By Moses Kolo
Malam Ali Muhammed Ali, the newly appointed Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), has expressed his displeasure over the inability of the agency to attain the zenith of its potential.
Ali spoke on Thursday during a three-day ‘Strategic Foresight Management Retreat’ for NAN in collaboration with Paragon Links Consulting held in Kaduna.
“With a staff strength of over 700, why thas NAN not been able to attain the zenith of its potential?
“This retreat should be able to come up with answers,” Ali said.
The managing director said that NAN was sitting on a goldmine, adding that all that was needed was the will power, creativity and ingenuity to harness the agency’s human capital and material resources to reach full bloom.
“I have arrived at the inevitable conclusion that to thread the path to a prosperous future, we must first embark on a deep introspection on our past, reflect on our current realities and set the template to grab and run with the immense opportunities out there,” Ali said.
He pointed out that the agency has its headquarters in Abuja, a directorate in Lagos, offices in 12 zones, the 36 states as well as 18 district offices.
“We also maintain offices in New York in the United States, Johannesburg in South Africa and also have news exchange partnerships with major news agencies like Reuters, AFP in France, Xinhua in China, and Asian News Agency, among others.
“Our services include general news services, Economy, Sports, Features, SMS, photo news services, among others.
“Others include NAN Multimedia, PR and online advertising services.
“We will also try to toe new programmes and, I am sure, going forward from the Retreat, we will leave with a better understanding on how to come about new products,” Ali added.
The managing director said that as the new year opens in less than 10 days, it would no longer be business as usual in the running of NAN business.
He said: “I believe collectively, for all us seated here, once we operate on the same page, this is realisable.
“It has become imperative for every member of management and, by extension, every member of the NAN family, to define in clear terms, their contract with the Agency in 2024.
“We are determined to draw a charter of engagement with each member of staff and this will be measured by deliverables as this is going to be a clear departure from the preceding practice.”
Ali charged the editorial department, which he said was at the heart of NAN operations, to be interested in the number of stories, features and news analysis written, edited and published.
“It is not enough for you to have a story in the portal. We will go the old school to see which of them are actually published by the clients we serve.
“Timelines and accuracy of content as well as compliance with editorial guidelines and meeting of deadlines, among others, will be assessed.
“In marketing, we worry over set targets, partnership development, digital enforcement, metrics, brand perception and performance as well as revenue generation outcomes.
“Different performance indicators as above, will be used to assess the other departments in order to keep everyone in line with the new policy direction of the present management.
“For NAN, we must innovate, constantly reinvent and be in tune; we must equip ourselves with new skills, new talents.
“With the sense of expectation thick in the air beyond this table, back at the headquarters and from the government, I believe this should be the running motive all through this retreat,” Ali added.
Malam Khalil Abdulhadi, Director, Administration and Human Resources, in his remark, expressed optimism that the Retreat would equip the management staff with vast knowledge on how to run the affairs of the agency.
“The Consulting firm is a renowned one and I believe they will do justice to the theme of the retreat,” Khalil said.
Earlier, Mr Ope Jegede, Senior Consultant of Paragon Links Consulting firm, said the Retreat would provide a platform for NAN Management staff to be strategic in reasoning and to position NAN to be a better futuristic organisation.
Jegede said it was expected that there would be ground work to define the vision, mission and values of NAN.
“The Retreat will also bring the staff together for better collaborations and innovative ideas that will catapult NAN to where it is supposed to be,” he added.
NAN
