GDA and Moffat celebrates a copy of THE MOMENT |
The Prelude
when his pet project The Moment Newspaper birthed across
Nigeria in the month of January 2011, tongues wagged about his personality and
the likely sponsor of his project. In a country where nothing ever happen
without insinuations running riot; The Moment Newspaper instantly
became the target of several opinions in high and low places.
To some, the paper
was a ‘kill and go’ project meant to help push the presidential project of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan who was at the
peak of his campaign for re-election into power at the time. The News paper was
largely seen as an agenda setting platform for some Niger-Delta political
jingoists. Again, when many saw the kind of editorial that was emanating from
the paper, they deviated and said it was a south-south voice. What they meant
actually is that the paper is being promoted and sponsored by some South-South
governors. However, the most prominent man on the list of possible owners of The
Moment Newspaper became that of Mr. God’swill Akpabio the executive
Governor of Akwa Ibom state—South-South Nigeria. It was alleged that he is the
governor bank rolling the newspaper and that opinion nearly held waters. But
few months into the experiment, the newspaper went daily and as if that was the
only thing needed for the over-blown balloon to blow off, the paper soon went
to rest in the later part of 2012 with no official reason for the abrupt
stoppage of the publication. Few months
before his brand went off the newsstand, asabeafrika
met with the face behind the short-lived project which took Nigeria by
storm. The dandy publisher, Moffat Ekoriko told this blog some
of the challenges he was facing as a first time media entrepreneur on that
scale in Nigeria and what the future held for the publication. In a 2 hours explosive encounter inside his posh
Ogudu GRA, Lagos—South West Nigeria office, Mr. Ekoriko, a media entrepreneur
of over two decade experience told asabeafrika
some of the factors that makes
publishing in Nigeria a tasking passion and why the game is not always for the
professionals but money back politician with no record in media
entrepreneurship. Although Moffat
dissuaded the opinion that his new publication was owned by a South-South
Governor but claimed to have founded it in conjunction with some other investors. The interview which
is breaking for the very first time on this blog is an interesting one—directly
from our “Never Heard before Archive”.
and resume “My name is Moffat Ekoriko. I am a journalist; I have been a
journalist all my life. I come from Okanako in Akwa-Ibom state. I
started my journalism career with The Nigerian Tide newspaper in Portharcourt
in 1985. I also worked with Sunray Newspaper in Port Harcourt—Rivers
State before I went to join Newswatch in 1993. I was with Newswatch
till early 1996 when I left and joined Africa Today (under Kayode Soyinka).
I was the first bureau editor they had in Lagos. I later left for overseas for
studies; then I joined The Financial Times in 1998 and left
in June 1999 to set up News Africa which is a Pan-Africa news magazine which covers
the lifestyle of Africans in the Diaspora. News Africa is still running and in
2009, I teamed up with some investors to look at the idea of setting up a daily
paper in Nigeria. We started operation sometimes in 2010 and went into the
market on January 6, 2011. And three days ago, we became a daily
newspaper. Education wise, I read mass communication at the Polytechnic of Calabar from 1983-1985.
I was the best graduating student in my set. I left and went to work with Nigeria
Tide.
HND in Mass Communication. I left in 1991. I did my National Youth Service in
Abeokuta with the 82 Artillery Brigade, Alamala. I finished in 1992, went
back to The Nigerian Tide and then joined Sunray before Newswatch.
In 1996, I got a scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge
as a press fellow. I was there for three months. I left Cambridge and came back
to Nigeria. Then in 1997, I went back to England for a master degree in
Communications studies at the University of Leeds. I finished from
Leeds in 1998. All my life I have been a journalist, you can as well call me a
media entrepreneur if you like. In 1995 I was the Nigeria National Merit Award
journalist of the year. That same year was the year I also won the NUFFIELD
Press fellowship which is the one that took me to undergo a program at The
University of Cambridge. Family life; I am married with six children
and three grand children. We wondered how a very cool looking guy like him was
already a grand father, Moffat laughed before speaking further “I
actually got married at 19, so I am really ground in the(marriage) institution.
I have a twenty four years old daughter that has graduated me to the level of a
grand dad”.
chose journalism as a career, Moffat revealed to asabeafrika the motive
behind his passion for the biro and paper profession “From the on set I have
always seen journalism not as a career or a job. I have seen journalism more as
an opportunity to build a better society, to make a contribution to society.
That has had an impact in some ways because that is what has made me to stay in
journalism. There was a time most of my colleagues were leaving for the oil
companies, leaving for the banks as corporate affairs managers, I refused to
leave. Refusing to leave wasn’t an easy decision because you are refusing to
leave in those days to collect a salary of N2500
when by moving, you would have collected a salary of N250.000 every month. But I just believe that with journalism, the
world is your theatre and you can use it to make positive change in the
society. I believe so passionately in my country. I believe that Nigeria can
work. I believe that the reason the country is not working is because we are
not getting a few things right. And why are we not getting a few things right?
