Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, the first class graduate of Accountancy, the brilliant chartered accountant, auditor and administrator, who forayed into several local government affairs for decades as a civil servant, made history recently when he carved out a unique portfolio, perhaps, the first of its kind in the nation, by naming a seasoned journalist as his Special Adviser on Rural Communities and Communications.
This appointment heralded and institutionalized the era of Community Journalism in print and electronic media across Lagos State. Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan’s appointment became the fulfilment of Ambode’s campaign promise to focus on the rural dwellers and effectively mobilize and communicate with them for rapid development of the state.
After a successful workshop organized by Mr. Bamigbetan for the media (print and electronic) on rural dwellers, the Special Adviser paid a courtesy visit to Oriwu Sun to appreciate the publisher, Chief Monzor Olowosago, for the prominent role he played at the workshop.
From two administrations in Lagos State, Mr. Kehinde Bamgbetan, a U.S.A. trained journalist, garnered tremendous experience that catapulted him to his present appointment in Ambode’s government. The professional Journalist and a community newspaper publisher first served as Governor Bola Tinubu’s Press Secretary and later on as his personal assistant. Then, he became the Local Government Chairman of Ejigbo during Governor Fashola’s administration and pooled together a lot of experience on rural dwellers, community development associations, business communities and local leaders.
As the current Special Adviser of Governor Ambode on Communities and Communications, Mr. Bamigbetan is driving the vehicles that will give birth to more community newspapers, community radio stations and probably, community television houses across the 57 Council Areas of the state.
He told Oriwu Sun Publisher during his recent visit that he considered it a privilege to physically step into the offices of the Ikorodu based community newspaper, which he had treasured and looked forward to for a long time. He acknowledged that Oriwu Sun had become the most authentic medium of information concerning the catchment area it covers, and that if anyone wanted credible source of information on rural people, it could only come from Oriwu Sun in this area.
He described Chief Olowosago as a mentor to many journalists, especially those interested in Community Journalism. He confessed that it remained a mystery to many on how Oriwu Sun magically sustained the paper and grew it to be an octopus and an oracle after 30 years of existence. Mr. Bamigbetan thanked Chief Olowosago for sharing some of these secrets with his fellow journalists during the recent workshop the state government organized instead of keeping them to himself; thus, encouraging the younger ones, who intend to go into publishing. He affirmed that the history of community journalism in Nigeria cannot be written without mentioning Oriwu Sun.
He expressed the belief that if each of the 57 local council areas in the state has a community paper, it will effectively engage journalists and create jobs for the profession as well as explode the communication network in the state. He recommends this as a way out from the current craze of journalists gunning for national papers only instead of looking inwards and not looking down on local papers, which could even be more viable than some of the big papers.
The Special Adviser disclosed that the state government intends to establish on what Oriwu Sun had started by encouraging the setting up of community papers, which may start as small businesses and grow later. Once again, he thanked the Publisher, who he called a doyen of the profession, for his achievements so far and for the warm reception he, his deputy, Mr. Chuma Adichie and the News Editor, Mr. Muftau Jimoh gave him.
In response, Chief Olowosago appreciated Mr. Bamigbetan for his visit, saying that he will be the fourth member of Lagos cabinet to visit Oriwu Sun in recent months. He thanked the adviser for his humility and the recognition he has always given community journalism, unlike those who look down on local newspapers and still fall back to them for help.
He commended Governor Ambode for keeping to his campaign promise to pay greater attention to the rural population and local media for mutual communication. He agreed that Bamigbetan’s appointment was indeed a square peg in a square hole while also stressing, as he has always done to all government officials that he will not ask for contracts from anyone but advertisement support, without which no newspaper can survive.
Chief Olowosago cited the high cost of printing materials, which has gone over 100%, and revealed that only through government adverts can any paper survive. He commended Bamigbetan for the successful workshop, saying that as a newspaper publisher himself, he was bringing in a wealth of experience into the new office Ambode has given him.
The Oriwu Sun boss recalled meeting Governor Ambode recently, who beckoned at him, saying, “Oriwu Sun, the only authentic community newspaper in Nigeria!” According to the publisher, that made him glad to be recognized as someone piloting a rural paper, which records no unsold copies and is always appreciated by the readers.
He, therefore, urged both the State Government and Mr. Bamgbetan’s office to continue to support Oriwu Sun through advertisements. He promised to have a good working relationship with the office of the Special Adviser and the State Government.
