Dr Thomas Aaze Adaba, usually called Dr Tom Adaba is well-known in the broadcast industry where he spent many years in the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), rising to the level of deputy director and then he became the pioneer Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) which is the regulator of all broadcasting now in the country. He has done many other things including teaching at various levels in addition to his broadcasting career. He was 81 in July and he has now passed into the rare members of our elder statesmen who are still alive and are enriching us with their own lives.
I am struck by one thing reading about you; the constant reference to God; indeed your biography is called “But for God”. Let’s start with that; what is your relationship with God?
Without Him I am nothing; without God I am absolutely nothing, and with Him I am all He wants me to be. Right from my birth, I don’t want to call it coincidental or accidental; I think it is the hand of God at work.
My parents had three children before me and each of them died at infancy. The death of the third one was so heartbreaking for them. People were coming to commiserate with them when a reverend father came to commiserate with them and finally after prayers he said, “Don’t worry, God is going to give you the next child, who is going to be a male and he will stay; name him after me”. He was Revd. Father Thomas Duffill from Ireland. Not long after that, my mum got pregnant and the mission was watching over her because months into the pregnancy my dad was recruited into the British Army for operation in India. So I was even born in his absence.
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When the pregnancy was 6-months-old, the Reverend Father had to send her to the nearest catholic hospital which was within the diocese, to protect everything. We were all under the Diocese of Benin then and the nearest catholic hospital was in Asaba.
Were you born in Asaba?
I was born in Asaba which was part of Benin Diocese alongside Okene. On July 2nd, I was born and the name was not difficult to come about; it had already been given to me by the priest even before I was conceived. And my mum was there with me for some months or so and then we had to come back home; to Okene. We stayed in Okene and I grew up there in the mission environment because my guardian was the catechist of the church, of the parish then. It was there I began my primary school.
Did you want to be a priest yourself?
Yes, I did.
Then what happened?
When I was about leaving the primary school, I had it in mind because I had been a good altar server, you know, very much involved in the church affairs. So I was sent to a place, St. Peter Clever Seminary in Okpala, in present day Imo State and you can imagine what it would be to leave Okene, to go through Asaba, and cross the river to Onitsha, get to Ihiala and then continue going until you get to Okpala. I was there for about two years and I left. Well I want to believe it wasn’t my vocation; it wasn’t God’s will for me.
So I later went into the teaching profession right from the base. I did my teacher’s Grade 3 at Our Lady of Schools, Anyingba, now in Kogi State on the other side of the river. I spent two years there instead of three; well they gave me that grace and by the grace of God, I didn’t disappoint the authorities. I spent two years there and I got my teacher’s Grade 3 in 1960, then 1961 I taught at the catholic mission in Okene.
In the same year (1961), I struggled to go in for my Grade 2 course, but it was a bit difficult. Apparently the catholic priest who was then the manager of schools felt that I was doing quite a few things in the parish, so he wouldn’t just release he wanted me to spend another one year which I wasn’t happy about at all.
Fortunately, I did two entrance examinations; the one to St. Enda’s Teachers College in Zaria and the other to Government Teacher’s College in Okene. In the two cases, I didn’t seem to have any hope but I believed very strongly in prayers.
On December 31st, I got a letter from Government Teachers College Okene that I had been given admission and you can imagine what relief that was to me. It wasn’t the best of things for the mission and the priest but it was ultimate.
Did you teach for a long time?
I taught for one year with my Grade 3 then I went in for the Grade 2 in Okene Teachers College and when I finished, the then Government of Northern Nigeria gave me an appointment to teach in that same school.
What took you out of Okene to a place like Bichi? That is very strange.
I did the entrance examination to Zaria Advanced Teachers College, which was the only one in the North then. I passed very well but something happened.
When I was going for the interview for Zaria Advanced Teachers College, I applied to my principal, who was a white man, for some days off and the allowances to go with it. He replied that he would allow me to go for the interview but there was no monetary incentive. I drew his attention to the general order, you know where all these provisions were, then he sent for me and he told me, yes, you may know the GO but I am not going to give you any money.
