OGTV HAS BEEN RE-BRANDED -GM, Akeem Ayinde Soaga

Since then, the veteran journalist has been turning around the fortunes of the station, restoring its lost glory through professionalism and experience. No wonder, OGTV is now being viewed in many parts of the country and beyond, all due to the professional acumen of the highly educated and widely experienced broadcaster.

Soaga revealed in this interview with our Ogun State correspondent, Johnson Onifade that OGTV is now wearing a new look and that Governor Amosun has done much to encourage the injection of new ideas into the 30 years old  television station.

He said more in the exclusive, but revealing interview.

Can you tell us more about yourself

My name is Akeem Ayinde Soaga, I was born in Lagos on the 2nd of March 1961. I am from Abeokuta in Ogun State, a practicing Muslim and I am happily married. My wife is Bukola Soaga, I am blessed with four children I am also a grandfather, my first daughter is Rolake, she is married to Mr. Animashaun, who hails from Lagos State, they live in London with their daughter who will be 2 years old in August Insha Allah. I am an old student of the famous Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta and the Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta, where I studied Mass Communication as one of the pioneer students of the department. Somewhere along the line, I also attended T.V College and before Ogun Poly, I had been to the FRCN training school. I have also been to South Korea, where I got a fellowship diploma in journalism at the Korean Press Foundation. I also got a fellowship at the United States Press Programme, where I took course in 'Transparency and Good Governance.'

Until I took up this present appointment as the General Manager of OGTV, I was the Assistant Director, Training and Capacity Building at the NTA headquarters in Abuja.

 I am a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. I have a good and memorable experience in broadcasting. I started broadcasting in 1978 at a very tender age of 18 as an announcer and presenter in Ogun Radio, Abeokuta, which was located along the then dusty Ayetoro Road; I was also a D.J on the station. I was presenting a musical programme called 'Music Dynamite' then. My original love was for law, I had wanted to become a lawyer, but my love for broadcasting took me away from becoming a lawyer, but thanks be to Allah  I have no regret on this, I had to drop my love for law profession, but I thank God.

What was your immediate reaction to your appointment as the new G.M of OGTV

I don't have any immediate reaction since it was not a military appointment, the appointment is one I knew was coming because Governor Ibikunle Amosun of the state is somebody that consults deeply before he takes any action, so I knew the appointment was coming and I prepared for it. I am not surprised about it, and I am proud to come back home and join in the mission to rebuild Ogun State.

Since your assumption of duty as the G.M, how far have you gone and what are the challenges of the job

To be modest, we have gone very far. When I came on board, I observed that the place was well run. I must commend the former G.M for a job well done, he ran the place smoothly. I must thank Mr. Segun Olaleye in this respect. Things were moving well, but there was lack of professionalism due to the unnecessary intervention by the government. He did the best he could, but the equipments were becoming obsolete, and outdated.

For example, the air conditioners, the cameras among other equipments, were becoming outdated and that brings us to the issue of challenges. There is this need to uphold and promote the issue of professionalism, to start with. This, I believe will encourage the journalists and other professionals in the station to put in their best in making the place a model in the television world.

The direct intervention by the government has really caused a great set back, but things are gradually returning to the good old days. We should realize that Ogun State does not belong to an individual, but to the people of the State, hence we need to ensure that we give both the staff and the public the opportunity to air their views and put in their professional touch in making the state great.

 I discovered that OGTV was not reaching many places as it used to do before and this is very important if we must succeed as a television station. On commercial networking, it was a great challenge, more so when we go on and off the air intermittently, hence the need to tackle this issue and God willing, we are succeeding. We also brought new equipments, including cameras that have enhanced our smooth broadcasting.

One major breakthrough we made within 30 days of my arrival here was going 24hours, which has since been receiving a lot of commendation from within and outside Nigeria as far as the neighboring Republic of Benin.

Today, viewers across Southwest of Nigeria now receive our station clearly. I went that headlong, not minding the fact that OGTV was paying N5million every month on diesel to generate power for transmission, we also create a website on the internet for our viewers worldwide, just log onto ogtv.com.ng, you would receive our signals live and its free of charge, we started this early November 2011, it is round the clock.

