Seven questions to the AUB’s President of the Executive Council
Madam, following your election at the Head of the AUB’s Executive Council, you made a trip to Senegal from the 3rd to the 6th of May 2018 where you had several working sessions with the Union’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Grégoire Ndjaka. You also had a meeting at the Union’s Headquarter in Dakar with the entire AUB Staff. Just in few words what were the topics on the agenda?
I visited Dakar for a familiarization tour of the AUB headquarters. I was there also to introduce myself to the entire staff so as to share my vision with them and call on them to support me during my tenure. We also had an opportunity to exchange ideas on work ethics and creating a conducive working environment and general staff welfare issues. I had a great time and learnt about the current running projects and those that will start during my tenure.
During the 11th AUB General Assembly held in March 2018, the Union welcomed new members. How are these Members doing Madam?
So far we are happy with the outcome of the AUB general assembly and it was quite a boost to welcome new members. We are on track and we anticipate even more positives in the future.
AUB is engaged on the digitization of its audiovisual archives. For some times now, the Directorate General has repatriated these archives to Dakar which is good news for the African continent...
You will recall that we have just returned from Tunisia at the invitation of ASBU Director General Mr Abdelrahim Suleiman and we engaged in discussions that I hope will assist in the next step on the handling of the archives. I can just say for now that we are in the process of finding a lasting solution to preserving our archival material.
The Union intends to launch its Network of Program Exchange with other strategic partners and the Executive Council has been working on this since last year. What is your level of assessment of this highly awaited project?
I am excited about is and I believe we are moving at a good pace to get it off the ground. So far we have made significant progress to prepare the ground. It is my wish to leave office with this project up and running.
Training is also one of the points on which the Union has been stressing. A group of journalists of AUB Member Organizations just ended a Training Program in Morocco last April 2018 after a seminar in December, on Copyright. This is encouraging indeed! Can we have an idea of the upcoming opportunities for Media Professionals (Technicians, journalists, legal and financial advisers & others)?
The newly elected Executive Council will hold its maiden meeting in July where it will chart its plan of action. I will be in a position to forecast what is in store for media professionals after the meeting.
The FIFA 2018 World Cup is just few weeks away and five African Nations are involved in the competition. What is the message of the Union to African broadcasters as far as soccer rights are concerned.
Our message is that as African broadcasters, we should remember that ‘United, we stand, divided we fall’. We will reluctantly leave the world cup pass as we continue to mobilize to speak with one voice. We have set ourselves a target of having made progress before the 2019 AFCON in Cameroon. However, I want to implore all African broadcasters not to sell themselves shot and yield to unreasonable exorbitant prices in the meantime
We feel the new breeze, new methods and we are tempted to know your perspectives and various inputs in order to lead the Union to greater miles…
I wish not to make many pronouncements before I meet my team in July. All I can say is that the Kigali Summit has shaped the direction AUB wants us stir the ship. Top on the agenda is long overdue Program and content exchange for member states and Sporting Rights Acquisition Prices. Conducted by Irene Gaouda https://twitter.com/UAR_AUB/status/992405833224015872