I told him in very strong terms that it was my entitlement. You can imagine this; at this time when these white people were all over.
So he reported this argument to the headquarters in Kaduna and there, the man in charge of teacher training was a white man, Mr Spicer, and the man who did this to me was Mr Colman; so apparently the man in Kaduna didn’t take it lightly that a common Grade 2 teacher, would confront my principal. So by October 1965, I got a letter posting me to Bichi.
Which was a punishment posting?
Yes! I had not heard of the name Bichi in my life. So fortunately for me, there was this young man who was teaching in Kano, but was posted to Okene. You know, it was the North so you could be posted anywhere.
He now told me: “Don’t worry, Bichi is just 26miles away from Kano, on Katsina road, so don’t worry, you will be all right.” So he gave me a lot of encouragement. And I got myself set and ready to go.”
So, how did you cope, an Okene man in Bichi in the 60’s?
Fortunately, the environment was very friendly. You know, maybe because of my approach to my teaching, they were quite happy with me, and I quickly made friends.
Did you live in Bichi or you were coming from Kano?
No, I was in Bichi. I was in the staff quarters in Bichi, right next to the school itself. So I stayed there and apparently the decision was that I would not be allowed to go for the NCE course that year.
So how did you end up in America?
Yes, but that was after one year. Now what actually happened was that by 1965, 66, the American Government had given the Kano Advanced Teachers College, to the Northern Nigerian Government as a gift, the typical American institution that was set up there. They had a television station; they had audio-visual, all sorts of things.
So when I noticed that this was in operation, I said I won’t even attend Zaria again when I was doing it the second time; that was in 1966. So I decided to take on Kano ATC and I got it and fortunately, by September/October that year, I got in there and started my course for the advanced teachers college.
When did you go to the US?
I was there; at ATC, very much involved in social activities and the authorities generally were pleased with me.
I was in my second year in 1968 and I was the director of socials, so I organised a concert, a big one at Wapa in Kano. There were various activities and we invited all the expatriates who were there as well as the Nigerian lecturers.
So things went on very well and apparently of course, they went back home to give the message that these were the things that happened. This took place on a Saturday, so the following Monday, the chief of party sent a message on the notice board, that he wanted to see Mr Thomas Adaba, so I went, and he said ‘wonderful! I heard so many good things about what you did on Saturday and I said thank you very much’. He apologised that he couldn’t come and he gave us ten pounds to support the students’ union.
And he asked: “Do you think it is possible to replicate some of those things you know in a studio situation?” I said yes! The dances and what have you could easily be done. We could easily invite those people again. He said: “Go and see one Mr Clark in the TV studio,” and I didn’t even know that we had a TV studio there.
So I found my way there and the first man I saw was a white man and I said well I have come to see Mr Clark and he said, “What can we do for you?” I told him I was sent by the chief of the party, and then he said, “Well, okay, what is it all about?” I said well it is on account of what we did on Saturday, that he wanted to have some of them recorded on TV.
The man didn’t tell me he was Mr Clark; we were just talking. He now involved me in a lot of conversation; fortunately I didn’t have any problem with my English. At the end of it, he said, “Well Tom, I have in mind that I have been looking for somebody who would present a student programme for me on TV and it looks like I have found one” and I said oh, thank you very much!
Then he said, “Now go back and write down exactly what you intend to do on a weekly basis as a students’ programme”.
So was that your first exposure to broadcasting?
Yes, so the following day which was Wednesday, we hit the ground running; they all assembled and were called in, one after the other; the president, the this, the that and gave them two minutes and I anchored it.
And by the time I finished, Mr Clark himself was directing the programme. He came into the studio and just carried me up, and said, “Tom, you did a marvelous job. Where have you been practising broadcasting?” I said I have never handled a microphone in my life. He couldn’t believe it and I believe that was what impressed him most.
Did it lead to other things?
I am coming to it. And this now prompted him to recommend me among the other Nigerians who were to go to Ohio University and study to take over from them.