The most important thing that happens to be my pride is that we now give opportunity to people to talk freely on OGTV, we air any programme, even that of the opposition without hindrance or interference from anybody, we are therefore using this medium to call on people, organization, groups and companies to continue their patronage of the re-branded and now lively OGTV.

Infact we always balance our reports here, we display the ethics of ethical neutrally, people now wonder how we give equal right to everybody and political parties.

OGTV started 30 years ago with its original name, but was later changed to GTV Gateway Television and now it is back to its original identity. Why the need for reversal to the old name

It is very clear in Governor Amosun's inaugural speech that the era of personalization of government property is gone, hence the need to reverse to the original name, meaning that OGTV belongs to everybody in the state.

Six months after, what has been the reaction of viewers to your steps so far

Oh! Its been very tremendous, goodwill messages, commendations, pledges, accollated from Australia, USA, England among others. People call me asking me, to go ahead with the process of rebuilding the station. Infact, those who have not been watching the station for some years are now staying glue to the station.

The other time, the station was jampacked with religious programmes but now we have reduced the numbers of religious programmes and increase the entertainment programmes, thus increasing the numbers of viewers on the station. Despite this we believe that very soon, advertisers will besiege the station with commercial programmes, afterall we are now been seen as far as Onitsha across the Niger River to the Eastern part of Nigeria. We have spent a lot of money on this process and, we are sure very soon, this will yield a lot of dividends courtesy of patronage by advertising agencies.

How would you describe OGTV at 30

This is the best Christmas gift to the people Ogun State so far. The station was born on the Christmas day on the 25th of December 1981. We celebrated three decades of its establishment some weeks ago. It was a period of stock taking to know how far we have gone. The bust of a former governor of Ogun State, the late Chief Olabisi Onabanjo, who was the governor of the state, when OGTV was born, which was removed, was ordered to be returned here by the new governor.

We pondered on how it all happened, how far we have gone, where we are lagging behind in modern day broadcasting among others. Our vision and mission is to ensure excellent service to the people of Ogun State and her neighbours, we want to be the strong, durable vehicle that will bring in-depth news, best entertaining programmes and views to the people, we also have a mandate; Our Mission is to broadcast high quality media content, projecting Ogun State and its quintessential news and views to the grassroots and viewers all over the world.

Our vision is to make Ogun State Television the best in Southwest Nigeria. We want to be the foremost digital television station with worldwide coverage, reclaiming and sustaining its core value and pride in Nigeria. Our core value is to project the Yoruba language, culture and people, while identifying their socio-economic ingenuity. We also returned to our logo; 'The People Telly.'

You came in and went straight into re-building the station, do you have time to relax

I am not a loner, but I relax when I am at home with my family.

With all these reintroduction of beautiful ideas, how do you see this station in the next few months

 The Governor of Ogun State has promised to take OGTV to a greater height and what he wants to do are beautiful ideas. Only two studios are equipped in this station since its establishment over three decades ago and based on his promise, I am sure Governor Ibikunle Amosun will equip the remaining studio this year Insha Allah. I look forward to a very well equipped OGTV in which the governor will buy a digital transmitter, we are using the one we acquired 30 years. I am looking forward to a situation, where people can receive live signals anywhere in Abuja.

All these ideas require money, don't you think of increasing the advert rates as part of your own IGR

Yes, we have increased our advert rates shortly before the end of 2011, it was a slight increase. What we are asking, compared to what we deliver, you will see that our competitors don't deliver such and they get more than what we are asking from them as advert rate. OGTV is the cheapest medium in the southwest.

Any message to your viewers and customers

 Let me first of all thank everybody in Nigeria, Europe and America for their support so far. We are encouraged by your patronage and support. We want to serve our people better, to this end, we have increased our 'World News' belt in the evening from 30 minnutes to one hour between 8pm and 9pm everyday. We have seasoned broadcaster and new ideas for every belt of the 'World News.' You can now enjoy