The Church of Nigeria Satellite Television, Anglican Cable Network Nigeria has rebranded to Advent Cable Network Nigeria Television.
The event, which took place at the St. Mathias House, the Church of Nigeria Headquarters office at Gudu Abuja, was presided over by the Primate Of All Nigeria His Grace Nicholas D. Okoh assisted by the Primate-Elect, The Most Revd Henry Ndukuba.
The occasion also witnessed the relocation of the Television station to a new office within St. Mathias House and the dedication of the state of the art studio. Below is the full text of the ACNN Chairman of Board of Management Sir Folu Olamiti at the event.
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY SIR FOLU OLAMITI, CHAIRMAN, ACNN TV MANAGEMENT BOARD, AT THE UNVEILING OF THE STATION’S NEW LOGO, MOVEMENT TO NEW OFFICE AND OPENING OF THE NEW ULTRA MODERN BROADCASTING STUDIO OF THE ACNN HELD ON THURSDAY, 12TH DECEMBER, 2019
His Grace, Primate of All Nigeria, The Most Rev. (Dr) Nicholas D. Okoh, Your Excellencies,
Leaders of the Church of Nigeria in Attendance,
Other Eminent Members of the Church of Nigeria, particularly the Houses of Clergy and Laity, Gentlemen of the Press, Ladies and Gentlemen.
In the revered Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and on behalf of the Management Board of ACNN, I welcome you all to this very significant occasion of the commissioning of the new facilities procured for the ACNN in furtherance of the leadership’s commitment to evangelism and the prosecution of the very important assignment of the Great Commission ordered by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I should like to commence by recognizing very specially our Father in the Lord, His Grace, the Most Reverend Nicholas D. Okoh who has demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to the successful implementation of the mandate handed over to the Management Board of ACNN, based on the trust reposed in us individually and collectively. I equally salute all members of the Church of Nigeria -who have consistently supported this project, thus strengthening the hands of the visioner, Primate Okoh as our own Aarons and Hurs. I pray that you will never be tired of supporting the agenda of God.
As you all may be aware, this event is three rolled into one related activity. First, ACNN is relocating to a befitting Broadcasting House Complex from its erstwhile location in a port-cabin situated in Wuse, Abuja. Secondly, we shall unveil ACNN’s new name and logo here today. Thirdly and to cap it all, we will shortly from now, witness the dedication of our state-of-the-art studio that compares favourably with those obtainable in the First World.
Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is only decent and proper for me to proudly testify, on behalf of my colleagues on ACNN’s Management Board, that the seed of the vision sowed a few years back by the Primate of All Nigeria in the establishment of this information outfit has germinated and blossomed into a big oak tree among faith-based cable television networks in Nigeria, Africa and globally.
Indeed, the journey from ACNN’s take-off to this historic event that we are all here to witness has been a gradual and tortuous one. But, we give thanks to Almighty God for guiding our steps with His special mercy and uncommon wisdom.
Next, we must appreciate all our supporters whom the Lord has used as backbones for ACNN. Permit me to specially express our deep appreciation to Mr. Modupe and Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija for their immense financial support for the take-off of ACNN.
Permit me, at this juncture, to state that our television network is currently the only megaphone and veritable portal of evangelism for The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) in our dear country, and to a very large extent, worldwide. It is our conviction that we, as Anglicans, cannot afford to lose our position of leadership in Christianity in this great country. With about 20 million adherents as members of the Church of Nigeria, the leadership supported by all of us has a huge task of attending to the spiritual requirements of this huge number, aside from also catering to the needs of other parts of the world that our signals reach.
It is to be noted that denominational evangelism has moved away from its traditional base of Sunday-Sunday church devotional services, tracts cum prints propagation and others, to become more aggressive; and the main portals of this new offensive to which The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) cannot afford to ignore, is televangelism and social media. Our approach is to view every obstacle on our path as surmountable and, therefore, move, aided by prayers to formulate our policies that have always been faithfully implemented by the professionals recruited for this purpose.
We are aware that there is always room for improvement in forward-looking organizations. Accordingly, we are determined to do our best for ACNN, take our cable television, ACNN, to the very peak of godly and faith-based evangelism, and raise the levels of acceptance and viewership among all the faith-based television networks in Nigeria, Africa and in all our coverage areas.
I feel sure that we have not disappointed all our supporters and audience in the implementation of our mandates at this period in world history, when there is very stiff competition in all spheres of human activity.
May I, once again, on behalf of the Management Board of ACNN, utilize the opportunity afforded by this important event to solicit for increased financial and technical support, as well as genuine commitment from all our members, friends and well-wishers, in order to speed up ACNN’s vision and mission of achieving the goal of being THE CABLE NETWORK TO BEAT in godly and faith-based evangelism among its peers in Nigeria, Africa and globally.
People who are knowledgeable about the funding of television stations would confirm that it is an expensive venture. Our plight has been further compounded by the fact that we cannot broadcast many of the programmes aired by conventional stations with whom we compete for advertisements and other revenue sources.
However, we have continued to adopt workable professional policies to mitigate these issues. This is consistent with our policy that we made the choice to succeed at the onset. We are glad that the grace and strength for accomplishments have been imparted to us by the head of the Anglican community in Nigeria. We are aware that one-quarter of members of the global Anglican family are Nigerians.
This places us at the vanguard of strong forces in global Christianity. We must not be ignorant of the fact that the end time is indeed fast approaching. For instance, statistics a few years back revealed that 61 per cent of websites on the internet are pornographic sites, which makes them easily available to anyone. The figure must be higher today as the devil goes on the prowl looking for souls to consume.
Your Grace, your Excellencies and other distinguished guests, we consider our role at the ACNN to be soldiers of Christ, supporting the leadership of the Anglican Church at the frontline of spiritual battles. We must, therefore, take measures directed at neutralizing the effects of satanic hold on our coverage area. In giving gratitude to God for seeing us thus far, let me most respectfully highlight some of our demanding material and equipment requirements as our policies emphasize accountability and transparency. These include:
- Purchase of broadcast equipment for the new Studio.
- Setting up Regional Offices in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Enugu that will immensely boost productions and create market expansion for ACNN.
- In particular, to open the Lagos Regional Office that will boost the activities of ACNN corporately and financially.
- Two utility vehicles
- Migration to DSTV
We hereby renew our pledge to the Primate, and all our sponsors that we shall continue to prosecute the task placed on our shoulders religiously, and with utmost commitment to excellence and the Christ-like interests of the Church of Nigeria. We require your material and financial support, for us to be able to take ACNN together to the very peak of faith-based televangelism in Nigeria, Africa and all over the world.
Once again, I welcome you all, on behalf of the Management Board and Staff of ACNN, in the precious Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
