My joy knew no bounds when I recently learnt about the giant strides recorded on the registration and functionality of the Society of Nigerian Broadcasters (SNB). A chance meeting with the Executive Secretary of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, BON,the indefatiguable Dr. Yemisi Bamgbose at Chief Kayode Odunaro’s 60th birthday afforded me the opportunity of an update on the SNB that Nigerian Broadcasters have been trying to set up for many decades. The idea of a Society exclusively for Nigerian Broadcasters was first mooted by late Ambassador Segun Olusola in 1962, sixty years ago! It is instructive that it was not until 1994 that the Society was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Broadcasting heavyweights like Ambassador Yemi Farounbi, late Mr. Nkenna Ndaguba, Alhaji Abdurrahman Michika, Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed, Alhaji Taiwo Alimi and Elder Diran Orekunrin were registered as pioneer Directors and Trustees of the Society then. It also coincided with my years in the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Ibadan National Station and I remember the late velvet-voiced Mr. Tolu Fatoyinbo distributing the forms then and coordinating the registration of members from Ibadan. Unfortunately nothing happened then apart from our filling the forms. For years, it remained a painful issue that broadcasters who make a lot of professional bodies and politicians relevant could not have a vibrant Society to look after their welfare and regulate the profession. Most of the professional broadcasters then did little to make the Society vibrant and were all forming busy and working in silos in pursuit of enlightened self interest whilst playing active roles in other professional bodies.
It is a no brainer that all broadcasters stand to gain a lot more if we all unite under one umbrella body like the Society of Nigerian Broadcasters (SNB).
More value would be added to the quality of programming and content of private and public broadcasting stations if the society becomes operational and organizes regular lectures, workshops and seminars. As expected, the SNB will complement the efforts of the regulators by monitoring and correcting breaches of the Broadcasting Codes as well as violation of professional ethics.
At another level, the SNB will serve as a platform for bringing the old and contemporary broadcasters together for mentorship and bonding which will in the long run be a win-win situation for the country. Needless to say the society will also look after the welfare of all broadcasters by regularly monitoring them and flagging whatever issues they are facing for remedial actions.
It is, however, cheering that BON at its 75th General Assembly held in Kano in October last year empowered the Secretariat of BON to midwife the latest push for the proper take off of the society.
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I give kudos to the Secretariat of BON for the success recently recorded in getting broadcasters to join the Society of Nigerian Broadcasters.
It is gratifying that SNB has been successfully inaugurated in so many broadcasting stations like Channels Television, FRCN, NTA, Silverbird Television and Voice of Nigeria.
I enjoin all broadcasters, retired and still in active service, to endeavour to join the Society as soon as possible so that it can become virile within a short time. This is doable as we have the forte of broadcasting many professionals and politicians to fame in record time!
I was equally pleasantly surprised when Dr. Bamgbose also informed me that a Bill to give legal backing to the Society of Nigerian Broadcasters has scaled the Second Reading at the House of Representatives. The Bill was sponsored by Honourable Olaifa Jimoh Aremu representing Egbado North/Imeko Afon Federal Constituency. I give kudos to our worthy Representative for sponsoring this noble Bill and hope that it will become an Act of parliament soon.
The Society will be the best thing to happen to broadcast media if the National Assembly can give the necessary legal backing to make it an Act of parliament as it had been done for other professions like Engineering, medicine, law, advertising and so many others.
I hereby enjoin all well meaning media practitioners to support the Bill so that we can all enjoy the manifold blessings which a functional Society of Nigerian Broadcasters will confer on all broadcasters in due course. We can do this by keeping the matter very hot on our plates through sundry advocacy strategies. This, I think, is not too much for us to do to bring to fruition the dreams of our ancestors in the very noble profession of broadcasting.
Mr Folarin, former Chief Press Secretary to former Ogun State governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel, sent this piece from Lagos
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