The Nation Newspaper

Tag: measurement

  • Buhari/Ortom: The problem of measurement in Benue State

    Buhari/Ortom: The problem of measurement in Benue State

    IN his response to the Senate’s accusation that he had not done enough to resolve the spinoffs from the New Year’s Day killings in Benue State, President Muhammadu Buhari insisted he had indeed taken concrete, measurable steps. He enumerated the steps in a revelatory letter he wrote to the Senate, dated January 25. Senate President Bukola Saraki read the letter on the floor of the Senate on January 31. So far, neither the Senate nor the Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, seems convinced that anything of substance has been done. While the Senate is tentative in its assessment of the presidency’s response, Benue State has been predictably cynical and dismissive.

    The problem between the presidency on the one hand and both the Senate and Benue State on the other hand is either one of miscomprehension between the parties or a problem of measurement. Nothing indicates that a meeting point is anywhere near. The Senate appears truly mystified by what many suspect to be the government’s foot-dragging, while on the other hand Benue State appears almost permanently poised to exhibit its cynicism, considering how angered they are by the presidency’s ineffective, if not insulting, claim of altruism. On the whole, the country is baffled, not so much by the government’s lack of definitive response, but by its hollow claim of doing something that apparently can’t be measured.

    Here are the president’s claims. “One, on Thursday 4th January, I sent the Minister of Interior and the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.” How this amounts to something concrete is beyond comprehension. This step, if that is what it really is, is so routine and elementary that it does not need presidential intervention to trigger. Were the police to be run not with the servile spirit that suffuses its operations but with the responsiveness and effectiveness that are denotative of its constitutional responsibility, their officers would have met instantly when the crisis broke, deployed their men to gather information and intelligence, and make immediate and preliminary arrests.

    “Two, on Friday 5th January, the Inspector-General of Police briefed me verbally on the latest situation, calm had then been restored.” This, of course, is no action, nor even a response. It is more indicative of everything that is amiss with both the policing system of Nigeria and the structural malformation that has rendered the country incapable of responding promptly and intelligently to crisis. It is also indicative of the fact that the president was merely fishing for items to lengthen his letter to the Senate.

    “Three, on Monday 8th, the Minister of Interior met with the following: Governors of Adamawa, Kaduna, Niger, Benue Taraba and Nasarawa together with the DG of the State Security Services, Inspector-General of Police, CG Civil Defence, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Police Commissioner of the six aforementioned states. After the meeting, I instructed the Minister of Interior to brief you on the information gathered so far and steps taken.” This meeting is absolutely no response whatsoever. What would have amounted to some action were concrete steps flowing from the meeting, steps Nigerians and Benue people in particular can verify as yielding results. The Benue State governor attended the meeting, and he tells the press that he cannot point to anything concrete that the government has done through the Interior ministry initiative.

    “On Tuesday, 9th of January, I had a long session with Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State during which I informed him of police arrest of some suspects with Kalashnikovs. In addition, I told him that I have instructed IGP to speed up trial and prosecution of the suspects and give wide publicity of the police efforts.” It is again baffling that this should be itemised by the president as a concrete action. It is not, and it has no pretext to be regarded as a response or initiative by the federal government to a crisis that its inaction and insensitive interpretations have indirectly fuelled.

    “At the request of the Governor, a meeting was held in the Presidential Villa on 15th January with a wide cross-section of Benue personages where frank and open discussions were held and everybody in the meeting appreciated the complexity and difficulties of this farmers-herders strife. I assured all and sundry of my commitment to ensure that justice is expeditiously done.” No, Mr President, this was an initiative of the Benue governor, not an action by the federal government. If the president had asked to meet with the governor immediately the crisis flared, he would have been partially commended. The better action would, however, have been to visit the crisis epicentre, empathise with victims, whoever they were, meet with the state’s opinion leaders and traditional chiefs, interact with the herdsmen, and mobilise concrete federal response, including law enforcement and relief materials.

    Then, this conclusion. “To infer therefore that nothing has been done is incorrect. The police are strenuously working to apprehend the rest of the culprits of these heartless killings. Furthermore, I have instructed the IGP to relocate to Benue State and redeploy forces to the most sensitive towns.” This was perhaps the only real step the government took. But its efficacy remains to be seen, for as the governor said, “the killings have continued.”