How many of you?
We were up to six.
So how was it for you to suddenly find yourself in America from Bichi?
From Bichi to Kano and then, he never said a word until later, I got some forms to fill for my American visa; I didn’t know what it was. The first was to get a passport. I never had anything like that before and before you know what was happening, I was able to get that. The next was the American visa, which they handled and lo and behold, you know, this time around, I was in my final year and this was in February. January, February was when he told me, “Tom, we shall be sending you to the United States to study and you would be studying mass communication.” I looked at him.
On the strength of that programme you did broadcasting?
Subsequently I was running a weekly programme, students’ programme; I couldn’t believe it, me, America? What am I? I had been struggling to get into Radio Television, Kaduna office, and he said no way, the demand was very high.
Even at that stage, you had broadcasting in mind?
I had it in mind but before then I had the military in mind and that is why in my NCE, I did physical education, so when I finished my NCE, I would easily get my passage into NDA but that never materialised. My second choice was broadcasting which now came up and I blessed God for that.
Tell us about America; you found yourself in Ohio?
You know, what it is with JJC, I got there and got my orientation in Washington DC. I got to Michigan to do the certificate course in mass communication. That was where I got my first certificate in mass communication and then came down to Ohio onto the business. This was during the fall.
Let me ask you about life in America; you were a young man from Okene, to Kano. Was it strange?
Of course, quite a number of things; even the entire learning experience, the educational system. You know lecturers would come and give you assignments not thinking that maybe other lecturers had given you similar assignments. Fortunately, Kano had prepared me for that because many of the American lecturers who were there were doing the same thing, so I was kind of used to that.
And there was a day I was going for a course in the education department and as I was descending the hill, some flakes were falling on my jackets. They were brownish and I was wondering where on earth these were coming from.
So when I got to the gate of my faculty, I asked about these flakes, and they said they were snow. I had all along heard of it but I had never seen it. This was incredible! It became white later; was kind of brownish from the beginning. It was an amazing experience; in fact when I was in the class, I was looking through the window, it distracted my attention from the class. It was quite some experience.
Otherwise, did you suffer any discrimination, any deprivations from the students?
No, not exactly. As a matter of fact, I don’t know. I got quite some regards from those I was in contact with. I don’t know if I was much of a mixer as such. I think to some extent I was but I never had any problems.
So here you were; you finished your first degree, you came home. What were you doing at home?
Yes, I came home and I was teaching in Kano and then handling the TV station.
When did you go for masters and eventually to ABU as a lecturer?
You know ATC Kano was a part of ABU, so during the long holidays I would be invited to the Institute of Education headquarters in ABU to teach students undergoing postgraduate diploma in education communication in education. So it was like that until later, they moved me fully to Zaria and I was in the Institute of Education running a teacher in education programme, and that was where I was for upwards of eight months, nine months.
Then when Dr Girgis Salama was in charge of distant education in ABU, I was doing it on Radio Television Kaduna. He resigned and got a job as the GM of the new television station established in Jos. That was then Benue-Plateau Television. And of course, he was so used to me.
So one day he came and I went to play tennis and when I was coming out, I saw him and he said, “I am no more here”. I said maybe I should get a job there and he said “that is why I come”.
We talked for a while and he said, “I will send you a letter when I get back to Jos,” and I said okay and true to his word, he did. He sent me a letter to attend an interview. I went; I attended the interview and the people seemed impressed, they gave me the job; so that is how I left ABU in 1974 to be a pioneer staff member of the new television station in Jos.
People assumed that all your life was in NTA, so it seems surprising. You started with Benue –Plateau Television?
You know Benue-Plateau Television, but when in 1977, this was under Obasanjo all the state-owned television stations were converted to NTA. We were all NTA; NTA Enugu, NTA Kano, NTA this.
So that is when you became a part of NTA?
Yes.
And in your career in NTA, I think at some point you left for the TV College while you were still in Jos…?
Yes, it was still NTA; I was just posted to Jos TV College.
