Mediocre coverage of President Bola Tinubu’s recent diplomatic mission to Brazil has again triggered good reasons the president should solidify his recent remarkable executive appointments at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). I have personally interpreted the unexpected disruption to mean that the president means business, after all on restructuring of the national broadcasters to serve Nigeria’s overriding public interest. There is a little doubt that the President who has been widely criticised for tapping too many mediocrities into even his cabinet, is beginning to turn over a new leaf by his surprise talent hunt of Rotimi Pedro and Stella Din Jacob for the NTA’s Boardroom and Newsroom operations.
And so, Nigeria’s leader should be encouraged to complete the good job he has begun at the NTA so that he would allow the iconic Madiba, (Nelson Mandela) to look down from wherever he is and feel satisfied that Nigeria is indeed living up to the dream of leading Africa and indeed the black race at this time that a brand new world order is fast emerging.
In 2007, Mandela had in an interview with a Nigerian senior public officer, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed charged Nigeria: ‘The world will not respect Africa until Nigeria earns that respect. The black people of the world need Nigeria to be great as a source of pride and confidence…’ This quote has remained on a marble as a buzzword and no leader has ever felt challenged by the powerful gauntlet the iconic South African leader had thrown in the year President Olusegun Obasanjo handed over to Umaru Musa Yar’Ardua.
Here is the thing, Nigeria cannot lead Africa and the black race without good leadership at home that will recognise the power of a robust, world class public broadcaster that will fulfill the promise of UNESCO’s 1977 McBride’s Commission’s report, Many Voices, One World.
Guardian Nigeria
