Revenue Will Keep Going To Stations With Contents That Appeal To Audience, Says Igho

Mr. Peter Igho was a household name in his days when the Nigerian Broadcast Authority( NTA) dominated television broadcasting in Nigeria, especially for his reputation in making such unforgettable drama series like Cock Crow at Dawn and empowering local producers who made many other programmes that stood the station out even as a monopolist. He retired some 16 years ago, but still involved in the business of making dramas and consulting for radio and television.

At his recent 76th birthday celebration, ANOTE AJELUOROU engaged Igho on sundry issues that range from his years at

NTA, his retirement, how broadcasting and moviemaking have evolved over the years to where they currently are and what the future holds for them.

16 years in retirement, you couldn’t be idle. What have you been doing in the last 16 years since retiring from the Nigerian Television Authority ( NTA)?

Iretired from NTA and I now have time for myself. I was employed straight from the University of Ibadan and graduated in 1972, and the Federal Public Service came to interview people for jobs. I was interviewed and employed, reporting straight to work. So I’ve been working from day one of my graduation and I taught for three years at Federal Teacher’s College, Bida, Niger State. I was employed formally in television in 1975. When NTA came into being from 76- 77, and we all became NTA. I now worked in NTA until I returned in 2008. After that, I set up my own consultancy to help in training people in television broadcasting, camera, production, lighting and all that.

The next year, the president then, Must Yar’adua sent my name to the National Assembly for employment as the Director of the National Regulatory Commission. So I left broadcasting, and the very next year I became the Director General, and I was there for four years. After which I left better than I met it. When I got there, the office was just a room and parlour and they were not self- accounting; they were just on an allowance, as a department in the presidency, of a hundred thousand naira a month. And when I took over, I moved from the room and parlour to two floors at Maitama. And after that, I moved again to the present five floors in Jabi, where they still are now. I left there in 2013. Before I left, I had opened sixteen offices around the country; Jos, where I was born; Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Ibadan, Ilorin, Lagos, Ebony State, Owerri, Port- Harcourt and of coursethe one in Warri. I employed more than 500 graduates from the 11 staff that I met. I also raised N3.4 billion for the government, which I paid to the trust fund to be used by the government for good causes. Lottery is the act through which people are empowered. When you empower people, the resources used in empowering — whether in cash or kind— 20 per cent of the revenue goes to the government, and it’s that 20 per cent that is N3.5 billion. That would tell you how much we empowered Nigerians by, well over N80 billion. Suddenly, people who where not aware of the power of lottery started eyeing it. That was how I left.

When you say 80 per cent was used in empowering Nigerians, what does that mean?

In every lottery act, 20 per cent of the revenue that comes from every lottery scheme goes to the government. That 20 per cent was the N3.5 billion I left in government account. 50 per cent goes to Nigerians who play it, because it’s their money. So, how much they get, how much they win is what makes them want to play; it’s what they get that makes them want to play, so prizes must be 50 per cent. So if 20 per cent is 3.4, 50 per cent is 3.4 times 2.5 per cent that is paid as prices to Nigerians. But the person who sells the recharge card also gets 20 percent. Then the person who runs the lottery gets 10 per cent. That’s 100 per cent. Every lottery scheme that comes, the money is shared. 20 per cent must go the government; 50 per cent must go to Nigerians who play it, because it’s their money. 20 per cent to the people who make the money, 50 per cent to the people who play and 10 per cent to the person who organizes it. If you calculate 3.4 per cent I left on ground, you can imagine how much we empowered Nigerians.

So all these sports betting platforms are part of it?

Y es, because that’s what makes people want to play. If they don’t get money, they don’t play. I worked there for four years, then I went back to my consultancy which I still do. I help people get radio and television licenses, and we still have a production outfit. My son also has his outfit. I’m still very busy in broadcasting

You don’t look 76 one bit...

I play golf at least three times a week. I believe he who rests rusts, so I keep myself busy physically and mentally as much as I can.