After the brief reception, the Oriwu Sun team engaged the Special Adviser in a formal interview on his job while the pleasant, articulate, humble and brilliant journalist opened up on the vision and mission of this new office the Governor created.
ORIWU SUN: What is your name, sir?
- BAMIGBETAN: I am Bamigbetan Kehinde and am the Special Adviser to the Governor on Communities and Communications.
ORIWU SUN: We noticed that since you assumed office, you have been doing a lot in terms of the mobilization of the grassroots newspapers. Why are you doing this?
- BAMIGBETAN: I think the key point is just that when I was appointed Special Adviser on Communities and Communications, I felt it was a new development and innovation, because that portfolio has not been in existence before.
I saw it as a reflection of the experience of His Excellency, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode having worked across local government in Lagos State for the better part of his career. And he has come to appreciate the role that communities play in assisting government.
The other point was that during is campaigns in which he was able to engage various communities, he saw that it was very important for the government to develop a machinery of channeling information and mobilization that would ensure that the government and the people are on the same page. And also for the fact that the campaign has not really stopped for those of us in the public office.
As a matter of fact, we have to be constant in the mind of the people and we have to constantly disseminate information to the public. For that, we need to look at the channels available for us to achieve these things. Some of which include his mission to entrench community governance, which he has touted many times even before he assumed the governorship of the state.
According to him, he would run an inclusive government, where all hands would be on deck and no one would be left behind. For him to be able to do that, we must first and foremost create the channels that would enable him to constantly maintain the relationship with the community.
When I came on board, I did an audit of the channels available in terms of print media to know how many print media publications we have in the communities, how many online media do we have and how many broadcast media do we have?
I found out that apart from Oriwu Sun, which has been on ground and has garnered experience over the years, there are others who have also been around but not as big as Oriwu Sun. Then, I said, let me hold on to the big one, which is Oriwu Sun and use it to duplicate and replicate the experience in other places across the state.
The dream is that every of our fifty seven (57) local government, you have a print newspaper that we can hold as having an influence for us to pass information to the people. To achieve that we had to form a network of community media. In this project, Oriwu Sun plays a very strong role of solidarizing it because if such a paper has not endorsed the project, perhaps, the kind of enthusiasm that would be ignited would not be there.
We also have the Epe Times, Badagry Prime, The Factor and so many other community newspapers that have been on their own and struggling to survives.
They have all got the government attention and have been accepted.
We have also brought in online media such as Mainland online, Festac Online etc. So, the next stage now is to have some trainings and luckily, I came at a time whereby I sued my influence with the DFID GEMS to sponsor the training.
Fortunately too, our leader, Alhaji Monzor Olowosago was on hand and he used his wealth of experience to demonstrate how to run a commercially viable community newspaper. The lecture also gave the community media practitioners the confidence of handle their various papers well.
Where we are going now is that Lagos state has come up with the Wealth Creation Bill of N6.2Billion per year and we are hoping that we could mobilize the community media to access these funds and use it to create stable newspaper projects in their areas.
That is what I am trying to sell to our members now in community media network that the purpose of the fund is for small businesses that I want to expand and that the media are also businesses that employ people. They have a right to make a case to be part of that fund. So, that is the average that we have now.
If we are able to do it successfully and establish it very well, then we know that we have a channel that is closer to the communities rather than the big papers like the national newspapers. They are closer to the communities and the communities know them and they know the communities. The communities can easily access them and make complaints. They too can work across the communities and make complaints.
So, that is the kind of relationship that we want to develop. That, I think, would bring it home that the concept of inclusive governance that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode spoke about is now being transformed to reality. That means that by the time we come around any government project or policy that we talk about, we would be able to record it correctly and that is the reason why I am focusing on the development of the community media.
ORIWU SUN: How would they access that fund because you are talking about five million naira (N5million) per newspapers? What are the conditions?
- BAMIGBETAN: The board has been set up now and we are expecting them to come out with the guidelines. Once the guidelines are available, I have already asked many of our members in the community media network to come out with their feasibility studies. This is because one may need two million Naira (N2million) while another one may need three million Naira (N3million) but if they come up with their community media feasibility studies and tell us how much they need, then collectively, we can make a case with his Excellency to take the community media network as a priority sector that need to be developed for the government to be able to achieve its goals.
ORIWU SUN: In giving them the money, how would you monitor them to ensure that the money is channeled towards the purpose it is meant for?
