By Steve Oni, Ilorin
The staff of Radio Kwara have debunked the claim by the Sole Administrator of the Kwara State owned media houses, Dr. Muhydeen Akorede, that the state government is owing the media workers only a month salary.
According to the workers, the state government is owing workers March and April salaries aside several months operational costs owed the corporation for effective service delivery.
In a statement jointly issued on behalf of the entire workforce of the station, the Chairman of Radio, Television, Art and Theatre Workers Union, Comrade Rasaq Aremu and the Chapel Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Alhaji Bashir Ademole Jimoh, frowned at the purported claims of the sole administrator aired at the weekend on a private radio station in Ilorin, the state capital.
The workers alleged that the A.M transmitter is already at comatose, considering its current dwindling condition as a result of damaged components affecting its capacity to transmit maximally, adding that the A.M transmitter has organisation 50 kilowatt to five kilowatt, which could lead to its complete damage, while the two Midland F.M old transmitters are not working as a result of faulty components and the new transmitter got damaged due to lack of UPS.
This, the workers said, had been brought to the notice of the state government through the office of the sole administrator on several occasions but without responsive reaction to address the pathetic situation facing the workers and the station generally.
They, however, challenged the sole administrator to tell the whole world the impact of the so called repositioning exercise embarked upon by the government since 2016, which, they said, have had no positive consequences on the affected media outfits, particularly Radio Kwara.
The workers therefore encouraged the good people of Kwara state, particularly members of the elite and the media to embark on assessment visit to all the three media houses, especially the Broadcasting House of Radio Kwara at GRA, the Midland F.M and the transmitting station at Budo Efo to examine the current level of decay, dilapidation and complete damage that has been unleashed on the station.
They maintained that despite the challenges, workers are still reporting for duties with practically nothing to work with and no salary for two months, and, therefore, called on relevant stakeholders within and outside the state to rescue the station from imminent extinction among the comity of broadcasting stations in the country.
The workers particularly insisted that relevant anti graft agencies should wade in immediately to probe the purported repositioning exercise of the three media establishments, particularly Radio Kwara because, according to them, the entire exercise was shrouded in secrecy, lies and deception, all in an attempt to siphon public funds and deliberately destroy the three media houses.
They described the Sole Administrator who is also the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media as not only a liar but also callous, arrogant and highly insensitive to the plight of the workers and the media houses.
It would be recalled that the workers of Radio Kwara staged a peaceful protest between third and fourth of September last year, while the Herald Newspapers workers also embarked on a peaceful protest last week to raise the alarm on the predicament of their organisation, while Kwara Television had not transmitted for more than three weeks before the release of five hundred thousand naira to the media outfit to embark on epileptic transmission only for a week.
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