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Columnist

Abel Ada-musa
e-mail: admusa4u2003@yahoo.com
The God of Oliver Twist
No administration has made the most impression on The Graphic Newspaper than the Alhaji Ibrahim Idris’s administration. I am not saying this because he is still in government. Before he came, it was believed that nothing good could ever come out the corporation.
Governor Idris has given hope to a place that was accounted hopeless. He has ignited hope in a place that was long neglected by previous administrations. The first sign that the governor was going to impact on The Graphic was when the premises was fenced! It does not matter whether it was the last government premises to be fenced in Lokoja.
The original name of The Graphic is “Kogi Printing and Publishing Corporation” (KPPC). As the name suggests, the mandate is to print and publish. However since its inception it has been “publishing without printing”. The Graphic has not actually fulfilled its constitutional obligations in full.
The mandate would have been complete if the government printing press was not separated to be an entity. Ordinarily, the government printing press supposed to be part of The Graphic. I am not conversant with the edit that established both of them, separately! But common sense tells us that you cannot have a Kogi Printing and publishing corporation and then have a government printing press separately. I think the entire arrangement is political and somebody may be benefiting from the separation. It is individuals that benefit from this arrangement not government.
The Graphic is publishing in Lokoja but it is printed in Ibadan. This arrangement is better because I will be the last person to advocate a printing machine for The Graphic. Concerned stakeholders and readers had suggested that printing press for The Graphic could be the best thing to happen to the corporation. I do not agree with this point of view. And this is my sincere and personal point of view. It has never been part of my prayer that The Graphic should have printing press. I am not convinced that the corporation or the state government has the technical know-how, political will and commitment to have a printing press.
It is not buying a printing machine that is a problem, maintaining it is the major issue. With my experience so far with The Graphic whereby the company struggles to maintain computers I cannot advocate a bigger burden. I don’t know how a company that is funding it difficult to maintain computers can cope with a printing press.
Since 2002 when the new management led by Pastor (Dr.) Ezekiel Oyekanmi assumed duty, the newspaper has not failed to appear on the newsstand. A purchase of printing machine is an invitation to pull The Graphic off the newsstand. I am not aware of any state government that is printing its own newspapers and still be on the newsstand. The Herald, Nigerian Voice, the Standard newspapers were grounded after a few years of daily operation. At a point they were completely off the newsstand. When they returned they did so with very poor quality. It may interest you to know that The Graphic has been severally adjudged the best state government newspaper (quality and content) in the North central zone.
The problem with The Graphic is not so much the lack or low quality personnel. At least the present civil service personnel can still manage to publish the newspaper on weekly basis.
I am not advocating that the newspaper should go daily! The present staff cannot carry a daily newspaper. How many professionals will agree to work in The Graphic with such an environment, where there are no furniture and basic working tools. The state government cannot or will not agree to pay for crack reporters and writers. The Graphic professionals are simply the lowest paid in the state or the country!
Recently, the state government donated lap top computers to practising journalists in the state. It was a way of saying “thank you” for a job well done and an impetus to do more. The fact remains that no journalist needs a lap top more than a print reporter like the ones working in The Graphic. No journalist in The Graphic was accounted qualified to have one. Even our Government House Correspondent Mr. Nathaniel Idrisu was isolated as his colleagues from the Radio and NTA were given. What was his offence? He was a Graphic reporter! The Graphic reporters are looked down upon anywhere they go, even by government officials.
The problem with The Graphic is that it is underrated. Its reporters are considered of lower rank than others. Its editors are ranked lower than other editors of other newspapers!
By and large we have to applaud the governor for the ongoing face-lift given the premises. It is the first of its kind.
The contractor has practically abandoned the site in collaboration with the supervising architect. The story of the renovation of The Graphic should be left for another day, but suffice it to say that the project was given to a wrong contractor, and supervised by a wrong supervisor. While the contractor that handled the fence did so with the fear of God, the one that handled the renovation of the main office complex cannot receive the same commendation.
The Graphic had published several times how projects were badly executed in the state by contractors. We had opportunity of witnessing this ugly situation when it came to our door step. Faced with a highly un-cooperative, bullish and uncompromising contractor, the management had wished that it were executed through direct labour. A N5 million project can be done using direct labour instead of the mess of renovation that was carried out!
My concern mainly was the supervisor sent from the state ministry of Works to handle the project. I do not want to believe that money exchanged hands between him and the contractor, but his activities were basically suspicious. Our findings suggested that he colluded with the contractor to do the shoddy job. Elementary lapses noticed were not corrected.
The activities of the project supervisor suggested that much of the atrocities on project sites across the state are committed by the architects from the Ministry of Works and the contractors.
It is the magnanimity of the state governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris that has kept The Graphic in the last five years. I still have enough personal respect for the governor for refusing to listen to blackmailers and mischief makers who had misinformed him about the corporation and its management.
What The Graphic needs from the state government is just minimum comfort in terms of infrastructure and working tools. And in terms of a befitting well-equipped office complex and enhanced salary and allowances.
The Graphic needs another serviceable vehicle. The only one available now is the Peugeot 504, wagon donated by the governor four years’ ago. This is used for the weekly production trip to Ibadan.
Very recently,The Graphic watched as Hilux open jeeps were given out to state and federal government parastatals. Nobody remember The Graphic! I still have the hope that things are getting better under Alhaji Idris. He has opened another page in The Graphic. But I want to tell him that like Oliver Twist, this has just wetted our appetite. The greatest is behind.