It is because of the culture of impunity. People do things and they can get
away with it. So, what journalism actually does is to afford us the opportunity
to say ‘no, what are those things we can do right? What are the contributions
we can make to foster the growth of the society?’, So, to me, journalism is not
a career but a tool for positive change. I have always looked at it as an opportunity
to effect change. But to what extent I can do that, I don’t know”.
short term publisher saw some of the ills bedeviling his profession and he made
his regrets known to asabeafrika “What has happened to
journalism in Nigeria is that we have not been able to train and retain our
best hands. I once went to an oil company and inside that oil company I
discovered they had enough first class journalists to produce a first rate
newspaper. The question is why did they leave journalism?. The answer is ‘who
wouldn’t if you get peanuts at the end of the month?’. That peanut doesn’t even
come and then you are offered a good life elsewhere. Even if you didn’t want to
go, your wife will ask if they swear for you.
So we have not been able to retain the good hands. And what that has done over
time is that the Nigerian journalism has become demoralized. Because you are
demoralized you can not also put in your best. Something else has also happened
to Nigerian journalism.
“if you are an editor in The Moment, I do not also expect you to be a public relations consultant to a state governor. Because there is no way you can combine both. You are either in public relations or you are in journalism. We have also said that if you are a journalist in The Moment we don’t want you to collect any advert for the newspaper because the moment you start doing that, your eyes will be on the advert and not on the story”.
professional newspapers. So, it is a matter of one politician having a
political interest and setting up a political newspaper. So, what we have is
that we have more political party’s newsletters masquerading as newspapers than
we should really have newspapers because if you are a newspaper you can’t also
be partisan; If I can only see good in PDP, the truth is I am not a newspaper.
If I am a newspaper, I have to be objective and impartial in my views. That is
what has happened.
has to serve that purpose. So, the very professional newspapers like we used to
have Daily Times of those days are
no longer there. Now, you have few newspapers that are very professional and
objective in their views. But in that same market, you have so many other
newspapers tied to political and economic interest. That is the problem with
journalism. And they will tell you, who pays the piper dictates the tune. So,
the public itself has come to start losing faith and trust in the newspapers.
And I always tell people that trust is like virginity, it is either you are a
virgin or you are not one. Once you lose your virginity, you can not recover it
back. Because of our alignment to political forces, we (media) are losing the
trust of the public which we are supposed to serve. Now, your question was, “what
are we doing to make a change?” What we are doing to change the trend is to say
‘ok, let’s run a very, very professional newspaper, a newspaper that runs on
professional principles. Let us restore self confidence among the journalists
we require; if you come here (The Moment) from the first day we ask you ‘what
are the working tools you need?’ We try to make sure we make all that available
for you. You are expected to take strict professional roles.
you are an editor in The Moment, I do not also expect you
to be a public relations consultant to a state governor. Because there is no
way you can combine both. You are either in public relations or you are in
journalism. We have also said that if you are a journalist in The
Moment we don’t want you to collect any advert for the newspaper
because the moment you start doing that, your eyes will be on the advert and
not on the story. We have our advert department. We have given them vehicles;
we have given them everything they need. Journalists, face journalism. But if
you expect so much from your journalist, you also have to deliver so much. So, what
have we done? We have decided that ‘ok,
whatever happens in this organization, we can not have salary in arrears. That
is the promise between us and our staff. At the end of every month, you collect
your salary; you go home and sort out yourself. You come back and you can do
the work. We have also invested in training; we bring in (media) trainers from
the UK to train our journalists. We have done that almost four times now. One
of them just left last weekend. We are saying that there is a global standard.
there. So, by bringing our trainers we are able to impact new set of skills to
our reporters. You might not see the impact immediately, but I tell you if you
look at this paper in the next few months you will see how we are evolving. In
fact if you read this newspaper three months ago, you won’t believe you are
dealing with the same newspaper today. In summary, what we have done is to
create a professional environment for the Nigerian journalist to be able to
practice and excel.
happened to live in for twelve years, the most influential person in that
country after the prime minister is actually the BBC political editor. But
if you are to ask who the most influential person in Nigeria is after the
president, it is actually either the pastor of a church, or one business man or
one politician. We can get there but to get there we have to put our house in
order. The Nigerian journalist must start earning the respect of the society.
The Nigerian journalist must start respecting himself. If you go for an
assignment and a man at the end of the day gives you five thousand naira there
is no way he can have respect for you. Because to him, the next story he reads
in your newspaper was only published because somebody might have given you ten
thousand naira. So, in otherwise, we have to go back to basis. And the basis is
that, a journalist is objective. He must be objective. He must be impartial. He
must be non partisan. If you are a partisan journalist, you can’t get it. It is
like asking the devil to serve communion in the Catholic Church. I just don’t
know how a journalist is a practitioner and at the same time a PR man to the
group you are expected to peruse. He is also aligned to a particular political
party. That is not the journalism I was thought and that is not the kind of
journalism we want to practice in The Moment”.
