Chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria
The newly elected Chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), Mr. John Ugbe, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of MultiChoice Nigeria, has promised to work with members to strengthen the organisation and strive for realisation of their collective vision. Established in 1973, BON is a broad coalition of public and private broadcasters in Nigeria serving as the umbrella union of over 100 entities that own over 250 radio and television stations in the country.
Mr. Ugbe made the promise in Abuja, during his investiture as the 14th Chairman of BON.
He thanked members of the organisation for electing him stating that his administration would be committed to the improvement of professionalism among members through training.
He promised: “Working with local and foreign partners, we will facilitate training opportunities for our member stations,” adding, “The training programme would be in two layers. The first layer will be to train-the-trainers and the second layer will be the zonal trainings.”
The BON Chairman disclosed that the training programme will start from the first quarter of 2022 and would take in 1,000 members with the figure going up in the second year.
He also made commitment to bring all broadcasters under the BON umbrella to form a formidable industry group capable of influencing broadcast policies and regulations.
He said: “Working with the BON Secretariat, we will initiate an aggressive membership recruitment drive, so that we can achieve the objective of forming a formidable industry group”.
He promised to leverage on MultiChoice’s expertise at organising top-notch awards, like the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards (AMVCAs), to revive the BON Awards, which he said would be a platform for recognising and celebrating the best in the industry.
Ugbe stated that his administration would build on the process of the establishment of the Society of Nigerian Broadcasters, which would set standards for entry, training and code of conduct. This, he explained, will be done through pushing for the passage of the relevant bill at the National Assembly.
John Ugbe was elected Chairman of the BON during its 75th General Assembly and 20th Annual General Meeting (AGM). He defeated Sir. Godfrey Ohuabunwa of Multimesh Limited by 63 to 35 votes in a keenly contested election which held at the Coronation Hall of the Kano State Government House, Kano.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Ugbe promised he would reach out to every member of the organization and bring them together to move the organization to a greater height.
He said: “I thank everyone for voting me and I will do everything to make the organization a strong one for the benefit of all.”
“As I said during the manifesto, I will vigorously pursue the issue of capacity building for all members for them to be well trained and equipped for emerging issues in the broadcast industry,” he added.
