Tag Archives: Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria

TV, radio offer classes amid Covid-19

The Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) are planning to start radio and television broadcasts for pupils as a result of the closure of schools due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Adam Adamu

According to the ministry, the broadcast classes will begin in May if the education ministry, the FRCN, the Nigerian Television Authority and the National Broadcasting Commission are able to finalise plans for  operational licences and the purchase of transmitters.

Classes to be aired would follow a timetable, after which examination may be conducted.

The minister of education, Adamu Adamu, had earlier said that the government will begin basic primary school classes on the national media to enable pupils to learn during the Covid-19 pandemic break.

Ben Goong, the director of press at the ministry, said: “We are taking the next step between Friday and Tuesday. There will be a radio component and a television component. We plan to create a different network on the FRCN so that we don’t break into the established listening schedules.

“The broadcast will run from morning to night, covering all subjects such as mathematics and English. We will segment the programmes into classes. What we plan is to bring the best hands from our schools to take the subjects. We will use the best in specific subjects. The issue of inability to deliver well will not arise.

“Two, the broadcast will be uniform. What is being taught in Jigawa, Sokoto will be watched in Lagos. There will be series of subjects in a day for different classes. There will be nothing like, ‘Our teachers didn’t come to school today.’

“When it is time for exams, you register in the centre nearest to you and you write your exams, class by class. It will be impossible with these broadcasts for children to still be regarded as out-of-school children. We are likely to bring the request letter formally from the ministry in the coming week to FRCN. Due process must be followed.”

He added that this would eradicate the problem of rising out-of-school children, currently put at about 10.2 million, as well as bridge the gap created by the closure of schools during the pandemic.

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Media agencies ‘face financial constraints’

Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s minister for information and national orientation, has admitted that government-owned media organisations are being hit by a lack of funds.

Lai Mohammed

Mohammed was speaking during a session of the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation attended by media organisations at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

Broadcast organisations at the event included the News Agency of Nigeria, Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission.

“We know what to do to run FRCN and NTA profitably but we have an obligation to provide social services and create employment for Nigerian youth,” he said. “We want to make money but we are constrained.”

Ibrahim Mammaga, director of the News Agency of Nigeria, which used to be 100% financed by the government but no longer receives funds, said his agency remits 25% of the money it generates to the government.

“Our responsibility is to educate, just like FRCN and NTA. We operate in all the states of the federation with 28 district offices,” he said. “Until recently, when we established the multimedia unit, we didn’t generate revenue. What we generate from our subscribers is too small to the extent that it will not finance 1% of our operations.

“We have equipment in all the states of the federation, but the equipment is not working. If not for our laptops and smartphones, we would be in a difficult situation.”

Mammaga noted that even though the agency provided content to its subscribers, little in the way of earnings was generated. He added that it earned only N130m in 2017, which was not even enough to cover its electricity bills.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and public Affairs, Adedayo Adedeye, urged the government to manage information in the social media era and also advised the agencies to generate more revenue to run the stations as well as contribute to the government.

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