SPEECH DELIVERED BY MR ADEKUNLE ADEBAYO, CHAIRMAN / CE OF OSRC AND ORANGE 94.5FM AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF STAFF OF THE MEDIA GROUP ON 21ST JUNE 2021 AT STUDIO 1, TV COMPLEX ORITA OBELE, AKURE.
Protocols.
I thank you all for attending this brief meeting of the staff and management of our media organisations. As you are aware, this general meeting is coming immediately before our Content Review Conference scheduled for later today. As the Content Review Conference is the oven where the chemical formula and concentrates for quality content that have made us outstanding industry leaders, are discussed, so also is this general assembly where our foundation and relevance is reviewed and our commitment to excellence and the mission statement of the Corporation are strengthened.
Ours is a strong organisation founded on the vision of the Ondo state government and the strength of tradition. We have a clear focus, well marked objectives and quantifiable targets and deliverables. Our history has evolved and so has our reputation. We are the soul of the society, the stabilising mechanism between Government and the people. We are the voice of the Government and the conscience of the people.
I am going to emphasise this point and its need by sharing with you an experience of an experiment and finding a man once shared with me. Once upon a time 100 black ants and 100 red ants were collected and put in a glass jar. Under observation, nothing happened, but when the jar, shaken violently and left on the table to settle, the ants started killing each other. Reds believed that black was the enemy while black believed that red was the enemy whereas the real enemy was the person who shook the jar. The crisis continued and so was the scale of unrest, violence, murder, carnage and disorder.
The same is true with the nature of every human society : men vs women, left vs Right, Rich vs poor, faith vs science, gossip and rumours, vs truth and reality. This is particularly true about our society, indeed our nation today, as ideas and identities fight one another to the dismay, disgrace and death of decency and virtues. In resolving the problem, we must first ask ourselves and when convinced of the answer, later ask our nation : who rocked the jar and the how, when and why ?
That is the way of a true Media, that is locus of the fourth estate to which we belong. That is true notion of conscience. For us to be in position to take charge of our responsibilities as reasoned above, we must operate with clear codes, basic standards and operational guidelines. Every individual within our sphere of operation must understand the condition under which he operates so that his vision, analysis and interpretation of the society around him can be put in proper perspective and interpreted for the elevation of higher standards and values. We must be disciplined and guided in order to report and campaign against indiscipline and disorder. But where the watchdog itself has no order or operational codes, all efforts at sanity and performance would have been sacrificed.
Our management realised the importance of effective capacity building for both staff and management as a mean of ensuring excellence, best practices, productivity, job satisfaction and order. This was why 2 years ago Management began an intense process of crafting a Scheme of Service and Condition of Service for the staff of our media Group.
This Scheme of Service and Condition of Service which we are unveiling and inaugurating today are great milestones very necessary to bring staff on the track of Service by Objective. They provide standards, processes, procedure and guidelines for the careers of officers within their tenure of public service with the Corporation.
In specific terms, the Scheme of Service contains a well spelt out order, standards and minimum requirement expected of staff recruitment and career progression. It is a guide to staff to know and understand hierarchy, scope and specificities of duty and career expectations. Simply put it states your cadre of career, the work description, entry requirements, promotion conditions and the progression ladder. Management viewed with concern the practise in the past where staff were considered for promotion, using a scheme of service generated for and applicable only to the mainstream civil service which in orientation, organisation and performance differ largely from our operations. This document being inaugurated today settles several issues which protect staff career from entry to exit. It also establishes the practice of our profession within the context of the peculiarities of our responsibilities in accordance with other states and national practice.
The Condition of service on the other hand provides for the first time in the history of this Corporation, a single and complete document stating in clear terms the condition of staff career and conduct in the corporation. Management was indeed convinced of the necessity of this document because of the need to reduce the incessant cases of embarrassing and unacceptable infractions and conduct by staff from whom high standards are expected. We were also concerned about the danger of arbitrary use of subjective codes and guidelines in regulating staff matters by future administrators of the organisations. We believe the hallmark of every organisation is order, transparency as well as compliance to best practices, and the must be made clear to employees from their point of entry and from time to time in their career. These are essential ingredients for industrial harmony, job satisfaction, performance, prosperity and excellence in practice and conduct.
This document, Condition of Service has been put up to enable each staff know the rules and regulation governing their conduct. It takes care of all cadres and spells out processes, procedure and conducts for all conceivable areas of staff relevance like Hierarchy, Responsibilities, Respect, Conduct (both within and outside the Corporation), Offences, Discipline, Motivation, Mentoring and graduated scale of reward and leadership standards for staff on all cadres.
As you can now see, the condition of service is the manual for administration of human resources and practice direction towards the best practices expected of us as public servants and staff of this esteemed corporation.
To ensure that all employees of the corporation are well apprised of these very important documents, management has made arrangement for every staff to have access to each of the documents. While the condition of Service will be published as a booklet for possession by each staff, the Scheme of service, though a file document of administration shall also be made available in every departmental offices for access and reference by each staff.
We have also directed that both documents be made available to staff unions and associations in order to make its accessibility wholesome and productive. Similarly we have directed that the e-copy of the two documents be made available for all staff so that the letter and content can be accessed quickly and easily on mobile telephones. Details of the administration of the above will be expanded by the Directors of Finance and Administration of our two services.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this management intends that all staff are treated with respect, equally, fairly and transparently as applicable to committed and diligent public servant. As I said earlier, ours is a peculiar industry which practice and responsibility that are a bit different from the mainstream civil service. Your work as broadcast media professionals is a 24 hour duty duration. As the last sleeper and first riser each day, we are the first responders in all sensitive cases and emergencies in the state. In this regard, the need for discretion, dedication and discipline cannot be overemphasised. This is the reason more emphasis is invested into Management information systems, especially by Heads of departments and senior staff.
Therefore by the reason and Contents of the documents inaugurated today, active attention will be paid to how management Information is being administered by all staff, especially those charged with or instructed on such responsibilities.
For examples senior officers must know that exposing or leaking of high level classified communication, minutes, documents, instructions to subordinates and outsiders in the name of buck passing, self absolution, search for cheap popularity or self induced fear of taking responsibility, are all acts of betrayal of trust and gross misconduct.
They merely destroy not just the system of your career but also the individuals involved. While we have been inundated with regrettable cases of leakage of e -instructions passed as sms on phones and emails, unapproved recorded voice messages and expressed opinions of management and superior officers, to outsiders and private citizens who are either guests or production talents, it is unfortunate that the sources of such betrayals and subversion are usually unveiled by the same outsiders to whom staff sold their integrity.
May I therefore seize this opportunity to warn staff, particularly senior officers and Heads of Departments to be mindful of their conducts by living up to the letters and standards of the condition of service or face the consequences accordingly. You are the leaders of this institution, you must take charge and lead by shinning example.
I cannot end this short address without expressing our deep appreciation to Members of the Top Management of the Corporation. I will like to thank very specially Mr. Soji Alakuro and Barrister Steve Alabi who went beyond the call of duty as Management Committee Members to diligently review the two documents before we finally put a stamp of approval on them. We are grateful for your wise counsel, experience and commitment.
I also wish to single out for our consideration, the Director of Finance and Administration of the TV service, Oluwole Oluwafemi as well as his staff for his extensive research, scripting and meticulous documentation while working on these documents. Such dedication and loyalty to duty, industry and passion for excellence are well noted and commended.
Ladies and gentlemen, today another history is made. I hereby present the approved Scheme of Service and Condition of Service effective from today 21st June 2021. Your career, its processes and conditions are now well structured. They are now well known to you. You are now the masters of your fate.
Thank you.