local politics and international politics. Eventually, we knew that we got it. Somebody now called me from Abuja and said I should come to Abuja, and when coming I should come alone. I told my colleagues, see this information, shall we go?

I said I was not going to go alone; I am going to go with the two of you. I’m not going to go at a time when they are going to be expecting us. We will go at a time they will not be expecting us.

We will just go to Abuja and phoned them that we are the UNILAG crew that we were going to be coming down in two days’ time, so, after few hours, we would knock and just go in. They said wow! That was a good strategy and they all agreed to that.

On that Friday that we were going, the Federal Government dissolved cabinet – new minister of information, new minister of budget and planning, new minister of works, new minister of education.

They all came in so, we didn’t have to go to Abuja anymore. So, at the end of the day, the new minister had a meeting with the minister of education who thought why would it be UNILAG? The project will cost $5 million, a total of N5 billion, so, they said we should partner the University of Jos and NFI.

I said were where they? Couldn’t they see when the advertisement was published in the paper? Why couldn’t they apply? I said I’m sorry I cannot work with them. Let them wait until there’s another chance.

I told the VC that we are going to agree on the condition that we are not co-equal. The VC asked, “What do you mean by co-equal? I said if they give us four vehicles, I will give one to UNIJOS, and if there is a motorcycle, I will give it to NFI because NFI is not a university and not even up to our faculty, and the remaining four will be for UNILAG. If they give us 20 computers, I will give 17 to UNILAG, two to UNIJOS and one for NFI.

After a period of time, I was told our licence had been approved. I quickly went to the VC to give him the news update. It was almost at the eve of his departure, as he was in a meeting with some professors. As I was about to leave him he said no, and he told the professors that Mass Communication Department had done something new and they want to relay the news.

He told them that our licence for UNILAG TV had been approved and that we were now on DStv, and they started congratulating me, and I made calls to them to send us the letter of approval.

How independent is radio UNILAG/TV from the university’s administration?

That is a good question. Before Professor Rahman Bello came, there was a …, I won’t mention the name, that wanted to carve an empire for himself. He saw the beauty of Mass Communication Department, and believing that the UNESCO had given us a standard, instead of coming here, he took them to the Senate block.

But when Professor Bello came, I told them that we couldn’t be operating from the Senate building because of the issue on ground. Radio UNILAG is not the work or the property of the VC or the administration, and they don’t intervene in the day-to-day running of our station.

We have told them that radio/television is not photocopy and they understand it. If they have information they wish to publish, we charge them, they pay us for it – if they have programmes, and we charge them. We are able to stabilise and make sure it is not part of the work of a VC.

At our laboratory we accommodate people from other related disciplines such as English, creative arts, theatre arts and engineering. In case of any problem, engineering students would come and help us. We also have interns coming there for their industrial attachment from various universities. We have applied to NBC to let us take limited adverts, and they are asking what limited advert is?

They said why couldn’t we go to donors to get equipment and other items? I said well, donors have stopped donating; they then asked why couldn’t I ask students to put it as part of the school fees? I said if you add one kobo to school fees in this country, students would go on Aluta and I don’t have time for that.

The reason they are scared is because there is a radio called Radio UNILAG in the University of Ghana, in Accra. They run their own station by subscription from tuition.

What I am doing now is sports announcement, as far as we don’t call it advert. But normally, we don’t take commercials from political parties or religious groups and tobacco.

If businesses come with adverts, would you accept?

Yes; we cannot take all those big adverts, but we can take adverts or announcements, or someone is trying to advertise condom, because we have a community, our target audience are students and youths. They need to understand prevention is better than cure, so all those things related to our people, like Coca-Cola. We have to drink Coca-Cola so that they can sponsor a programme, and we have a programme we call ‘Matters Arising.’

We have that problem now; we would not have had that problem if we were to run commercials. So, they cannot report us to anybody because our licence is the same thing as their own. So, we can run commercials on the TV, but radio, we cannot.

That means what radio cannot take now, the TV can take, and my plan is to eventually get another radio station, one would be commercial and the other non-commercial.

How would you generate content for the TV station?

Content? Very good. I told you we have recruited about 15 TV people, some are from the industry, and they are here full-time, minus our students and volunteers.

We have a content manager. For your information, as at last time, we have more than 200 edited content. If we start broadcasting today, I have enough that would carry us 24/7. But, we are still producing.

In fact, we run a documentary on so many things. As we are talking now, my crew is in a meeting with the VC, as he is paying a courtesy call on them and the department, which is part of our content.

As you are aware, our content distribution will be 80 percent Nigeria, 15 percent Africa and 5 percent others. So, we are going to jealously follow that one.

What would you be doing?

Our programme? When you see our programme, it is unique because we want participants to participate in the first campus radio channel, in sports, on drama and so many things.

We have a programme called the Private Hour, where we invite a professor who had a breakthrough in their discipline to come and tell us how the discovery was made. We have another programme called Research Evolution; it is directed by the director of academics and research, it deals with management of research.

How would you advise on the way forward?

When you understand that in Nigeria, everything is moribund, in Nigeria everything is over-centralised.

Let me give you an example. In my school, University of Missouri, we have three radio stations and four television stations. The university owns one, one is owned by the School of Journalism, and the other owned by the student union, and they are all on music 24/7 and run by volunteers; that is creativity. But in this country, everything is over-centralised that they want to capture all. Thank God that IBB was able to sign that deregulation policy, and also after IBB Obasanjo also signed the campus radio station, with us.

Whether you like it or not, Jonathan signed community radio as well as signed the Freedom of Information Bill. For 12 years, I was part of the delegation tasked to make sure they signed it. Thank God, 2017, whether you like it or not, Buhari signed campus television station. For your information, we have over 32 radio stations in Lagos city alone, minus those who transmit from Ogun State.

So, we want to challenge our colleagues in the media also not to leave the university without one thing or the other, which is why our training in UNILAG is different from the training from other universities. What we do here the first two years, the students are exposed to general, and the next year, they are exposed to specialised areas.

I am going to appeal to you, whatever you are going to do to come and help our students and tell them something impactful. I am the first person, as a lecturer, to go out of Africa into the media houses; others would go from university to polytechnic and be teaching again. The classroom used to be ahead of the newsroom, but today, it has changed, as the newsroom is now way ahead of the classroom; it is an unacceptable clause. That is why I want to bridge the gap, which is my own philosophy.