- BAMIGBETAN: First of all, we need the support of all the members of the community media network because it involves lobbying, it involves convincing the governor and justifying it with the board that this is a critical area that the government wants to invest in because the Governor wants to make sure that what he is doing is resonating with the people every time.
Once it becomes a government policy, it is the responsibility of our office to push it to the governor and to make a strong case for it showing that there are dividends in it for putting the money in that sector.
However, it would be very crucial for members of the community media network to judiciously make use of the funds when they eventually access it, for example, some of them have not been regular on the news stand. For them to be regular, they need to pay their stall, they need computers, they need to set up their business very well and some of them may even think they need to have their Cord machine, which is the basic printing machine that you would require to do your press. If they analyze all these things in their business proposals, they (government) would give them this fund.
But under the system, there is what we call Business Model System, which means that they are not just going to leave them like that but attack people to teach them basic skills such as book keeping, for example.
Some businesses don’t know how to do book keeping as well as how to market their paper and things like that. They will now begin to give them business support services so that they can pay the money back because it is not free, and it comes with one percent interest rate. It is cheaper for them to be able to recoup the fund, and the only thing is that the government knows that they cannot employ everybody but if it empowers small scale businesses, they can employ more people. For instance, if you have twenty newspaper and they are employing ten people each, then you have employed two hundred (200) people. None of these people would have to go to Alausa or any other place to look for work.
ORIWU SUN: For any media to survive, you have to support and empower them with advertisements. What is the state government doing in this regard? To enable the community newspapers stay in business?
- BAMIGBETAN: Some of the issues we have also raised is that government must now consciously patronize the community media. For example, if you are going to do the flag off of this BRT lane, for example, Oriwu Sun must have to take advert because that is the paper the community knows. Every information you give in Oriwu Sun, people of the community would be able to read it. If you say disabled people can now enter BRT free of charge, for instance, the paper can monitor it and report if they are being allowed or restricted.
It is part of the service the community media can provide to the government. If some work is going on around Ketu market for instance, the paper can monitor and report how such work is being effected.
Before we started, we had a meeting with the market executives on what the programme would look like, how it would affect their lives and they said that they would be ready to cooperate with the government.
Then it is for the paper to monitor, if the cooperation is still going on or are there hitches in the cooperation process, on time frame or is it going on as expected?
So, anyone who wants information on this will have to read Oriwu Sun. it pay government to put advert in Oriwu Sun, which is located within the environment of the project rather than the national newspaper.
Presently, the Lagos State government is doing about twelve networks of roads in Epe, Epe Times should be able to do feature article on it and so, you put an advert in it. It would report the number of road projects being done and everybody reads it and would be able to monitor it. In this regard, people would be carried along.
But you first put the advert there, telling them about the contractor handling the projects and the people will go and interview him and know him. So, those are the goals we are trying to achieve with the community media network because they are the ones who could fast track democratic processes much more than the national media because national media are meant for business and mega businesses while the community media are meant for democratic systems.
All over the world, we have more community newspaper than national newspapers. In Britain, people read more of community newspapers while in Nigeria we read more of national dailies like Punch and Guardian. An average child in Britain when he finishes college, the first job he gets is in the community media. I believe that for us to move forward, we have to patronise the community media because a lot of our people don’t have access to information and they need this information for so many things. For instance, I did my fellowship with ‘Newsday’ in Northern Island, which is approximately the size of Ikeja and Ikorodu. They were publishing one hundred and thirty- three thousand units of newspaper every day.
So, I told myself that if a paper can do that much every day, it is possible for one to do at least one hundred thousand in Nigeria because took me round the whole process including management of the paper, editorial, subscriptions and other processes. I found out that it was a real machine capital intensive industry.
ORIWU SUN: You came from local government management into state government administration, what was your experience as local government chairman and now that you are special Adviser on Community and Communications?
- BAMIGBETAN: I think that as a local government chairman of Ejigbo LCDA, I was essentially restricted to see how I could develop the democratic status in that environment only, for example, I met only fifteen community development associations and I grew then to seventy six (76) before I left and even then, I came out with a government officials bulletin called Ejigbo Tiger, which came out every three months.
There, we published all the pictures of projects we have done in the area and we printed at least thirty-five thousand (35,000) copies for Ejigbo alone and we went to each house to let them know what we are doing for them.