    More appropriately, however, it is sad that the presidency missed the nuanced import of the Senate’s letter. The Senate was not asking what mundane and feeble steps the federal government had taken; it was asking what the government’s own understanding of the issues involved was, what policy initiatives it believed were best placed to tackle the menace and restore peace, and, going forward, what long-term steps and policies needed to be put in place to resolve the crisis once and for all, not only in Benue, but also in other states where similar clashes predominate. It is embarrassing that the government’s response to the Senate query contained such tepid and ineffectual measures. It is not surprising that the more perceptive Benue State governor last Wednesday concluded that the federal government had not done enough. He was charitable. It is disputable whether the government has really done anything worth the trouble of anyone remembering.

  • Fed Govt plans audience measurement conference

    The Federal Government is to organise an audience measurement conference to provide the broadcast industry stakeholders the opportunity to contribute to efforts at establishing a scientific audience measurement system for the country.

    Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this at the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) third International Summit on Digital Broadcasting in Nigeria in Lagos. He said the conference would hold in October 3.

    “It is imperative that we urgently put in place an industry framework that will ensure that Content Producers receive their just due for the value of the Content they create, as well as provide objective guarantees to the Advertising community on their Return-On-Investment on media placements. This will then have the overall effect of guaranteeing greater spending by the Advertisers, who are all seeking to grow their market share.

    “This industry framework can only happen if the Ministry of Information and Culture, which, fortunately, supervises both the

    Broadcasting and Advertising industries, serves as a catalyst for putting in place a robust Audience Measurement System that is in line with global standards and supports the realisation of the immense potential that the Nigerian Creative and Entertainment industryholds,” he said.

    Mohammed said for the Digital Switch Over from analogue to digital television to be sustained for Signal Distributors, Channel owners, TV Content Producers and Advertisers, the scientific Audience Measurement System is critical to articulate the value of the content to Consumers, as well as the value of the Audience to Advertisers,particularly in the television sector.

    He said lack of a scientific Audience Measurement System has resulted in under-investment in the sector, which is necessary to foster the growth of the industry, as the Advertising community continues to relyon subjective factors when making decisions on the content they want,as opposed to how many viewers the content truly attracts.

    The Minister said as a consequence, television platforms are subjected to renting out space on their Channels to sustain their businesses and content producers have become over-reliant on sponsorship, which, unfortunately, skews the authenticity of their creative output in favour of a few decision makers and not the millions of TV viewers.

    “Further, the value of Nigeria’s Broadcasting Advertising Market is not proportionate with its population when compared to the Top 3 Markets in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Despite having a population three times more than South Africa, Nigeria’s Television Advertising Revenue last year, at US$309million, was behind that of South Africa, atUS$1,301million.

    “By 2020, the gap between South Africa and Nigeria is projected tomarginally decline to 72 per cent. Similarly, in the Radio sector, the valueof Nigeria’s 2016 Advertising Revenue of US$81million was behind its peers,South Africa and Kenya, both at US$343million. Kenya is projected to overtake South Africa in 2017 as the leading Radio Advertising market,” he said.

    Mohammed stressed that in both South Africa and Kenya, the value and growth rate of the Broadcasting Advertising Revenue is largely influenced by the availability of a scientific Audience Measurement  System that provides confidence to Advertisers in measuring their return-on-investment.

    He noted that bringing Nigerian TV advertisement market into line with benchmarks that is two to three times the current size could result in additional $200-$400million of revenue to the industry, based on current comparisons with other African countries.

    The Minister said the Federal Government had already taken a critical long-term decision to support the Nigeria creative and entertainment industry by ensuring and funding the inclusion of a middle-ware that is capable of scientific Audience Measurement on set-top boxes, hencethe need to develop the framework.

    “The existing model will never enable the Nigeria’s creative and entertainment industry to reach its full potential. It stunts the quality of the content that can be created and it also limits the capacity of Television platforms to invest in dynamic offerings that consumers will be attracted to,” he noted

  • Osun traders protest use of measurement scales

    Market women in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, yesterday protested the use of measurement scale (Osunwon Omoluabi) introduced by the government to control indiscriminate cheating in the markets.

    The protesters, in their hundreds, rejected alleged imposition of the measurement scale by the government.

    The traders from the Igbona market in Olorunda Local Government Area, marched on major streets of Osogbo, from Igbona to Olaiya and Gbongan road via Old Garage and Fagbewesa, creating a traffic gridlock at Olaiya junction.

    The market women, who deal in grains and measurable products, closed their shops and stormed the Olaiya Junction around 11.45am before heading for the House of Assembly to register their grievances.

    On Tuesday, officials of the Ministry of Commerce, Cooperative and Empowerment’s task force and compliance were at the market to monitor the traders’ compliance with the use of the measurement scale.

    The traders were unhappy with the development, which paralysed activities in the market.

    One of the protesters said they preferred traditional measurement scale popularly called “Igbako or Osunwon” to the government’s newly-introduced scale.