Ekoriko
see what could happen to his experiment in few months time, this blog had asked
Moffat if his voice was not going to be a lone one in the wilderness of media corruption
that has eaten fat into Nigeria and this was his reply “I will tell you my experience in life. Look,
the mob has never led a revolution. The mob can follow after the revolution has
started but it has never led one”. Asabeafrika wanted to know what the Akwa Ibom born media
entrepreneur had up sleeve that could make him survive where other more
determined ones like Wole Olojede’s NEXT publication stumbled. But Moffat
insisted that a revolution was not for the mob and ironically he was right.
Hear him “Even the French revolution was instigated by a few people before the
population joined. It will be difficult for you to get the mob to sit down and
say ‘we are starting a revolution today’. What I am saying is that any attempt
at change must start with one individual believing that change is possible. And
that individual will convince others that change is possible; and a few others
buying into the vision, that change is possible. And then the greatest-possible
number of people now believes that change is possible. So, we are trying to say
that with The Moment and that is why you don’t get to read a lot about us
in the newspapers. I am not in the business of making noise. I am in the business
of delivering on substance, in the business of change. We are doing something
gradual and even among our journalists here; I am beginning to see the impact
of what we have been trying to preach over the years. So, it is coming together”.
Moffat….’In Britain the most influential person after the Prime Minister is the BBC Political editor, but in Nigeria it is a Pastor’ |
ground we equally asked Mr. Moffat
who appeared austerely and spartanly like some one that will ever find it hard
to break his bond; we asked if in the long run he will be able to keep the
journalists in the news room in the face of a dwindling business modem faced
with multi-faceted challenges like the invention of internet based media, heavy
cost of production that resist to give immediate reward for productivity and
dwindling sales coupled with low advert revenue. Good enough, the Publisher
agreed with this blog that publishing was quite daunting in Nigeria but his ray
of hope shone better than an early morning sun. Hear him speak “The business
can work. Look at Punch, Punch is a
very, very professional newspaper. You don’t hear that Punch is owing salaries;
do you? You don’t hear that Guardian
owes salaries, do you? In fact, in Punch they tell you ‘bring your
advert and pay we will place your advert. If you don’t have money to pay, go
away with your advert, we don’t want. And you still find advert in PUNCH”
reminded Mr. Ekoriko that Punch has so many years of near liquidation and death
to itself to reach that milestone of earning fat patronage in advert and print
sale, Moffat boldly agreed again but not without his usual caveat emptor; hear
him talk hard “fine, It took years of
pain. That is also a point in this business. If you can not do a long haul,
don’t venture in to the media business. This is not a business for the short
term. Media business is not trading. You know a trader buys three mobile phones
for ten naira and he sells them for twelve naira and make a profit of two naira
maybe between a month and goes his way. He may even buy more. In this business
you have to plant a seed, nurture it, tend it, prune it and wait for it to
germinate. And one day you can start plucking the fruit. And let me shock you;
for you to go into media business, you must not be seeking profit. Let me put
it this way, for you to be well, you need to run the business on strong
professional motives. But if profit is your overriding motive, you will do
better selling cars or even selling electronics.
is pushing you to journalism. In our own case, it is that passion for a better
Nigeria. I tell my people I say this project is about Nigeria. It is not about
profit. I know how to make money; smatter and faster ways to make money. It is
not even about career. But we are trying to say that if other countries can
work, this country can work. Nigeria can work. Do you know this country is not supposed
to be in the position it is. We are where we are today because of something
very simple—unrestrained greed. That is what is destroying Nigeria, that
greed that has no query. A minister of works leaves office and you go to his bank
account and you meet billions of Naira. The same billions meant to repair
roads. This is the only country such a thing can triumph. If you listen to the
corruption cases in the UK, we talk about something as little as five pounds.
You went to church and you put five pounds in the box and you claim it as an
expense. And so they say ‘how could you an MP (Member of The parliament) do
that?. And you lose your position because of that. But in Nigeria, at a stage,
the law makers sat down and cornered twenty-five percent of the entire federal budgets
for their own welfare and didn’t see anything wrong in it. They weren’t exposed
by the journalists. The Nigerian journalists became blind. It took a Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi (former CBN Governor) to wake Nigerians to say ‘look at what
these guys are doing. They are literally
stealing from the pot’. That is the kind of practice our journalists indulge in
and that is why the state of corruption is alarming”.
spoke like someone who was ready to thread why angels feared to thread and
maybe was equally ready to pay the obvious price for such? His answer again
confirmed his optimism which unfortunately was short-lived “I don’t think the
issue of being afraid for your life is there. If you have to be successful in
life, the first thing to do is to be able to conquer the fear of fear. You can
become a prisoner to fear. You are afraid of failure, you are afraid of death.
You are afraid of being killed. You are afraid of loosing your friend, you are
afraid of things not going your way. You are afraid of being disgraced
tomorrow, you are afraid of humiliation, you are afraid of not being well
again, you are afraid of falling. You are afraid of not being born again. So,
if you want to be successful, the starting point is to be able to conquer that
fear of fear itself because some of the things we are afraid of end like that
at the end of the day. You may not die, you may not be poor. But because you have
allowed fear to conquer you, then you become a prisoner of fear. So, I don’t
think I have a fear for being able to practice an objective course”.
Newspaper” to birth on this blog in 48 hours from now)