But coming now to the state government level, I have a bigger assignment that cuts across the whole state. Instead of dealing with seventy-six CDAs am now dealing with about three thousand five hundred (3,500) CDA’s across the state. What I have been able to achieve is to bring CDA’s as the fourth tiers of government and we have started with this implementation of one hundred and forty projects.
I have made it now part of the policy that in the implementation process, the contractor must be introduced to the CDAs and they must monitor he projects.
For example, a project is currently going on in a place called Kuye Amuwo in Oriade Local Government. The people wanted the road but when the contractor came, the width of the road was so wide that it will take up the whole houses in the street.
For this reason, they said that they don’t want the road that will take up all the houses because the houses are the sources of their livelihood through rentage that provides income.
So, I had to sit down with the people and the contractors to intervene and we agreed that instead of the initial width, we would bring it to 7.5 metres width and everybody clapped at the end of the day.
That is how I am bringing my experience in the local government to bear on what I am doing right now – intervening where possible. I thank God that I was a local government chairman because it gave me a large reservoir of knowledge and also prepared me for what I am doing right now such that it is easy for me to identify and understand where the CDA’s are coming from.
Otherwise, when they were complaining, the first reaction would have been, “Look, the Governor had already said that this is a standard road and if you lose your house, then too bad.” But we say no because at the end of the day, the people won’t be happy about what we have done and that means that we have just wasted money. We said, let is talk to the people. Okay, we would save your houses but we will demolish your fences. “Is that okay?” They said that is okay and we were all happy.
By a standard gauge, after the drainage, there should be a walk-way but to save space, we have now brought the walk-way onto the drainage. “Are you happy with that one?” They said, they were happy, but that we have also saved many homes.
Many widows are relying on those houses to have income and when you demolish them, they are back to the roads and that becomes a problem to the government again. So, that is the impact of bringing the community in. and because, I have the support and backing of the Governor, I was able to bring all stake-holders together to discuss how we are going to bring the community into the implementation of the road project, the engineers and the contractors. The cost of the projects varies based on the content of the road and the length of it.
I think the coverage of the road is around one kilometre across board because they are supposed to take two roads from each local government. It depends also on the level of preparation. For example where the road already has a drainage, you save money there. Where there is no drainage, the cost would be a little bit higher.
The fund is coming from the revenue of the local government that was kept with the state government. The state government is planning to direct the fund to where it thinks the money would have the greatest benefit for the people. By saying okay, do two roads in each local government, every six months by now till the year 2019, they would have been able to do at least ten roads for each of the local government and LCDAs.
If you can look back and say that at least you have been able to do ten roads, certainly the life of the people in the community would became better because roads are the gate way to commerce in every locality. Whenever we have roads, shops would come up, businesses would thrive and before you know it, people would begin to earn money.
So that is why the roads are so critical to the development of both rural and urban areas.
ORIWU SUN: You have been working with the Governor for almost one year now, what is your impression about him?
- BAMIGBETAN: I will say one thing and that is that I have always been a beneficiary of the Governor’s intellect and goodwill. For instance, when I was the chairman of Ejigbo LCDA, I wanted to do roads and I said that I wanted to do eight roads and the cost of the roads was five hundred and sixty million Naira (N560million). I was also planning to take a loan since we didn’t have money. Then Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), who was the Governor then referred me to the then Accountant General, who is our own sitting Governor today.
He said that he understood my enthusiasm to do roads and that the communities needed roads truly but that I should go and bring the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the LCDA for the past four year. He said that he will help me to study it and then advise me on what to do.
I then brought everything to him and he looked at it, and he said, “Mr. Bamigbetan, your IGR and all you have been receiving cannot pay for this loan you want to take. My advice is that you take two hundred and twenty million Naira (N220million) to do four roads and I will ensure that the banks give you an interest rate that is very low. The same interest rate that the state government takes and I will back you up.
And he truly backed us up and we were able to get N220milion loan from Skye Bank at the interest rate they were giving to the state government, so, because of that professional advice, we were able to pay the loan by the last month of our regime.
So, from that vital incident, we knew that he is somebody that always ensured, and when the campaign started. We knew that he is somebody that has inside knowledge of government operations and would be able to run the government better.
Now, seeing him as the Governor, one could still see that element of humility in him. He is a very reticent human being, who does not speak much but is a bundle of energy and intellect. He can be very humorous, an easy going person, a perfect gentleman, who wants to get things done. He works more or less from the back and pushes all of you to go and take positions of the areas given to you. He wants to see feedback and he wants to set targets. You will see the way he is responding to issues.