    He complained that the new scale was not convenient for use, lamenting that task force officials seized their goods.

    Another trader, Alhaja Owoduni Salawu, accused the government of not giving them any orientation on the use of the new scale.

    She accused the Iyaloja-General, Alhaja Awawu Asindemade, of conniving with the government to impose the scale on them.

    But in a statement, the government said it had done everything necessary to make the new scale acceptable.

    The statement by Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s spokesman, Semiu Okanlawon, described the protest as “sad, unfortunate and totally uncalled for”.

    It added: “For the avoidance of doubt, Osunwon Omoluabi was launched in Osun precisely on June 13, 2016, to bring equity, justice and fairness in all forms of commercial transactions within the territory of Osun.

    “It was done to restore confidence in both the buyer and the seller; to eliminate all forms of distrust, acrimony and tensions associated with buying and selling.

    “It was a move by the current administration to bring our commercial transactions at par with the most civilised and acceptable norm in commerce across the globe.

    “We recall that long ahead of the 2016 public presentation of Osunwon Omoluabi, this government embarked on a massive public enlightenment, stakeholders’ engagements and full elucidation of the philosophy behind the introduction of the standardised measure.

    “As a responsible government, we have given ample room for stakeholders to be sufficiently prepared for effective take off and full implementation of this scale and measure policy.

    “It is, therefore, a surprise that attempts by officials who sought enforcement of the use of the scale and measures in some markets on Tuesday and Wednesday were resisted by some.”

  • Measurement parameter vital to PR, say experts

    THERE is the need to adopt a reliable measurement and evaluation to enhance the growth of the public relations industry, the Country Managing Director, Accenture Nigeria, Mr. Niyi Yusuf.

    Speaking at a workshop to mark this year’s measurement and evaluation month organised by the International Association of for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications (AMEC) in collaboration with CMC Connect Burson-Marsteller , and a brand intelligence and research firm, Ornico Group, Yusuf said clients were concerned with the measurable results of PR projects beyond the number of press releases published.

    Stressing the importance of measurement to communications, he said PR practitioners should set specific return on investment (ROI) model, saying it would help PR practitioners define measurement and evaluation.

    He advised practitioners to embrace technology,which he described as a disruptor that provides an opportunity to reach a wider audience in conducting research or survey.

    He charged PR consultants to prove the value of PR to clients using quality measurement metrics.

    The workshop, which had as theme ‘Can you measure up?’ brought together experienced communications and public relations experts from various organisations, including Airtel Nigeria, Accenture, Jagal, FBN Quest, Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Nigerian Breweries, and representatives of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

    A representative of AMEC, Mr. Francois Van Dyk, said the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) method being used by practitioners was wrong.

    Airtel’s Corporate Communications & CSR Director, Mr. Emeka Oparah, said measurement is important in public relations and communications.

    He said a good measurement report positively affects the organisation’s bottom-line.

    Oparah noted that complying with this was one way of positioning the communications department as a value-adding unit to the organisation.

    He advocated the establishment of an independent measuring body for communications practitioners, adding that this would help ensure objectivity in the quality of the measurement and evaluation.

    However, CMC Connect Burson-Marsteller Managing Director, Mr. Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, said one aspect of measurement has remained a knotty issue in communications for a long time.

    He said measurement and evaluation would help reinforce the value which the communications department is adding to an organisation.

    Badejo-Okusanya advised agencies to subscribe to a measurement principle endorsed by the global measurement body.

  • Surveyors set new standard for measurement

    The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) has instituted a new standard for measurement of buildings and engineering works. It is expected to become effective from May 2017.

    Its President, Mrs. Mercy Iyortyer, who spoke during a training in Abuja, said the institute has set in motion the process of developing a software with the standard known for its ease of usage.

    Under this arrangement, the BESMM4 would replace BESMM3 as the official Standard Method of Measurement of Works to be used with conditions of Engagement and Consultancy Services Agreement to be approved and directed by the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN). BESMM4 would be admitted for use on measurement papers for both Graduateship (GDE) and Test of Professional Competence (TPC) Examinations.

    Before now, BESMM3, which was published by the institute in 2008, has been the officially recognised standard method of measurement for use in Nigeria till date.

    Explaining the need for the change, Iyortyer disclosed that some errors in text and context were noted in the outgoing standard, which necessitated correction by removal of unnecessary features, inserting omissions, rearrangement of content and incorporating additional rules deemed necessary to enable the document serve its purpose more effectively.

    The shortfall, Iyoryter said, have been addressed in BESMM4 and urged the NIQS national executive council   to sensitise members on its usage and relevance to total cost management of construction and engineering works.