SPEECH
BY THE GOVERNOR OF ANAMBRA STATE, HIS EXCELLENCY, CHIEF WILLIE OBIANO ON THE
OCCASION OF THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY LECTURE OF THE ANAMBRA
BRAOADCASTING SERVICE (ABS) ON WEDNESDAY, 4TH MARCH 2015.
PROTOCOLS
First, I want to thank our
brother, in-law and friend, Professor Pat Okedinachi Utomi, for accepting to
come to Awka to deliver the great Lecture we have just listened to.
Through the years, Prof.
Utomi has established himself in our consciousness as an important voice in
national discourse. And we have all seen the reason why that is so today. From
the ovation given to him, it is evident that he has done justice to the Lecture. Prof. Utomi, I say thank you once
again and welcome to Anambra State – Light
of the Nation!
Ndi Anambra, today’s event
is dear to me - it comes 13 days to the First Anniversary of my administration.
So, it is gratifying to see that when we look back to the last 12 months, we
are happy to note that Anambra Broadcasting Service has experienced the wind of
change that is blowing across Anambra State today.
Ladies and gentlemen, experience
has shown that no truly accountable and democratic society can thrive without a
robust media. My administration is fully aware of the growing importance of the
media in a world that is essentially driven by the hunger-to-know … stimulated
by the media and satisfied by the same media. We are aware that without a
powerful information dissemination organ, the giant strides we have made in
building a New Anambra state will not be known to Ndi Anambra. But perhaps more
importantly, we are also aware that we cannot effectively build a New Anambra
without first building a New ABS.
Armed with this awareness
and dissatisfied with the present status of this great heritage, we resolved to
overhaul, rebrand and reposition ABS to fulfil its mandate to the government
and people of Anambra State. In line with our resolution, we invested heavily
in the procurement of ultra-modern digital equipment that have just arrived and
will be fully installed and ready to use in less than six weeks. I have been
assured by the experts that when fully operational, the new equipment will
place ABS on the commanding height of the broadcasting industry in the entire
South East of Nigeria.
Ndi Anambra, as part of our
efforts to create a formidable broadcasting brand, I inaugurated a new Board of
Directors for the new ABS yesterday. The Board is headed by our own Nn’emeka
Maduegbuna, a veteran broadcaster and communications guru whose wife is also a
famous broadcaster. When I inaugurated the Board yesterday, I challenged
Nn’emeka and his colleagues to turn ABS into another CNN. And I have no doubt
that they will give Ndi Anambra just that.
Ladies and gentlemen, my
administration holds the media in high esteem. So, while we have invested so
much in buying new equipment and retooling our processes, we are also aware
that equipment alone cannot give us the world-class media and entertainment
outfit that we desire. Consequently, we have resolved to train the staff of
ABS, hire fresh talents that will bring a new excitement to the airwaves and
adopt some global best practices in broadcasting that will make ABS compare quite
favourably to CNN and other top Nigerian stations. So, Ndi Anambra, it is a new
day for ABS! It is a new day for Anambra State! It is a new day for us all!
In conclusion, as we round
off the first year of my administration, I wish to call on the good people of
Anambra State, to embrace the new spirit of Anambra which has been the driving
force of my administration in the past one year.
The spirit of Anambra is
that restless voice inside every one of us that constantly urges us towards
excellence. It is a path-finding spirit that leads us to the road less
travelled. It is a can-do spirit that nudges us to become masters of our own
universe. It is the spirit behind the flyovers that are springing up in Awka
today and the spirit that will lead ABS to the commanding height of
broadcasting in Nigeria! This is the spirit that everyone of must strive to
have!
Ladies and gentlemen, thank
you for your kind attention!
Willie
Obiano
Governor of Anambra State
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