….cautious against indiscipline, ethnic, sectional bigotry, vows to sanction erring staff

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The newly appointed Director General of Radio Benue, Dr. Charles Iornumbe has assumed duties with a promise to improve the content, quality and reach of the station.

Dr. Iornumbe also cautioned against all forms of indiscipline, sectional and tribal bigotry warning that any erring staff will be appropriately sanctioned by the management to serve as deterrent.

The Director General who spoke yesterday shortly after meeting the management team of the Corporation said after taking briefs from the Directors he was prepared to hit the ground running in order to reposition the radio station.

He said “I also want to thank God and thank Governor Samuel Ortom for the opportunity given me to serve in this capacity. I consider myself least important and qualified for this job. But by the grace of God he found me worthy of this appointment.

“The Governor himself is a journalist, I will implore Journalists to thank him on my behalf. From the meeting I have had with the Directors, I let them know that I have just been chosen among them. They supported me to rise in Radio Benue as their son and they cannot to my knowledge sabotage our efforts. They would want me to succeed so that the credit will go to all of us.

“I am highly impressed by the way they have received me. I am optimistic that together and collectively we will do well. I have also told them that if the Governor has found a staff of Radio Benue and elevated him to this position, it means that his eyes are here.

“The collective challenge for us now is not to betray the confidence that he has in us in the course of doing our jobs. So we have spoken about what and what we should do to move the Station forward. First we want to operate as one family.

“I have asked them to take ownership of this Director General appointment given to me because they placed a ladder for me to pluck a very big fruit, and I think they want to benefit from that fruit, that is the assurance they have given me.

“We want to collectively improve the content of Radio Benue. If by the grace of God the Governor approves funds for us to procure new transmitters and studio equipment we will be better for it and we will be able to do our job effectively. And we have also agreed that apart from working to improve the content and quality of our services and productions as well as operating as one family, our target is to reach a wider audience than what we are doing now.

“Radio Benue in the eyes of many at the moment is nothing to right home about. I am sure the Governor is aware of that, we are also aware of that. So in the very competitive environment we have found ourselves now, where many radio stations are springing up, it is our duty as a mother Station in Benue state to do every thing possible to be ahead. We know that most of the staff of the radio stations in Benue were drawn from Radio Benue which goes to tell how important we are to the broadcast industry in this state.

“As a corporation, we know that the Governor as a Journalist has always preached balancing of stories and reports. We will always do that and we will report government activities effectively but we will also engage in special reporting. We will send our reporters to the nooks and crannies of the state to bring us stories. We want to woo as many listeners to the station as possible so that we will bring back the glory of Radio Benue as we used to know.

We have also expressed gratitude to all those who in the past led the organization, the outgone Director General had been a mother and very effective and we thank her for piloting the affairs of the Corporation despite paucity of funds. We know that it is also tough on government financially.

All past Directors General have done their best in the past and we have not come here to compete with any of them, but I am sure that those of them that are alive will be happy that what we are doing here is good.

So we will always to keep to our professional ethics as broadcasters and also sue for the cooperation of all to take Radio Benue to the next level.”

On the possibilities of a shake up in his management team, Dr. Iornumbe said there was no plan for that at the moment.

Hear him: “for now we are not contemplating that. What I will do under my tenure is to make them feel very comfortable and motivate them to offer greater services.

“If the government feels otherwise that it would want to elevate them, I will also be happy because one of the challenges I had coming here was how would I look into the face of Igba Ogbole and the others for example, because these are people I have worked under for quite a number of years.

“But I have assurances of their full support and cooperation. And I think they meant what they said; so I am confident that I will get their support. And if there is anything one needs to do to improve our services, that should be our concern. It is not within our place to cause any damage to anybody or cause anybody pain.

“So we are working as a team and we encourage team spirit and they will discourage all forms of ethnic and sectional bigotry. We have taken a firm decision not to promote ethnic bigotry in this station. And I have given an example of how I came into this station, it was through the instrumentality of two Idoma people and one Tiv man.

“So I am not here to promote sectionalism, we are here as one family, working together to take Benue to the next level. And we will discourage all forms of bad blood amongst us. We will emphasize discipline. If any staff is found to err, the management will mete out sanctions on that person and it will serve as deterrent. We have resolved to sit up.

“If we were sleeping, everyone has a duty to wake up. Work as if the government is listening to you. Work as if the whole public is listening to you and is impressed with what you are doing. That is the only thing we will do to take this Corporation to the next level.

“So we are not contemplating shaking up anything here, we are thinking about improving the welfare of the Directors and other staff so that the Governor will be impressed with our actions. If I’m picked as a younger person in this establishment and elevated and they have pledged to give me all the support, I have no cause to do anything that will make them feel disappointed.

“We all agreed that when you have a child, you’ll want that child to be greater than you. Today it is evident that Charles Iornumbe their child has outgrown them. Tomorrow maybe one person here could apppinted Commissioner, even presiding over our affairs. God can do it.”

While assuring that measures would be put in place to improve the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR of Station, the Director General also promised to tackle the issue of revenue leakages.

On training for staff, he said “the training and retraining of our staff to keep them abreast with the trend in the industry will also be accorded priority attention. We used to have such in the past we will revive it and also organize in-house trainings to improve on our productivity,” he said.

Responding on behalf of the management staff, Mr. Igba Ogbole commended Governor Ortom for finding Dr. Iornumbe, “an insider”, worthy of the appointment. He assured that the management and staff of the organization would support the new Director General to actualize his dreams for the Corporation.

“We will support the appointee of the Governor to succeed. We have also told the new DG that he needs to work as a kind hearted, fair minded but very firm leader; because in a situation where you are not firm there could be problems.

“We also deeply appreciate his candor and his level of humility. In our society today, there are young people who if given this big opportunity they will begin to talk down on their seniors and colleagues but his case is not like that. We are happy and convinced that with his appointment Radio Benue is ready to fly to a better height.”