THE MAN BEHIND DAAR COMMUNICATIONS--AIT

The story of DAAR Communications Plc has always been fraught with mixed feelings of excitement, hope, as well as trepidation.

Depending on where they belong, many people are of the opinion that Ray Power and African Independent Television have offered enough room for the public to aspire to greatness, not just within the African continent, but the world over, which the television station is set to venture into in a few weeks’ time.

The chairman of the outfit, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, who has been the driving force behind the success of private broadcast media in the country, says that there is always a need to continue to push whatever one believes, in even in the face of adversities.

According to him, ”We want Nigerians to aspire to greatness and this is possible. For some of you, you will recall that the development aspect of Daar Communications faced a lot of challenges around the year 2000, when we had receiver managers take over the premises of Alagbado in Lagos. And a lot of people thought that was the end of the organisation. After all, they said private broadcasting would never thrive in Nigeria and that it was absolute madness. It was the desire of the government at that time to really bring Daar Communications and private broadcasters to their knees.”

The Edo State born high chief, whose organisation has provided a platform for the downtrodden to see the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the government, believes that getting to the stage where the television and radio outfits are today, has been through miracles and the love God has for Nigerians, who believe in the cause of justice.

With nobody to look up to as a godfather, Dokpesi says, “My mother only sold akara in Ibadan to see us through school. I believe every Nigerian should be given the opportunity to aspire for greatness without looking for a godfather.”

Recalling some of the sad experiences, he says it is “unnecessary for one to be looking for gloves and a ring after God had fought for him,” adding that “we can only glorify, thank God and everybody that saw us through the challenges at that time.”

He says the intention of the Daar management its at inception was to meet the minimum five years requirement that the Security and Exchange Commission placed for a company to have operated as a private limited liability company before going to the stock exchange.
Speaking with satisfaction on the success of the company’s initial public offer, he says, “Well, I do not have to sing the praises of Daar Communications to mention all the firsts and all the ground-breaking efforts that we have gone through. Those are easy to find. But, significantly, we have tried to change the face of broadcasting in Nigeria.

“We have paid our dues and we will continue to pay our dues. We went to the stock exchange believing very strongly that the ordinary people of Nigeria have faith and confidence in Daar Communications. What we have done on their behalf is an indication that the airwaves do not belong to us. They belong to the Nigerian people. We are just holding it in trust for all Nigerians.

Let me reiterate also that the offer proceeds will be applied very strictly and prudently.”
On the immediate and future plans for the much expected multi-channel pay station that will beam the country and the continent to the world, he says the best in broadcast and digital transmission equiptment are already on the ground to make AIT the station to beat in the whole of Africa.

He adds that the multi-channel project will begin test-transmission in August, while the official take-off will be September. This much was revealed when journalsits were conducted round the various studios that had reached advanced stages of installation. “But the good point is that every item that is required is already on the ground. We are starting with 40 channels. It is going to be transmitting on high definition. It is quite challenging. We are launching broadcasting at a different pedestal,” he says. “The multi-channel, pay TV platform will be taking off from Abuja. We are also looking at totally transforming and upgrading the facilities in each of the stations across the country from analogue television broadcasting to full digital TV platform. Not only in terms of the studio facilities, but the whole entirety of broadcasting for all our stations across the country. “We will also look at the issue of building a film village in Lagos to enhance our capacity to undertake some productions, not only movies for sale to other people, but also for our own television consumption. We are looking at TV consuming content and enhancing, uplifting the standards for us to come at par with modern day television broadcasting in any part of the world.”

The success of Daar Communications, he says, will also be tied to the golden jubilee of television in Nigeria next year. Dokpesi says, “We are looking forward very strongly to bringing Nigeria‘s glory in broadcasting back to its proper place. Nigeria, in the continent of Africa, started TV broadcasting in October 1959, but, today, we have to depend on South Africa and other African countries for modern day television broadcasting. We want to play our small role in ensuring that Nigeria‘s honour and glory are fully returned and also re-establish the leadership role we ought to be playing in TV broadcasting in the continent.”

From all indications, it is obvious that Dokpesi’s projection for the multui-channel station is to have a number of stations wrapped into one in such a way that a viewer would hardly bother to switch to another television station. He says, “We are going to be looking at the entertainment sector. We are bringing in a number of channels that have to do with movies from Hollywood, Bollywood, and Nollywood. In the UK, AIT Moviestar is already making waves. Ecostar in the US, we are having discussions to have both AIT general entertainment channel and Moviestar bundled together for the American audience. For news, we have quite a number of channels that are coming in. There is also a lot of sport. In the nearest future, we want to build up documentaries on West African history.”

The eight channels from Daar Communications, which include the 24-hour AIT News, will use correspondents on the ground in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, together with US Bureau and UK Bureau. ”In addition, there is going to be a children channel. We have about 12,000 hours of children programmes that we have acquired, total library that we have taken on. From the last quarter of October when all our network stations would have been on stream, the whole face of AIT would totally transform. Whether we will be able to have sufficient advertising support is what I have left to the financial people to look at. But, for me, the entire dream of transforming and strengthening and upgrading the face of television would have been substantially achieved,” he says. ”There is going to be Sahara 1 for the Indian loving people; from the US, Fox Sky is coming in, as well as detective stories. This is the rationale behind some of the structures we are putting up here in Abuja as the headquarters of Daar Communications.”

His vision to see the Nigerian project work and the need to create a platform that can successfully launder the image of the country and by extension the continent, is exemplified in his belief and preparedness to work with perceived competitors in the industry
According to him, “I do not have any objection to even have NTA on the platform. It is just a matter of Africanising and bringing in to our people those things that are indigenous to us, thereby supporting their growth. “When the offer proceeds come in, they can only go further in enhancing and consolidating our giant strides. It was an offer at give-away price, but we will see how it goes,” he says.