The Director General of Ebonyi State Broadcasting Corporation, Comrade Tony Nwizi, at the weekend revealed that the corporation was on the verge of collapse due to neglect before its revival by Governor Francis Nwifuru, noting that the station now has modern equipment and has gone digital.

Speaking with some selected journalists at his office in Abakaliki, Nwizi noted that before he came on board, the television had stopped working for a very long time.

“But now, our television has been digitalized, and I wonder the states that have a functional digitalized television house,” he said.

Nwizi revealed that he met a 0.7-kilowatt transmitter, which was not up to one kilowatt. “Then you will know how epileptic the radio station used to be, but now it has been upgraded,” he added.

He said that the governor had been a Speaker for eight years, so he knows what is happening in the state. “When he came, he observed that we did not have a functional radio and television house.”

He thanked the governor for the bold step he took in reviving the station and making them go digital, adding that now the station is operating on three kilowatts out of the five kilowatts they have.

His words: “When the Governor came on the saddle, he was actually interested in uplifting this station. He had been a Speaker for eight years and knows what is happening in the state. He’s not a neophyte, he’s not a visitor. So when he came, he observed that we did not have a radio and television house.

“If you were here before, you know how epileptic the radio station used to be. And I make bold to commend Engineer Timothy Ngochi, who held the station until he handed it over without crashing. You understand, TV was long gone.

“So when I came, I met a 0.7-kilowatt transmitter, and now we are operating on only three kilowatts out of the five kilowatts we have.

“We have a 3,300-meter mast, which is 1,500 feet. Apart from BC Umuahia, there is no other station in Nigeria that can match our mast. The only place you can get a longer mast is Jos, because Jos is already, I think, 12,000 feet above sea level.

“Our signal has wider outreach. If you are traveling to Onitsha, Lagos, or other parts of the country, you could listen to our station. Even people from Southern Cameroon receive us loud and clear.

“Apart from reviving the station, the governor has done a lot of things. He has tried so much in paying backlogged gratuities of retired workers, arrears of Universal staff, employment of civil servants, employment of medical doctors, nurses, and paramedics, and procurement of ambulances for general hospitals, and also vehicles—SUVs—for doctors to prevent them from using ambulances as private vehicles.

“He procured hospital consumables—medical consumables that have been distributed to the general hospitals. And in transportation, he has procured 20 brand new buses and revitalised Ebotrans.

“Recently, he commissioned the EboCab, and you see that it is well planned for easy operation. It will help to boost the face of Ebonyi State. He also procured 100-seater CNG buses for civil servants. They need to take civil servants to work.

“Honestly, Nwifuru has performed above average. Are you talking about the two new universities, the two kilometers of roads in each ward, the airport runway, duplex houses for all traditional rulers? The projects are numerous.”