Eku FM, TV stations will boost Delta economy – Edewor

Barr Mohammed Edewor hails from Eku community, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta state. He was born into the popular family of late Chief James Ogboko Edewor, the Obaisi of Urhobo land. Barr Edewor, a Muslim, had his early education in Eku Baptist High School, and later became a lawyer in England. He worked with Chief Rotimi Williams in his Chamber, in Lagos, before he opened his law firm known as ‘Edewor and Co’ in Lagos.

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Can you tell us about yourself?

I seat in the board of various companies, primarily, 9mobile, 9PSP, 9payment Service Bank, Insurance Company and I also have a Betting Company called Orbitbet which is live at the moment.
I have interest primarily in Telecom and Oil.
We have a Kenyan office that we will make public soon under the name and style, I.Cell Telecommunications International.
We are doing something there and in the next two weeks we will showcase it to the whole world.

There is a rumour that you are working towards opening Electronic Media platforms in Eku, Ethiope East local government area of Delta state, how true is this?

Confirmed. Yes, we are about 85% completed. We have done all the basic things needed. The studio, mast. There are three of these stations, Eku FM which is going to be Sports and Music, Gravitas FM which will be talk back 24 hours radio, and we also have Ndigo which is all about music.
We also have TV9. TV9 has no relationship with 9mobile but I thought let me honour my parent company by calling it TV9, it has no affiliation with 9mobile and they are all going to be based in Eku.
We have our Solar system, we have a Visat that allows us to have our own Wifi facility to transmit.
TV9 and the FM radio stations will all be on the platform of DSTV, so it could be seen worldwide, Nigeria and beyond.
However, TV9 shall be on free to air, so if you are in this area of Delta state or sister states, you will be able to see TV9 for free.
You do not need a DSTV platform to be able to see TV9 because I want our people to be able to see TV9 with ease.

Can you tell us what has informed your decision to establish these private Radio and TV stations in Eku?

Well, apart from Eku community being my home town, we all can testify to it that, economically, Lagos, Abuja are saturated and then the cost of coming from Eku to the nation is cheaper.
The cost of having to put up that structure in Lagos will be three times more.
So I looked at it economically and most importantly our people, that will be gainfully employed, looking at about 120 workers which has a multiplying effect.
There are things that will happen behind the radio stations that we are also working on that will also create job opportunities for our people.
I could have gone to Abeokuta, my children’s grandfather’s place, but I came home and l can assure you it will boost the economy of Delta state if it starts operations.

There is no doubt that this project will take so much funds, so how much are you looking at to have it completed?

Let me answer that, like late M.K.O Abiola used to say, funds are by the Grace of God. I have the funds. God gave it to me, so you have to also give it back to the people.

This project, if completed will increase your wealth?

No. In Nigeria electronic media does not make you rich. You are not going to become very rich from Radio or TV stations.
However, it gives you an opinion, it gives you and your people a voice. I am not going to wake up one morning and say oh! My bedroom is full of money because I have three radio stations and a TV station. No. That is not my dream.
Indeed if I have a Newspaper being printed here which of course I am thinking of doing, it doesn’t also mean that you are going to be rich.
It gives you and your people a voice and makes you comfortable.

I am asking because of the funds for payment of staff in the three FM and TV stations?

The economics of the three FM and TV stations is a very viable one. Three stations allow you to cover the spectrum of the market. What are you looking for in the market? Are you looking for a dynamic where it is only young people, middle age people or a certain demographic.
If you have three stations, you will cover all. Some of our competitions now have nine stations, that is because they want to cover the country, they want to cover a certain demographic. But we are doing it all here with our people.

So what is going to be your target audience?

We cover all. We are looking beyond Universities like Abraka, Oleh, Oghara, Benin and beyond. We are looking at them from Ndigo FM. All things that they like to hear and dance will happen in Ndigo FM.
Then Gravitas FM is the one elected officials will put their legs on fire to ask critical questions on the course of development in their areas, why are the lights failing. That is what Gravitas FM will be doing but not knocking the government, other areas will be touched also.
So Gravitas FM is really going to be ‘Talk Back’. Eku FM is the one for the middle age, the young, for everybody. It accommodates everybody.
Eku FM will have affiliate stations like Jumbo FM in Edembro, Skye FM in London, Stumd FM in Nairobi.
During the launch we are going to link them all. On YouTube it will be live and then we will show it on our station. Those kinds of things that make young people jump will be done.

Across the cities in Delta, we have other Radio and TV stations operating, so what kind of standard are you looking at?

We have the newest equipment, and I am going to give the very best. I am going to find something that will make my people happy. That is why our physical strength will be about 120 staff and we are going to have OBVAN which will enable us to be doing live broadcasting from Asaba, Abuja and any major event anywhere in the country.
That is my vision for the broadcast company. So you have the choice of watching it elsewhere but you will say TV9 is clearer and cleaner so I can watch it there.
And you can watch it for free if you are from within the area. Our Mast is 80 metres into the sky, our didh is 12 meters so we can pick very clear signals and we have up to date technology. We work with Cloud technology.

Sir, we all know Radio and TV stations have to do with professionals, so what are the directions you will be looking at?

On employment, we have an Human Resources (HR), a man called Brian Rowal, he is a Scottish Man and he is coming with a team of three people. My philosophy is to get our people and pick those who have the skills and we teach them.
So by the time we go on air, they will learn to know and we go on head hunt elsewhere, but 80% of our staff should be fresh hands.

Are you making any difference by taking your staff outside the shores of this country for training?

For us, that will not be necessary because everything we have to work with, we have them here and they have to be tutored here. Where it is critical, we head hunt. But generally we do it here.
I have met a lot of our people in Lagos. Urhobos, Isokos, Itsekiris, Ijaws, Igbos from Delta state who have said, ‘I will quit my job to join you’. The fact that they are coming home. They want to come back home and drive to work every day.

What is the cost of setting up these three FM and TV stations and when will the stations commence broadcasting?

It is a lot of money, and we are commencing in the next few months by the Grace of God, since everything is already in place.

What is your message to Deltans and Nigerians as you work towards opening the stations?

Well, as we work torward opening the stations, we are looking for quality. Real quality of broadcasting and journalism. It will be different, it will be something out of the ordinary, will it excel. Time has been spent on it plus I enjoy coming home. If there is somebody out there that we are going to copy, it’s not here. We are going to be what we call excellent.

Won’t distance from home affect the business in terms of the administration?

I am not here to run it. I am just here to look at what they are doing. I am not going to run it. We have a Group Chief Executive Officer (Group CEO) for TV and Radio coming to run it.

On your staff strength?

We have 30 staff working there. All the 120 staff will not be professionals, as we will start from the front man (gate man) to the Group CEO.
So we have gardeners, security, cleaners, all of them will amount to 120 staff. There are people who have to clean the place, security, drivers, computer analysts.