Challenges bedevil 70-year-old Kano radio
Radio Kano, established in 1946 by the British colonial administrators as a branch of the Radio Distribution Services (RDS) was the pioneer radio station in Kano State, and it serves audiences in neighbouring Katsina, Jigawa and some parts of Bauchi, Kaduna and Sokoto states.
The about 70-year-old radio station, formally known as the Kano State Radio Corporation (Gidan Bello Dandago), has held a pivotal position in disseminating information that has shaped both the political and socio-cultural perception of the people.
Politicians, intellectuals, traditional leaders and Islamic scholars have used the station as a tool to advance views and raise awareness on issues. The station also played a vital role in Nigeria’s struggle for independence. It helped in ensuring local government reforms and peaceful co-existence among diverse groups, especially after the Nigerian civil war.
However, the governmentowned station, especially its FM section, Radio Kano FM II, began to lose steam at the turn of the 21st century, with the emergence of private broadcast stations in the state.
These stations which offer alternative views and perceptions to audiences on news, current affairs and other vital issues further reduced the impact of Radio Kano.
Nonetheless, even in the face of stiff competition from the private stations, Radio Kano, continued to hold the ace as the chief disseminator of government information, until recently, when the station started experiencing problems that are affecting it operations.
Raising alarm on the challenges of the station recently, Chairman of thecNigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ)Kano chapter, Comrade Abdul-Jalal Haruna, said: “Because of the pathetic condition of the Kano Stateowned radio station, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, hereby calls on the state government to quickly intervene and save the reputable radio station from dying.”
He said in view of the strategic importance of the station in information dissemination and development in the state, the government should act quickly. Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the problems stem from “politics and incompetence”.
Some staff of the radio station who spoke to our correspondents said the troubles of Radio Kano came to ahead during the last Ramadan, when the source of power to the station, was cut due to non-payment of outstanding electricity bills.
One of the staff said throughout the month of Ramadan, the station was powered by a generating set, a development which caused the machine to break down.
“You know we usually operate 24 hours during Ramadan due to influx of advertisements and sponsorships. But when our electricity was cut-off due to nonpayment of bills, the management opted to run the station with our only functional generator 24-hours nonstop for several days.
“This caused the generator to breakdown because it was not prepared for that kind of work,” he said.
The staff said after the generator broke down, the station remained off-air for 12 days before the management paid the electricity bills. He, however, added that the management did not repair the generating set.
“The refusal of the management to fix the generator means that the station only operates when electricity supplied by KEDCO (Kano Electricity Distribution Company) is available. This is causing serious loss of revenue to the station,” he said.
The source further said that the development had demoralized staff, “who work hard to produce programmes but have no guarantee that their work would be used”.
“Apart from losing advertisements and other revenues, our station is also losing its followership to other radio stations. This station can’t operate for a full day without having problems. If nothing is done, the station will collapse just like its print counterpart, the Triumph Publishing Company,” he said.
It was learnt that due to the power situation, whenever an important programme or announcement needs to be aired, staff go to the station’s transmission centre, in Jogana, a town located about 20 kilometres from Kano City, to work.
“As a matter of fact, the Jogana station has effectively taken over all the functions of our headquarters in Kano City, because at least there is a generator there.
“But the issue is that even the vehicle to take you to Jogana is a problem because virtually all our vehicles are grounded. There is only one functional vehicle and it is always developing fault, thereby causing serious delays,” he added.
Another challenge that personnel of the station have to deal with, Daily Trust on Sunday gathered, is what the staff called disparity in the payment of salaries. It was learnt that at present some causal staff are earning more than some permanent staff.
Another staff, who also sought anonymity, alleged that some casual personnel have not been paid for about five months, just as the station’s artists have been without salary for nine months.
Another source said the problems of the station are not restricted to operations. He claimed that political witch hunting is also part of it.
The station’s security guards were sacked, “because they were recruited by the Kano Corporate Security, an agency created by former governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to train guards”.
“They were subsequently replaced with those of a private outfit, before redeploying the station’s Director of Programmes, Malam Abdullahi Abubakar, who had worked there for almost 30 years, to the state Ministry of Information”, he said.
He further stated that the station’s staff had not been sent for training in a while, a situation which according to him was affecting the quality of programmes produced by the station.
“Most of the announcers that go on air are new recruits without any idea on how to do the job. If you are a frequent listener of Radio Kano, sometimes you hear some of its personnel making embarrassing mistakes on air because they have not been trained to be good journalists”, he said.
Efforts to reach the Managing Director of the station, Hajiya Sa’adatu Muhammad Babaji, to comment on the issue proved abortive as she did not pick calls put to her. She also did not respond to messages sent to her.
Similarly, all the three visits to her office by our correspondent did not yield any positive result as the correspondent was told on each visit that she was not available.