Some employees of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and the Federal Ministry of Information say the questionable appointment of little known Sampson Worlu as the new Director General of the government-owned broadcasting corporation had created confusion and low morale among staff.
Several management and lower cadre staff at VON told SaharaReporters that Mr. Worlu’s appointment was irregular in several respects, calling his qualification to question. Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, recently announced the new DG’s appointment. One of our sources claimed that the appointee got the job at the instance of First Lady Patience Jonathan, adding that candidates with far better qualifications and experience were snubbed.
The tenure of the immediate past DG, Abubakar Jijiwa, ended on February 28, 2015 after he had served two terms of five years each.
Our sources said the tradition was to wait for a while before making a substantive appointment of a successor to a retired DG. “In the past, the government would take its time to identify somebody who is solid and can do the job. In this case, the Presidency moved too quickly through Chief Anyim to appoint his special assistant, Sampson Worlu, as the DG. We understand that the First Lady just ordered Chief Anyim to announce Worlu as the successor,” said the source.
One source noted that Usman Magawata retired as DG of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) early in 2013, but Sola Omole was not chosen as his replacement until September 2014. He also pointed out that the Jonathan administration spent two years before appointing Ladan Salihu as substantive DG of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) after the tenure of Yusuf Nuhu ended.
A staff of VON claimed that the industrial unions of broadcasters were headed for a showdown with the Jonathan administration for appointing a non-career broadcaster as DG of Voice of Nigeria (VON). “We want to know how they will justify this appointment despite the fact that there are many qualified line directors in the organization and well trained professionals outside VON,” said the source.
Our sources said they would not have questioned Mr. Worlu’s appointment if he were professionally sound and prepared to lead the agency that handles Nigeria’s external broadcasting.
“His only qualification we can see is that he is close to the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan,” said one of the sources, adding that he and other employees of VON would not have minded if a more qualified “kinsman” of Mrs. Jonathan’s had been hired for the post. Mr. Worlu, like Mrs. Jonathan, is from Rivers State.
Some of our sources claimed that Mr. Worlu’s appointment, announced three days after Mr. Jijiwa’s tenure ended, was made without the knowledge of Eden Duke, Nigeria’s Minister of Information.
“Some of the staff of VON don’t see him [Mr. Worlu] as a professional journalist,” said one management person. He added that Mr. Worlu “never worked in any media organization, except being a speech writer to [the] late First Lady Stella Obasanjo from 1999 to 2003.”
Mr. Worlu also worked for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He resigned from that post in circumstances that remain shrouded.