When he first came in, people were complaining that security was bad but now see the massive deployment of security to curb all forms of criminality. Within the period he came in he has brought sanity in every area including handling of lassa fever, traffic gridlock and what have you.
See how he intervened in the case of Oshodi. He invited the traders and explained to them that the shop that were burnt have now been repaired and they should go back to the shops but they complained that they were being asked to pay twenty five thousand naira per shop. Then, he asked them how much they wanted to pay and they said five thousand Naira (N5,000) Naira and he told them to move in there since he is the Governor. I have not seen anyone like that before.
It takes someone that has a holistic and micro-economic perspective to know that putting them into that place is saving much money than caring that twenty-five thousand Naira (N25,000) they are charging. By the time they moved in, he was able to go there and right now Oshodi has been turned into a major terminus, due to his intervention.
ORIWU SUN: You have been working with Governor in the past and they must have seen something very unique in you. First by giving you appointment as press secretary to Tinubu, later as P.A. to Tinubu. After that service you moved to Ejigbo and now the state. What is that unique thing Tinubu saw in you?
- BAMIGBETAN: I think the point is that Asiwaju knows how to recruit people and he is very humble. He gives you the opportunity to express yourself and I will tell you one thing. He gave me a chance that nobody has ever given me before.
When I was working from outside and trying to help contribute to solution on the issue of media challenges, particularly during the time Tinubu was the Governor, I was being drawn by cartoonists on top of refuse heaps around 1999 to 2000 and then we came up with the solution that we should engage cartoonists so that they will know the challenges of the government.
Through that intervention, we were able to let them know the plan of Lagos State to bring in Lagos State Waste Agencies (LAWMA) through private sector participation (PSP) to make sure that refuse became a thing of the past. That was the success because it doused the tension in the media and Asiwaju said, look, you should come on board and when I said I still wanted to continue my professional life in journalism, he said, okay they should hold down that position of Deputy Press Secretary for me until I make up my mind.
I think the little expertise that has given me, he was able to discover it and maximize it over time by exposing me to more challenges, especially the local government, which prepared me for my current position
ORIWU SUN: Did anyone discuss the appointment with you before it came?
- BAMIGBETAN: No. I think that they just looked at this way, what can Kehinde do to add value to the government as the Special Adviser on community and communication, and they needed someone to take governance to the grassroots.
I am really grateful to Asiwaju for his support and of course, if you are loyal to somebody and he is also loyal to you. It is something that is encouraging, and it will also encourage you to do anything to defend your master.
ORIWU SUN: How frequent do you want to interact with the community newspaper?
- BAMIGBETAN: Now, we are doing it every month. We have a community media network forum every month and every day more and more people are joining us.
We want to keep it at that so that we would make the Governor aware that we have a network that the government can use and collaborate with to get things moving and we are also hoping that a lot of training will come along the way.
We have also talked to organisations that can give us training both local and international just as you (Alhaji Monzor Olowosago) have done for us. If it could be possible to fly-in somebody from Britain to tell us how they run their own community newspapers, people will know that they are not doing anything unusual. That would actually help people to run their papers for a very long time because some people are hundred years and they are still doing community newspaper.
To this end, I want us to continue to maintain that monthly forum so that students who are studying journalism, they are not imprisoned by this national media let us give them confidence that, as a community journalist, you are also a journalist working in the national media may not have.
ORIWU SUN: What can people do to get on your nerves?
- BAMIGBETAN: I have learnt never to be annoyed. As a substitute for arrogance, I go out and take a shower. When you say things I don’t like, I don’t respond to it. Over the years, even as a local government chairman, I have learnt to cool down and take things easy. One principle I adopt is that you can’t be angry with the people you are serving.
ORIWU SUN: Do you belong to any club?
- BAMIGBETAN: I belong to just one club and that is the Metropolitan Club in Ife. But in Lagos, I don’t have any club, but anywhere you invite me, I go there.
ORIWU SUN: Are you a ladies man?
- BAMIGBETAN: I am not a ladies man.
ORIWU SUN: Are you married and how many children?
- BAMIGBETAN: I have three children
ORIWU SUN: What is your best food?
- BAMIGBETAN: I think, I will choose Amala and Ewedu
ORIWU SUN: Could you tell us what your typical day is like?
- BAMIGBETAN: Most times, I go to bed late around 2:00a.m because every night I sued to check my social media account particularly my Facebook account. I will chat with people on face book and then go to my e-mail to reply them.
