BPE Oils NTA, FRCN, Others for Commercialization

Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), charged with the overall responsibility of implementing the council’s policies on privatization and commercialization, has confirmed it has begun a process of changing the orientation of wholly federal government own broadcast media enterprises, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now report.

The government owned broadcast outfits have come under severe public criticism for their poor performances over the years.

News is overtly skewed to favour governments in power in total disregard for opposing views.

Benjamin Ezra Dikki, director general of BPE, had in Abuja at a public presentation of its 2013 programmes review session sated that federal media organizations such as the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and the National Film Corporation (NFC) have to be commercialized to enable them give out optimal performance.

Private broadcast entrepreneurs have also opposed both NTA and FRCN carrying advertisements during their primetime news bulletins.

They reason that both organizations compete in ‘unfavourable’ terms, seeing that they receive massive subventions from the public treasurer.

Dikki stated that the Bureau has already received full backing from the National Council of Privatisation (NCP), which is headed by Vice President Mohammed Sambo.

“The objectives”, Dikki noted, “is to review the policy, legal and regulatory framework that will enable the enterprises to operate as commercial outfits while still owned by the Government.”

Dr. Idris Bolanle, of the School of Communications Studies, Lagos State University, Ojo said the idea is “laudable, but we need to wait a bit more to get a full grasp of the entire picture.”

The University don blamed the apparent lopsidedness in news broadcasts from the government media on “our lack of sensitivity and tolerance of opposition viewpoints. This is not only about the federal government owned media, but it is also true of the state governments who control their electronic media with iron fist.”

Dr. Bolanle noted that Nigeria should borrow a leaf from the “British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which is funded with public monies and yet live to the true tenets of broadcasting by maintaining neutral position on political issues while also defending public interests against prowling politicians.”