By Emeka Arinze and Daniel Ezeigwe
When the curtains are finally drawn on Governor Willie Obiano’s eight – year stellar administration in Anambra State, many of his aides and appointees who equally served Ndi Anambra would look back with immense pride. And when the roll call slices through the quiet Anambra air, Chief Uche Nworah, Ph.D, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra Broadcasting Service, ABS, would be among the first to stand up to be counted. It is no surprise that he was among those that Governor Willie Obiano honoured on Wednesday, March 9, 2022, at the brand new International Convention Centre, Awka with the second highest state honour, as ‘Anambra State Distinguished Commander’.
Dr. Nworah, who was a General Manager in charge of outdoor advertising at Globacom, was appointed the MD/CEO of Anambra Broadcasting Service in July, 2014, following a competitive nationwide recruitment process conducted by the Anambra State government.
At inception, he met an organization in steep decline; low staff morale due to long years of lack of promotion, mounting pension and gratuity arrears, and other legacy debts, decayed broadcast equipment and infrastructure, very low brand profile etcetera
Dr Nworah was never fazed by the enormous challenges he faced. He had his sights on the goal, which was to reposition ABS and make it a competitive publicly owned media, not only in the South East, but in Nigeria. He was also driven by the desire to leave his footsteps on the sands of time.
Dr. Nworah presented his work-plan for the repositioning of ABS to Governor Obiano and other members of the state Executive Council at a special session convened sometime in 2014 to chart the way forward for Anambra’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). His plans were promptly approved.
The Governor, who was also in a hurry to achieve greater things in Anambra state inaugurated a Board of Directors for ABS under the Chairmanship of veteran broadcaster, and Public Relations expert, Mr Nnaemeka Maduegbuna. With Dr. Nworah in the saddle as MD/CEO, and the Board firmly in place, the journey for the repositioning of ABS began in ernest.
Dr. Nworah first secured the funding of a donor agency to organise a strategy session for management and staff. The session developed a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis for ABS as a brand. The implementation of the analysis began almost immediately with a radical change of ABS’ brand identity. An exciting new logo was created, comparable to the logos of global media giants such as CNN, NBC etc. A new slogan, ‘Heartbeat of the East’, was also created and adopted. This now resonates with Ndi Anambra. These brand repositioning activities did not cost ABS or the state government any money.
Shortly afterwards, the state government awarded the contract for the construction of a brand new twenty-first century radio and television complex, complete with the latest digital broadcast equipment. Having received the necessary approvals, Dr. Nworah championed the next phase of the repositioning of the ABS, and that was refreshing and de-aging the workforce. Young new talents were brought in to help drive several of the Broadcasting processes.
The outcome is improved content and programmes production, and a can-do, bold, creative and fearless work attitude that only energetic young people can bring to the workplace.
Dr. Nworah and the ABS Board also approached the state government and made a case for staff promotion to be conducted. This hasn’t been done for over 10 years. At the same time, they secured the state government’s approval to pay over three hundred million Naira gratuity arrears dating back over 25 years. These feats alone added smiles to the faces of both staff and ABS retirees.
Not one to always wait for the state government for funding of its many activities, Dr. Nworah introducing several other ventures to help attract revenue to ABS. For example, he introduced the Miss Anambra Beauty Pageant, live music concerts, drama and comedy shows, partnering with other organizations. He made the annual ABS Christmas Carol and Awards more colourful, attracting top members of the society to the yearly awards.
Dr. Nworah leveraged a lot on his private sector contacts to arrange free training for staff in Lagos, Abuja and other places. He also partnered with international media houses and donor agencies such as BBC, Ford Foundation etc who funded content production for ABS, and also sent some ABS staff on training to the New York Film Academy, Montana Film School, and London Film School.
It was under Dr. Nworah that ABS became a truly global brand launching ABS on national state lite TV, Startimes Cable TV, and also ABS TV and Radio online. Now Ndi Anambra and others can watch ABS TV and listen to ABS radio from any part of the world. ABS today boasts of millions of followers on its different social media platforms. No other state-owned media in Nigeria can boast of such impressive social media traffic.
As a result, ABS, under Dr. Nworah, has won several industry awards for the quality of its broadcast contents. Many of the staff have also won individual awards.
Perhaps, one of the biggest legacies that Dr. Nworah will bequeath Ndi Anambra is the establishment of the ABS Film Academy. The Academy has trained over 300 students in film making and broadcast journalism since inception in 2018. It is currently training 230 students. According to Dr. Nworah, “This is our own way of getting young Ndi Anambra ready to compete in the creative economy”.
Dr. Nworah also partnered Alkebulan Productions to set up the ABS Film Village, a marvel to behold in the ABS premises where epic Igbo movies and other productions will be shot. The Film village will attract revenue to ABS and the state government.
The COVID-19 global health crises disrupted learning in Anambra and other places. However, Dr. Nworah and ABS partnered the Anambra State Ministry of Basic Education to launch the Anambra Teaching on Air programme which was broadcast on all ABS multimedia channels. ABS was the first state owned media to do so. Other states later visited ABS to understudy the model. Both Dr. Nworah and ABS have been honoured for pioneering this innovative blended learning programme.
Dr. Nworah authored three books during his tenure as MD/CEO of ABS, the first, which he co-edited with Dr. Emeka Arinze, is ABS Book of Commentaries published in 2017. They also co-edited the 2021 publication, ‘Governor Willie Obiano, Seven Years of Delivering Good Governance in Anambra State, 2014-2021’.
In 2021 also, Nworah published the book, ‘Media Practice and Security Challenges In South East Nigeria’.
Dr. Nworah opened the ABS Abuja Bureau and proudly, ABS microphone is now seen proudly at major functions in Abuja. The only state government owned media operating in the federal capital territory. He also strengthened the Lagos and Nnewi offices, and proposed to set up other bureaus Kaduna/Kano, Aba/Port Harcourt, London etc. Dr. Nworah said, “Ndi Anambra live all over the world. We have the ambition to be in the major cities where Ndi Anambra live, to report and cover their activities. This is possible with technology”.
Dr. Nworah pioneered event culture at ABS and successfully organised many which were sponsored. He organised the ABS 30th anniversary lecture in 2015. Prof. Pat. Utomi was the keynote speaker at the event which had in the audience Governor Willie Obiano and other notable personalities. Perhaps, the biggest event which Dr. Nworah organised, which Ndi Anambra will always remember him for is the National Summit on Igbo Entrepreneurship (Igba-Boi) which he convened on Thursday, 10th March, 2022. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo joined the summit virtually while Chief Obiora Okonkwo, Ph.D, Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines was the keynote speaker.
Dr. Nworah who has an unassuming personality is a role model to many. His passion for the promotion of Igbo culture is legendary. As he bows out of the service of Anambra Broadcasting Service as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, it is hoped that like the proverbial eagle, he will always find taller trees to perch on.
The staff of Anambra Broadcasting Service are already missing him, and wish him well in his future endeavours. The same goes for Ndi Anambra who are ever appreciative of his stewardship.
• This piece was first published as commentary in ABS, Awka, Anambra state.