By Oke Epia
Eedris Abdulkareem for those who do not know is a popular Nigerian hip hop star. He had the mixed fortunes of embracing fame and infamy simultaneously with his 2004 hit song ‘Nigeria jaga jaga,’ a lyric which parodies corruption in government and the deterioration of life and living conditions of ordinary Nigerians. Then President Olusegun Obasanjo was angered to no end by the song that he ordered its ban after unleashing a personal tirade on the artiste. Others felt their sense of patriotism assaulted by the song and thus joined the former ruler to pillory the work and singer. However, the beat also buzzed much among the youths as it resonated with the suffering masses who found the lyrics a fitting tribute to their pitiable plight. Last Wednesday, Nigeria jaga jaga resurged anew in the airwaves, receiving massive airtime. But not on conventional radio stations though. It was through the controversial signals of Radio Biafra, the dissident channel streaming and broadcasting offensive content in the name of a subdued but somewhat subsisting separatist movement.
The activities of Radio Biafra have been largely condemned. Not even its pretense to championing a crusade for the redress of real and perceived injustices meted on the Igbo nation by the Nigerian Federation since the 1960s can obviate the fact that the uncivilized and uncouth antics of the guerilla station runs against popular sentiments within and outside Igboland. In its subterranean broadcasting, it has peddled hate and hauled insults on Nigeria, her leaders and select Igbo ethnic frontline politicians it considers complicit in the alleged oppression and suppression of the race.
Some commentators have chosen to engage the radio station from a partisan point of view. Joe Igbokwe, Lagos State publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in an article published on SaharaReporters blamed the outcome of the 2015 presidential election for fresh igbomania sentiments pervading Igboland. He began the piece thus: “Ever since former President Jonathan lost the presidential elections on March 28 2015 which some of us knew he will never win based on the facts that we all know and the statistics available, majority of Igbo have been unhappy and angry. They have been cursing and abusing the President and APC leaders wishing that President Buhari never existed and APC never formed. Many of them have been so frustrated after the elections that they are now looking for a way to get back to the APC controlled Federal government. Now, one Nnamdi Kanu who has been dreaming about the State of Biafra has provided a space for them to vent their anger. Some of them have joined this small boy to begin to wish for the State of Biafra. Suddenly the so-called Radio Biafra has created a momentum for them.” As simplistic as Mr. Igbokwe’s opening statement is, it does not take away the fact that Radio Biafra is another symptom of the failure of leadership in Nigeria both politically and administratively. But since this is not a political article per se, my point of intervention on this vexatious radio Biafra debate dwells on the latter. Why have successive governments failed to sustain and nurture structures that could counter, abate and eliminate if not totally prevent insidious threats like those posed by this dangerous radio signal? Such glaring incapacity is made even ridiculous when government takes a lazy approach to deal with the seditious station by announcing rather shamelessly that it had succeeded in jamming the signals of Radio Biafra. How do you jam a station streaming on satellite and broadcasting via the web? On Tuesday, officials of the Ministry of Information rose from a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and informed the nation that the signals of Radio Biafra had been jammed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). According to the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Shade Yemi-Esan, “right now the signals from radio Biafra have been jammed successfully by the NBC,” adding that “the commission is also working with security agencies to get those that are behind that radio because it is an illegal radio. It is not licensed by anybody to be on the airwave in Nigeria.” The vacuous claim by government was revealed for what it is as the station continued its offensive broadcast and even issued a statement to make jest of the signals jam announcement.
But a government should not be caught napping like this not minding the fact that technology is dynamic and which can be to the advantage of the dissident set up said to be operating from London, according to a statement posted on its website. If the State cannot erase the signals, it can at least counter it with a rallying narrative of patriotism, nationalism and unity through formidable information-cum- propaganda organs at its disposal. Sadly, Nigeria can hardly boast of such narrative or the instruments to propagate it. Worse still, the propaganda of Radio Biafra permeates a foreign audience to which the country has very inadequate reach. No thanks to Dr. Yemi-Esan’s deficient parastatals. The Voice of Nigeria (VON) should ordinarily provide a suitable platform to promote a national narrative to counter the likes of Radio Biafra. At least that is what its website says when it defines the vision of the organization thus: “To become the international radio broadcasting station of first choice for anyone interested in Nigeria and Africa.” But is VON living up to expectations? What tangible impact has it made on Nigeria’s image both at home and abroad since 1961 when it was founded as the external service of the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria)? When compared with other stations of similar orientation in other countries, it is not difficult to see that VON has lagged behind. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for instance has the Hausa Service which had its inaugural broadcast in Nigeria on 13th March 1957. This was over three good years before Nigeria gained political independence from Britain. And over time, the Hausa Service of the BBC has become perhaps the most authoritative if not influential medium for millions of listeners in the northern part of the country. It promotes British foreign policy interests targeted at northern Nigeria specifically just as the main BBC does a holistic task of it at a universal level.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
It is not only the BBC that has a language service that tells the Nigerian story for Nigerians by foreigners. The Voice of America (VOA) maintains same since 1979. It does not just report but goes proactive in anticipation of trends and evolving developments in Nigeria. For instance, in May 2012, the VOA announced commencement of a programme entitled ‘Tattauna’ in Hausa. A statement from the station had rationalized its birth thus: ”Northern Nigeria has recently been the target of a series of deadly terror attacks blamed on the insurgent group Boko Haram that has called for Sharia in northern Nigeria.” At that time, Nigerian authorities were still short-sighted enough not to have designed a broadcast programme as such. The VOA broadcasts from Washington in more than 40 languages reaching an estimated weekly global audience of over 170 million through the web, radio, television, social media and mobile. With Nigeria as its largest audience in Africa, the VOA has striven to maintain a substantial listenership in the country, propagating American foreign policy interests in the process.
But if VON is stalling in its mandate and underachieving on its vision, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the country’s wire service is no different. Established in1976, the agency actually began operations on 2 October 1978. According to Wikipedia, a news agency is an “organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters.” It is hard if not impossible to come across a foreign media with access to Nigeria that picks stories from NAN. Even Nigerian media houses have reduced their dependence on the service as it is now commonplace to find local press quoting foreign wire services like Agence France-Presse (AFP), Reuters and Associated Press in their reports. No doubt, NAN has left much to be desired with respect to the demands of modern day dynamics of news gathering and reporting. It is not difficult to see that the collective failure of the Ministry of Information and its inefficient parastatals like the NBC, VOA, FRCN, the NTA and NAN gives great impetus for dissident signals like Radio Biafra to thrive unimpeded. At the moment, the station is not only winning the battle to continue broadcast but also doing very well on the propaganda front against the authorities. This is double tragedy.
Follow writer on Twitter @resourceme