How was the experience? You seemed to have stayed so long there.
Wonderful! It was quite good, it was quite challenging.
Were you the pioneer director?
Yes, pioneer principal of TV College. This was in 79, 80. I attended the interview and they gave me the job and started from nothing.
Fortunately, NTA Jos was very helpful. You know, the courses that I ran, and I think it was my teaching experience that they looked at and they gave me that job.
I was the messenger, the driver, and everything until I began to employ people one after the other. And I depended very much on NTA Jos for a lot of things that I initially did to get started as a principal of the TV College.
Then you know I had a place; we ran the first course which was on television animation. Fortunately the headquarters arranged for somebody who came all the way from California to come and teach it and we used NTA Jos because they had the equipment.
It turned out very well because all the various stations in the country you know and by the time they finished, back home they were not beginning to animate things for children’s programme and what have you.
Is the TV College still thriving?
Oh yes, in fact it even offers degree courses now but at that time we limited ourselves to just short term courses and we were challenged at that material time.
If you remember in 79 during the Shagari government, many of the states that were in opposition to the NPN were very uncomfortable that they were using the NTA to cover themselves, so they petitioned very seriously. They worked very hard for some independence to own their stations and they succeeded.
Lagos State Television I was telling you about some time ago and all the others, in Kano and so on and so forth; you know all the states that were in opposition owned their stations to promote themselves and to inform the world about themselves.
So, of course they had to poach staff from NTA. NTA was now beginning to deplete in terms of staff competition and of course the TV College was now a handy institution to help in training staff on emergency level for basic things, camera running, on presentation and so on and so forth; to fill up for the gap that has been left.
And it was so natural, if you are a Kano person and there is now a Kano TV, and you are in NTA, they will only naturally come to you and say look, come home, this is home.
And give you a higher appointment?
Exactly and they did that and as a result of that many left NTA. We had to replenish by training on an ad hoc basis. You know for a number of people and that is why we ran short courses then but then we later began to upgrade.
What do you think is the highlight of your career in NTA?
Two things; my experience in FESTAC 77, I was appointed the assistant chairman of presentation, and it wasn’t particularly funny because you know the various NTA stations that came in to run it and people you didn’t know before, for you to now begin to assign duties to them, you know it wasn’t particularly easy.
But thank God, a number of them were quite cooperative. You know, you give them the roster, you post them here, and they are there. In others, no, there were rascals, who would not even go, but rather find places to be drinking beer in the national theatre. Sometimes I would go round and catch them there. I say what the hell are you doing here? You are supposed to be at such a venue. Because they were from different stations, you had no control over them at such.
But, it was quite some experience you know; I undertook to do some of these jobs where there were no people. And for the entire experience, it was a very long lasting one. It was great being involved in FESTAC.
I was not only directing, producing but I was also running commentaries and so on and so forth. It was one month, one real month I tell you, one solid month, I virtually broke down at one stage but it was, I will call it, a highlight.
But as if that wasn’t enough, two or three months after, Jos was to the base for world scout jamboree and my GM said you will handle it but I thank God it went very well.
So you spent quite a bit of time in the headquarters of NTA doing various things.
Not quite a bit of time; I spent more of it in Jos really working in the station.
Were you GM at some point?
Yes, working in the station and also as principal of the TV College all in Jos. After seven years, I requested time off to go to Indiana University for a master’s degree. Graciously they agreed; I went and did it and came back early enough for the elections and I was very much involved in it.
Was this 79 election?
Yes, and that is where I did my masters and when I finished the seven years at the TV College, I requested for a leave of absence to do my PhD which I did in Jos; by 1980, I had finished.
So this was all in the plan to go back to teaching?
I had actually thought of going back to teaching, to some extent. I actually thought that having a PhD and being the principal of a college was an added advantage for me. But when I finished, NTA said I should come to the headquarters, so I went to the headquarters.
Was this Lagos then?
Yes, in 1990. I was there still as assistant director and quite a number of nasty things happened but I thank God we survived it all.
