APCOM tasks newly-appointed Lagos State Commissioners, SAs on grassroots development

AgegePulse Magazine

… charges appointeees with delivering high quality performance in office

The umbrella body of community journalists in Nigeria, the Association of Practitioners of Community Media in Nigeria (APCOM), has tasked the newly appointed executive committee of the Lagos State Government with undertaking initiatives tailored towards grassroots development.

The association also charged the newly appointed officials with delivering high quality performance in the discharge of their duties to achieve meaningful impact in the lives of all Lagosians.

APCOM congratulated the officials, stating that their appointments were in recognition of their stellar contributions to community development and growth over the years.

In a statement released by the Association, the President and Publisher of Today Community Newspapers, Mr. Dayo Akintobi said: “We congratulate all the newly-appointed members of the Lagos State Cabinet, with particular emphasis on the Ministries of Information & Strategy as well as the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, both of which APCOM collaborates with in serving the interests of information dissemination and community development in Lagos State.

"We are proud of the appointments as they are well-deserved considering the exemplary backgrounds of the appointees to these two ministries in information dissemination and community advocacy.

Akintobi added that the officials must show commitment to serving the people diligently, professionally, ethically, and truthfully.

Furthermore, the association stressed its own commitment to supporting the government in achieving its target of elevating Lagos State into Africa’s third-largest economy by 2020.

“We consider it critical that in alignment with APCOM’s objectives of promoting community growth and development, the association will continue to propagate the ideals of government as well as publicize its activities, strategies, and initiatives to the citizens of the great State of Lagos,” the statement concluded.

APCOM DENOUNCES SHOOTING OF COMMUNITY MEDIA PRACTITIONER, OTHER JOURNALISTS, AT APC LAGOS RALLY

... calls for prosecution of shooters and better security measures for protection of life and property at political rallies

AgegePulse Magazine

The Association of Practitioners of Community Media in Nigeria (APCOM), the registered umbrella body for community media practitioners in Nigeria, is deeply disturbed about the outbreak of violence at the Lagos State rally of the All Progressives Congress(APC) on Tuesday, January 8, 2019, during which a number of persons sustained injuries, including a community media practitioner, two mainstream journalists, and a chieftain of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), among others.

According to eyewitness reports, a scuffle broke out between rival factions of the transport union who were in attendance at the rally. During the melee, guns were fired and machetes wielded, resulting in gunshot wounds to the three journalists, and a stab wound to the neck of the union leader.

Caught innocently in the crossfire of stray bullets were community media cameraman, Abiodun Yusuf of Ijoba Ibile TV; group political editor of the Nation Newspaper, Emmanuel Oladesu; and News Telegraph correspondent, Temitope Ogunbanke.

APCOM in no uncertain terms condemns this brazen and unwarranted assault on our colleagues while in the line of duty. The Association demands that the perpetrators of the dastardly shootings be apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law.

Of the eight persons reported to have been transported to hospital from the scene for treatment of injuries, three were journalists. This disproportionate statistic speaks to the dangerous nature of journalists' jobs and makes a case for why extra security measures must always be in place to protect them during potentially volatile assignments like coverage of political rallies.

While there is no evidence that journalists were specifically targeted for attack during the Lagos APC 2018 flag-off rally, the fact that the three got hit in the first place indicates that they were likely at the forefront of the rally action, jockeying for the best position from which to capture the proceedings for later reporting to their audience.

That is the nature of a journalist's job, and the work ethic embraced by every member of APCOM. The coverage comes first --- thoughts of safety or comfort are relegated to a lesser consideration.

That thus puts the onus of protecting a journalist in the line of duty on the security agencies and on the political parties during campaigns.
It is for this very reason that the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage came into existence, which obligates political parties to ensure the safety of journalists covering their activities including campaigns.

As demonstrated by the events of the Lagos APC 2018 flag-off rally however, the party did not do its duty to the journalists in attendance as required by the Code.

Political rallies need not necessarily be dangerous affairs. They can be well organised and properly policed, which, according to an APCOM member who was present, the Lagos APC rally was neither.

To keep violence in check and inhibit a repeat occurrence of the mayhem of the Lagos APC 2018 flag-off rally, political parties should do more to keep their supporters docile, even rival factions and contending caucuses.

Security agencies also need to step up, first and foremost taking steps to keep weapons out of rally venues and keeping a close watch on warring factions to quell minor skirmishes before they escalate into full-blown confrontations.

And we journalists have a responsibility to protect ourselves at all times and remain safe during potentially volatile assignments, particularly election coverage. It is one of APCOM’S objectives to secure insurance coverage for our members in partial mitigation of the occupational hazards we face daily.

Beyond journalists, the entire population of Nigerian citizens need their safety ensured, not just at political rallies, but in their homes and on the streets.

APCOM will continue to advocate for a better quality of life for all Nigerians in the various communities around the country.

The Association sends its best wishes to the brave journalists affected by the shootings at the Lagos APC 2018 flag-off rally and wishes them a speedy recovery and restoration to full health.

