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Controversy as probe panel shuts Ondo State radio

By Oluwaseun Akingboye, Akure
29 May 2017   |   4:17 am
The Chairman of the panel, Mr. Kunle Adebayo, whose assignment was to submit report to the state government within two months, was conspicuously absent at the plenary session of the House on Thursday.

However, the Speaker, Bamidele Oloyelogun, who condemned the closure, noted that the panel chairman gave an excuse for being absent at the plenary session due to other engagement with the governor in Abuja.

The five-man panel set up by the Ondo State governor, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to look into the problems facing government media outfits in the state, especially Ondo State Radio-vision Corporations (OSRC), has shunned the summon by the state assembly.

The Chairman of the panel, Mr. Kunle Adebayo, whose assignment was to submit report to the state government within two months, was conspicuously absent at the plenary session of the House on Thursday.

However, the Speaker, Bamidele Oloyelogun, who condemned the closure, noted that the panel chairman gave an excuse for being absent at the plenary session due to other engagement with the governor in Abuja.

“We want to know why the place has been shut for the last two months. It is wrong. If you are a chairman of a panel to look into activities of an organisation, it is not the best for you shut the place down. ‘’

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the OSRC Chapel, Mr. Sola Obagbemisoye, decried the high-handness of the panel, which he said reneged on its promise to only shut down the station for two weeks.

Obagbemisoye lamented that the action would further deteriorate the bad condition of the corporation, which he hinged on poor management and corruption by past administration.

The Chairman of Radio, Television and Theatre Workers Union (RATTAWU), Mr. Folorunsho Ojo, said several committees had been set up in the past to raise an alarm over the corruption but to no avail.

Ojo, who mentioned that the closure has adverse effects on government activities, disclosed that the radio and television stations used to operate between five and eight hours daily, which is against the 18hrs operation stipulated by National Broadcasting Commission.

The state Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. James Sowole, stressed that the rot in the system was enormous and against the standard of NBC.

He urged the panel to jettison mass sack of workers as speculated in some quarters, saying it would not augur well with the corporation .

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