But one of the nastiest, if I may say so, was the attempt to retire you when you were deputy director; what happened and how did it turn into a bigger appointment in the end rather than retirement?
Again, it was God.
Why were you being retired as deputy director?
Actually what happened was that the minister noticed that NTA was top heavy and they had to write NTA so they said they should trim down and they gave conditions for retiring people; you know ill health, constant absenteeism, disciplinary cases and so on and so forth and I did not fit into any of these, instead, my case was the reverse. Letters of commendations were in my file.
Yet you were on the list of retirement?
I was number one really. So when they said they should do this, they put down my name on the list.
Were you ready to go?
How could I be ready to go? In fact I didn’t even know. They were about to send it out. They were making photocopies when one of the messengers who were working with me before came and met me and said, “Oga, wetin you do dis people nah?” I said which people? He said this DG and all of them and I said: “Wetin happen?” “No be sey they tell me, na nah I just dey comot from that place, dem don put your name down oh, they wan retire you, dem dey send the name, na you be number one, dem dey send the name to the minister.” I said is that so? And he said yes.
I said don’t worry. If it pleases God that they should do this to me, they will succeed but if it is not God’s will, nothing will happen. I said he shouldn’t worry. You know what this messenger told me? “Oga, you and dis your God all the time; you know people, go and tell them to cancel this thing.” I said don’t worry; those people are not greater than God. God will handle it.
So how is it that you were appointed DG of Nigerian Broadcasting instead of…?
I am coming to it. Then after speaking with him, I went to the church; I went for mass and you know I surrendered everything to God.
At that time, I had been given an assignment in Lokoja to set up the TV station there which I was doing; shuttling. So apparently, this thing was sent to the honourable minister. The minister saw my name there, and I think he wasn’t comfortable with it because we had worked in ABU together before.
Who was this minister?
Professor Prof Sam Oyovbaire. So he sent for me. Apparently, he said it so gleefully, you know, believing that the minister was just going to tell me to begin to pack my things to return home.
So I went and met the minister and he said, “Tom, we have come a long way. We have been together in ABU and I know what you are capable of doing and so on and so forth and when I came to do my sabbatical in Jos, I saw your work and I was very impressed.” He never told me that my name was on any list.
He just said, “There is a job coming up in the ministry; would you be interested?” By that time, I had a whole pile of my CV which I was sending everywhere because I was really tired of NTA, oh, NTA really oppressed me.
But anyway, I now said oh yes, I would, then he said go and get your CV. I went, took one and came back within the hour, gave it to him at Awolowo Road. That was the genesis of my going.
So, your colleagues were surprised to hear you are now the DG of NBC.
Everybody.
How did it work? Was it like TV College all over again?
No, no, no! But it wasn’t easy. Again to some extent like TV College, I was my everything; I had to start everything. Fortunately, my minister helped me to get a secretary, so he and I worked together. We were now beginning to do some employment, you know, interviews and what have you; we got people.
And the good thing was that, at material time, many people in NTA were distraught; they were fed up. Many of them who were up there on grade level 14, grade level 15, grade level 16, couldn’t move on, so they got stocked there.
Are you happy with NBC now as it is constituted and operated?
Well, I think it is the politicisation of it that seems to give it a very bad name now; I am very uncomfortable about it.
What do you mean politicisation?
It’s been run as a political agency and I wished they had been allowed to do the professional job of really regulating the industry. That was what we did by the grace of God and we succeeded tremendously.
Were you tougher on the broadcast stations than they are now? Were you punishing more, penalising?
Again, they were not as many as this and the private broadcast houses were new. They needed to be midwives. In fact an impression was given that NBC was set up to take care of just private broadcasting which was not, It was to take care of broadcasting generally.
I tried as much as possible; it was a carrot and stick approach you know and it seems to have worked out very well. The other good thing is that they were a few creative people who got into that industry, the private broadcasting, and when they came in, they came in with a bang; they came in to challenge the status quo because at that time, stations were running from 4 O’clock in the evening to 12 midnight and that’s all.