Ikeja Electric Commences Installation Of 85,000 Pre-Paid Meters

… Collaborates with Community Media to Reach the Communities

In what seem to be a family meeting, the Corporate Communication team of Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IE) led by Mr Felix Ofule with Mr Fidelix, Mr Ayeni and others had a maiden edition of media parley with Association of Practitioners of Community Media in Nigeria (APCOM) on Wednesday. The event which took place at the upper room of Yellow Chilies Restaurant and bar had members of the pen industry drawn from nooks and crannies of network coverage of IE.



The head of corporate communications of the energy company Mr Felix Ofulue hinted on the need for the collaboration which in his words, ought to have been held earlier before now but for some logistics. He however noted that it is better late than never while reiterating that having understood the roles of the community media especially for a peculiar outfit such as IE, it is paramount to nurture a forum such as this for mutual benefits.

The aim of the meeting was to partner the community media in disseminating information to their various communities with the understanding of some of the usual challenges faced with customers and ways of achieving possible solutions to them. The issue of pre-paid meter was top on the list as it affects even the men of the pen world. Mr. Ofulue informed the gathering that IE is highly desirous to meter each of its customers; however the prevailing economy has not made it possible for IE to achieve that while noting that prior to the current phase of pre-paid installations of 85,000 meters ongoing IE had invested about thirty million US Dollars on metering her customers before it was halted. He said that the current phase is done through a method of identifying highly revenue zones which will in turn enhance her revenue generation for further investments, while assuring that in the next six months the issue on metering will be drastically reduced in addition with the proposed Meter Asset Providers (MAP) currently been fine tuned for implementation by the federal government. He reiterated the benefits accruing to the company which he said was enormous.




While answering question on why the estimated bills have persisted despite the public outcry, Mr Ofulue hinted that though it is agreeable that the estimated bill system does not reflect the true consumption of customers which can only be solved by metering every customer however IE has reduced the basis of estimation on actual consumption per transformers by installing meters to all the transformers thereby determining the actual consumption within the community using such transformers, he counselled further consumers to help IE in monitoring the consumption within or community and using the appropriate whistle-blower to report such while noting that it is very impossible for IE to carryout consumption assessment on all her customers, hence since the ripple effect of consumption of one customer is borne by all, it is therefore imperative for every consumer to be watchful and report such to IE authorized agent for appropriate investigation and subsequent actions.



Head Corporate Communication Ikeja Electric Driving home his point


On outstanding or inherited bills he enlightened the men of the press that by explaining that the energy sector is broken into different units which include the generation companies (GENCOs) transmission companies (TCNs) Distribution Companies (DISCOs) which IE represents, hence for any consumption the DISCOs earn about 24-25% the GENCOs earn about 50% and so on; therefore it is very difficult for any debt irrespective of who consumed it to be written off by any DISCO, he advised that in the case of rental of an apartment the prospective tenant should demand for the position of energy bill before accepting such, where it is observed that there are outstanding the tenant should demand from the landlord/landlady on how to offset such, on the other it is expedient for landlord/landlady to notify IE of any tenant failing to pay his or her energy bill for disconnection and further actions before such tenants moves.

Mr. Ayeni Akinola added that even in the case of outright purchase of a property, it is important to verify the status of such property before purchase as the bill will always surface at the time of reconnection of the new property which was termed by publisher of The Alimosho Mail as “ancestral bill”. In his (Mr. Felix) word, no bill can be written off by any DISCO once it is issued as it will mean owing the other parties.

Furthermore he used the opportunity to mention of the exclusive customer pilot program which is currently text run with Ikeja GRA, which has seen IE investing more within the axis which has also improved their supply with the effect of paying more. He boasted that power has improved tremendously except for areas with difficulties like lack of payment, threat to life of IE personnel etc.

He reiterated that IE does not tolerate any assault on its staff for any reason as it will plunge such area into darkness without any apology and for the areas with low payment; it will be unwise as a business to continue supplying such area with energy thereby forcing the company to plunge resources from other areas into such areas. While responding on question on ceeding part of their network jurisdiction to private GENCOs (Embedded Power) as the case with Isheri Whitesand and Obadore, he vehemently rejected the possibility of such without proper agreement on the modus operandi.

On why installation of transformer bought by communities sometime become almost impossible to connect to the grid and the possibility of a community retrieving materials bought for the purpose of power supply; he opined that there are due processes, standards and specifications for the purchase of any electrical product; that if any of such is not met it becomes very difficult to effect such connection while stressing that it is impossible for any community to retrieve any appliance from any Disco as there would have been an agreement signed before such is connected.

Ofulue further assured that the engagement will be frequent while reiterating the need to partner community media and used the medium to inform the forum of their whistle blower handle which he said is an independent partner from the personnel of IE and urge members to always report issues to the appropriate quarters of decision makers and not to marketers who he said are not part of the decision maker. Issues should be reported to the undertaken offices through the commercial manager or to the business unit office before escalating to Alausa. While on the social media platforms he said that efforts are often made by escalating issues to the appropriate quarters once it is received, however unlike the telecommunication industry the energy sector requires physical inspection/assessment of issues hence it is difficult to get feedback immediately as in the case of telecos.

The president of APCOM Mr Dayo Akintobi on behalf of the association thanked IE for such recognition and pledged support of the association to IE, in what seem to be the case of Oliver Twist, he further highlighted the challenges of community media and the need for a partnership such as this be backed with supports such as quarterly advert placements.