Rumpus in Enugu Radio

Engineer Richard Nnamani, retiring Managing Director of Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS), recently, announced Barrister Emeka Ozoagu, Director of Legal Services of the establishment, as his replacement. Ozoagu, a Grade Level 17 officer, was, equally, secretary of the Board of Management before his elevation.

But Ozoagu’s pre and post appointment era have been dogged by controversies. Dr. Mike Onwuzu, the organization’s Director of News and Current Affairs, is in the vanguard of the opposition against Ozoagu’s appointment. Onwuzu insists that he is the proper person to take over from Nnamani, being the most senior director.

In a petition to the state government, Onwuzu claimed that Nnamani hid under a fallacious circular from the state judiciary to unduly promote Ozoagu to GL 17 last year. The promotion, Onwuzu stated, was targeted at giving Ozoagu undue advantage over him. Onwuzu claimed that he had been Ozoagu’s senior in the establishment for over 20 years before Nnamani illegally promoted him above him. Contending that the so-called circular is restricted to only judicial officers, Onwuzu maintained that it is only the governor of the state that could appoint an officer to a position beyond Level 16. Onwuzu added that GL 17 does not statutorily exist in the scheme of service of the ESBS, as well as other ministries and parastatals of government.
“The so-called circular from the Ministry of Justice has not been implemented in any other establishment except in ESBS. The Daily Star, the Ministry of Education, to mention but a few, have legal officers as directors who are not enjoying salary Grade Level 17”, Onwuzu’s petition stated.

Onwuzu, therefore, called on Chime’s government to discountenance the so-called justice ministry circular, and sustain his seniority in the organization.

Onwuzu seems to have undergone similar humiliations in ESBS in the past. First, previous Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani government in the state, on August 4, 2006, appointed Engineer (Richard) Nnamani managing director far and above Onwuzu who was the most senior director then. Nnamani, Director of Engineering Department, replaced Dr. Marius Ugada, who was, in controversial circumstances, removed from office by Nnamani government. Ugada was appointed in March 2006, only to be booted out of office six months after, that is, September. Ugada, who took over from Charley Nnaji, who was on the saddle for over six years, thus made history as the shortest serving Managing Director of the media outfit.

Funny enough, retiring Nnamani refused to comment on Onwuzu’s petition, saying ‘would not discuss government business in the media’. And this was despite some allegations personal to him, including that he installed Ozoagu to cover his tracks while he was in office.

Chime’s government, reacting to the leadership rumpus in the radio house, said it approved the appointment of Ozoagu as Managing Director based on information and documents brought before it. But with the dusts of controversies being raised by Ozoagu’s appointment, the government may be compelled to revisit its verdict on the matter.

Meanwhile, succession dispute is not all there is to the problems besetting the ‘star station’. Since January last year, the over 100 workers of the organization have enjoyed half salaries, without the slightest hope of receiving other allowances and entitlements. Among the ‘half salaried’ staff is Rockefeller Ossy Ogboso, Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Enugu state council. Ogboso, a veteran journalist, is on the senior staff list of the Enugu State Broadcasting Service.

The situation in the radio house took a dive for the worse following alleged recruitment of over 60 additional staff by Nnamani’s management, as well as inclusion of about 30 recalled disengaged staff in the pay-roll.

It would be recalled that Governor Chime had, on assumption of office last year, directed the recall of thousands of workers of the state who were, in 1999, disengaged from service by the past administration of Nnamani. The reinstated workers included the 30 ESBS staff.
But the retired Managing Director (Nnamani) stands accused of favoritism in his recruitment exercise. In addition to his own daughter, Uchenna, whom he appointed a legal officer on Grade Level 9, most of the beneficiaries allegedly come from his Amechi-Awkunawnaw, Nkanu West council home.

And critics of Uchenna’s appointment contend that, as a fresh graduate, she ought to have been recruited on Grade Level 8/2 instead of 9/2. This appointment, it is argued, runs contrary to both the civil service rules and scheme of service of ESBS.

The retirees of the organization are, also, not left out in the travails. Incredibly, the pensioners are being owed seventy (70) months pension arrears. Already, the senior citizens have lost count of their members who continue to die out of frustration, hunger and starvation following non-payment of their retirement benefits. KlinReports learned that indebtedness to these pensioners is as high as N70 million!

The problem of ESBS largely stems from insufficient funds for its management. With a monthly subvention of N6 million from the state government, the organization grapples with the difficulty of making up about N9.5 million wage bill every month. Even monthly revenue of about N4 million remains a far cry to the ever soaring needs of the media organ.

Thus ESBS, comprising SunRise 96.1 FM and ETV (Enugu State Television), is presently in a pitiful state. The premises have been taken over by weeds and reptiles as a result of long period of neglect. On several occasions, snakes and dangerous rodents were sighted and killed in the live studio.

While the AM (Amplitude Modulated Band) section remains off air, the TV unit just resumed an unsteady transmission after over three months. The radio, SunRise, which is the only (so to say) functioning unit, is even epileptic.

For instance, the radio starts transmission at 5.30 am and goes on break at 12.30 pm, resumes 2.45 pm and ends transmission at 10.30 pm immediately after network news. This is contrary to what obtains in modern broadcasting. A stable radio station ought to resume transmission at 5.30 am and broadcast without interruption or break till close down at 12 midnight or beyond.

Worse-still, the audio quality of the only functioning radio unit is wooly, and the signal bad. The station manages to operate within Enugu, and hardly gets to the hinterland let alone any of the neighboring states.

In fact, ESBS seems to have entered the Guinness Book of Records by being the only electronic medium, among its contemporaries, that still uses analogue equipment in its operations. Of course, this system of broadcast explains the massive shortfall in the patronage hitherto enjoyed by the station. KlinReports was informed that some advertisers who had paid in huge sums of money for slots in the television section of the organization are, at the moment, demanding a refund of their money.

Indeed, the history of ESBS is that of the goose that lays the golden eggs. Former Governor Nnamani had generously used the station for his campaigns. But on getting elected as governor, Nnamani, now a senator, abandoned the station for eight years he reigned, and built for himself an ultra-modern Cosmo 105.5 FM, also located in Enugu. ESBS, from that point, became a sick baby that never recovered.

For now, Governor Chime is not accused of being behind the problems of the organization, the workers think that he (Chime) is the only governor that bring smiles back to their woebegone faces. And findings by KlinReports have shown that Chime is on the verge of fixing the ESBS seeming intractable problems. There are indications that, soon, the reactivation of the radio house, founded in early 1980s by the government of Chief Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo in old Anambra state, would commence in earnest.

The anguished ESBS staff cannot wait to experience this new lease of life!