You were part of the NTA boom years, and in the last 20 years or so, the station has been a shadow of itself. Does that look enviable to you as a former helmsman?

As time has gone on, there are more and more stations today. The days of NTA

monopoly are gone; there are more stations. But when you look at it, many people don’t understand the whole concept of the structure of broadcasting. So they compare apples and oranges. The NTA is a full- fledged broadcast organization that produces and covers the entire gambit of programming - children’s programmes, women’s programmes, health, cooking, documentaries, drama, news, current affairs. The only station like it is maybe AIT. When people compare NTATO AIT orchannelstv; Channelsis just a news and current affairs station. You can’t compare that to a station that has different varieties of programmes. If you’re making a comparison, compare the news department of both, because the NTA

does much more than news and current affairs; it produces drama, documentaries, etc. People say NTA is not as popular as it used to be, but it depends on what you’re watching. Channels

doesn’t show dram, doesn’t show documentaries. So what would you use to compare? Most times we analyze and denigrate NTA because of lack of knowledge of what each station is supposed to do.

In terms of eyeballs, what you do is talk to advertisers and they tell you that NTA has a spread that no other organization has. When you want to advertise, you’re looking at eyeballs. NTA has a station in almost every state capital of this country. Channels

doesn’t have that. If you want to advertise your product, and you want people in every state to see it, would you put it on Channels or NTA? When people want to denigrate NTA, they fail to understand what is out there and what people want; it’s based on what you want. You may say that in this time and age now, NTA

has not been in the top level of programming. What are you comparing them with? Dstv? That’s a pay- to- view service. It’s not a public broadcast organisation.

People who criticize NTA say drama was one aspect NTA stood out, being the only station at the time and they used to empower local producers to bring quality contents. Sadly, that’s not the case at the moment, so there are fewer dramas. And for a big corporation like NTA, it has abandoned local producers and what it shows it worthless and that has driven audience away. Why is the station not maximising its spread strength?

In the old days, NTA was known for so many notable programmes - documentaries like Food Basket, Giant in the Sun; dramas like Cock Crow at Dawn, Behind The Clouds, Mirror in the Sun, and children’s programmes like Tales by Moonlight. Now, it’s like NTA is no longer churning out that volume, quantity and level of content. So, compare NTA to itself. You can’t compare it to anyone else? So why is NTA not doing as much as it used to do before now?

Some even argue that they should be competing with the paid television when you look at NTA’S size. Why is it not competing?

Maybe that’s where we should look at. For paid television, Nigerian’s love for the foreign things and readiness to pay for them is a problem. NTA is dependent on its own generated revenue and government’s intervention. You know that things aren’t too rosy for government’s organizations that are funded also by government, and they’re reducing resources that are not available, as it used to be. Right now, must government’s institutions are told to go and fend for themselves. Most times, they don’t have the resources to produce as much quality programmes as they used to be. That’s the problem. And of course, don’t forget that most of the stations that came up after NTA

poached staff fromnta. In spite of all that, almost all these stations have people who are ex- staff of NTA, and they’re still on their feet. NTA must be challenged, because as the competition grows, they must know that money follows content. For as long as they don’t do more content, they will lose out in terms of revenue. Unless NTA invests more revenue in content, revenue will be going to other stations. It will be a ripple effect that will negatively impact on it.

So I agree, NTA should do more within the resources they have. Things have gone up now, and you’re paying a producer up to one million naira to produce. How many tickets can they buy to do a production? How many vehicles do they need? They need diesel to run a station. Those costs make it more and more difficult for content producers. That’s the problem of NTA; resources are not there. Of course, and again, many of the staff do not go for training, and it’s getting more competitive out there in terms of quality of training and the more you train the cameramen, producers, makeup artists and all that, the better, because NTA handles more than others. Others just sit in the studio until the days of an interview and talk to cameras, but you have to go out into the field for documentaries, do costumes, pay artists fees and all that. It costs NTA more than anybody to produce quality content. I can only challenge them to do more. It’s tough out there, but when the going gets tough, the tough must get going.