But when the private broadcasting came on board, those guys wouldn’t take this 4 O’clock stuff; they changed it to 24hours and before you know what was happening, they had taken away all the viewers from these older stations so much so that they themselves, the older stations, were now beginning to emulate the new stations, 24hours a day, and they were wondering, how on earth would they be able to do it but they did it and I was very proud of them; at one stage I told all of them.
So are you happy with the proliferation of these new broadcast stations?
Each has its own assigned duty; each has its own viewership and if they are working on such viewers, then there is a variety.
Don’t you think they are too many, I mean the market is too small for them to…?
To some extent I will say yes because I am not too sure NBC has the staff, the number of staff to take care of the number of stations that are everywhere and that is why sometimes you know, stations assumed, oh, we are not being watched, we will do this and sometimes they get caught.
But proliferation would have been quite good if only we were professional in our approach because each area, each interest, each constituency is defined.
Do you still watch the NTA?
Yes, I do.
What do you like about it?
News.
But you still watvh a lot of TV…you spend a lot of time watching TV?
Yes, I do. In the morning I watch Arise TV up to sometimes around 11 or so. By 11, they have gone to the business world. That is the time I go for a bath and I go for my sub-setting. At 12 O’ clock they have their news but I go to church, I attend mass on TV and at 1 O’clock I go back to Channels if they have news. If they don’t have news, sometimes they are covering special events like this Port Harcourt man, Wike.
Tell us a bit about your family life; I know you’ve been married for 56, 57years, what has that taught you?
Taught me?
Yes?
Family life is great. It is the best, it is wonderful. There are trying times but you survive them and you feel good. I met my wife in Kano.
So she was there from the Bichi days?
No, not Bichi days. When I came into Kano now and during the riot, the difficulty started.
1966?
Yes, 66 December was when I married her and we got….
Oh, you married in 1966?
December 66 and 67 we were in Kano together and some of these political developments were all present but the good thing was that we were living in the city; not in Sabon Gari. In fact, there was a primary or secondary school, primary school directly opposite us, what is this called? It is just by Kofanasiwa.
And we were there. It was very tensed times but the Lord saw us through it all with prayers and then we had our first daughter in Kano but actually she was born in Kaduna because my parents were still there then when my wife was very heavy, she went down to Kaduna and even our second daughter was born in Kadun. It was after that when I was now teaching at ATC that we took responsibility for but you know it’s not been completely easy.
Not a bed of roses.
Yes but we survived it all and we have every reason to give thanks and praise to God and in all of these, the Lord has blessed us with six biological children and two adopted ones and virtually all of them are married now.
How much of your life was spent in God’s work, church work? You mentioned you went to church…?
Now I devote quite some time to it. I mean, what else could I have been doing at this …? I should have had my boarding pass by now.
These days they delay the flights…
They have, for whatever reason I thank God for that but I do quite a bit but now that I have not been too sound, actually it is the surgery that I did in India that has caused this problem in my movement and all that.
Mobility…?
Yes! I had a spinal problem. I took it to India and they did a very sloppy job of it. I must say that I had to have an operation on the spine three times for just one issue.
The same India?
Yes, in the same place for that period and they were supposed to have taken care of the cervical and the lumber but they did only the lumber because of the development arising from their carelessness, so I had the surgery on my spine three times.
It was only when I came back in 2015 or so that I reported to a Nigerian doctor then my cervical problem was beginning to create a lot of problems for me and I was told about this Nigerian and I went to him and lo and behold he did a marvelous job.
My cousin who is a professor of medicine in Canada was at home then and he said he would want to stay, be at the theatre with me. I told him, Dr Okumba, and they said sure and my cousin was there. He saw what was done and he was very proud. He said he didn’t know that Nigeria would have such people taking care of all these spinal surgeries.
So are you much better now?
I am much better now but you know I still have difficulties but I am better than lying down to be honest. So I am quite happy and proud that this is how it is with me at 81. Ordinarily I would have been much stronger than this but for this spinal problem.