I am always checking my e-mail and responding to issues. I work officially almost twenty-four (24) hours and sometimes I forget to eat my breakfast. I close around 9:00p.m I live in Ejigbo and when am at home I simply take fruits, watch television and go on my social media.
ORIWU SUN: Who are your mentors either at home or abroad?
- BAMIGBETAN: My mentor is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in terms of politics and winning elections. In terms of ideological consciousness, my mentor is Karl Marx.
ORIWU SUN: You have worked with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, you have worked with BRF and you are now working with Governor Ambode. How would you describe each of them?
- BAMIGBETAN: Asiwaju is a thinker. A man who like to think outside the box all the time. You know, he looks for what is unusual, he thinks far and he thinks deeply. Basically, he is an ideologist and he is also a logistician because when he thinks of an idea, he will break it down into small pieces of reality.
That is why when election comes, he will tell you exactly how each stage of the election from registration up to the final voting would work. He will tell you how to manage each section of each had you can see this example in how he assisted President Buhari to win the last general elections.
Our former Governor, Fashola is an executor. Once the templates are available, he is able to execute with brutal details. He is focused and time conscious and he does not have much patience for too much debate. Once he has his aim, he goes for it with minimum speed and maximum materials.
So, I think that’s how I see him. When I was the Chief Press Secretary during Tinubu administration, he was Chief of Staff and so it was easy for me to meet him. I know him at short distance. And I know that people would see these attributes in the way and manner of the government he ran. It was a government, which was always giving targets and delivering on the targets. About current Governor Ambode, whom I had earlier descried, he is someone who has a panorama and holistic understanding of this system. There is what we call concept of visibility, which means that he knows how this system works, from point A to point B. He has audited the system over the years and he can break the system down.
He knows the pranks and so he has a mastery, which I don’t think others have had the benefit of having. For someone who had spent twenty seven (27) years of his life auditing the system of various levels, nothing less is expected of him but mastery. We all know that auditing is a different discipline and a different ball game.
It is a discipline, which performs surgery on government business. So, when you are talking to a surgeon that knows what is in your intestine, there is very little you are going to tell him because he has opened it several times and seen how it works and closed up again.
So, I see Governor Ambode in that context. When he asks you certain questions, you will know that he knows what you are talking about.
He knows the terrain about the financial market. Lagosian stand to benefit a lot from his wealthy of experience and intellectual capacity. He takes government or governance seriously and he wants to run an effective and inclusive government that would enable him to respond to the needs of his people as and when due.
ORIWU SUN: Are you contemplating moving into promotion of community radio?
- BAMIGBETAN: Hopefully, by September of this year, we will have nothing less than twenty (20) community radio broadcasting across Lagos State. You know the community radio is run by the Community Development Associations and not by government.
What we have been doing as a government is to facilitate the process through which the Community Development Committee (CDCs) in at least each of the twenty local government take ownership of their community radius and start broadcasting.
There are three levels of community radio, we have the commercial, the educational and then you have the community. The commercial ones such as 105.5fm are run solely for profits making. The educational is or campuses and we hope that latest, March ending, LASU and LASPOTECH radio stations would be up and running.
That is one of my target for now. But the community one is not for profit and it is the Community Development Associations that must apply for it. And then what we are government can do is to train the management and help them to procure the equipment and set it up.
Once it is set up, it gives the community news and information. About the broadcast language, where we have the Ijebus like in Ikorodu, Ijebu language would be part of the broadcast language. If it is in Badagry, Egun will be part of the broadcast language. So, it reflects the local community and they mainly make their money from sports and athletics.
And even if they make profits, they must put it back into the system. They cannot share profits of community radio.
ORIWU SUN: Those newspapers that have been existing, how can you motivate, encourage, and lubricate them under the scheme of things?
- BAMIGBETAN: If such newspapers like Oriwu Sun wants to expand its business, it will be qualified to apply for the fund and if you are starting new, you will also be qualified to apply because most of the challenges of the community newspapers center around funding and funding is advert.
Although, many of us who come from this handicapped perspective, in most cases are critical of the government forgetting that they have to be friends of the government before they can give you money. But we thank God that this mentality is changing. However, the key thing is to see the community sector as a business sector where people are being employed because the aim of the government is to make sure that more youths are employed.
So, from that perspective, our own is just to lobby government and to make sure that they treat the community media as employers of labour, which can also go a long way in helping government to achieve its objectives.