Hope Rises for Nigerian Observers, EBS as Governor Obaseki Visits

Hope rises for the Edo Broadcasting Service and the Nigerian Observer, publishers of the Observer newspaper titles as Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, paid an unscheduled inspection visit to the state owned radio and television stations on Monday.

Governor Obaseki who revealed that the media outfits would be overhauled for optimal performance. Also, he stated after inspecting the facilities at the EBS station, Benin City that his administration has resolved to leverage on digital technology so that the media
outfit can compete favourably with similar enterprises across the country.

He noted “Clearly, we need to upgrade the technology of this media outfit to conform to the requirements of the digital era. We also need to upgrade the premises and the quality of people working here.”

He explained that the radio and television stations did very well in ages preceding the digital era, but stressed that the digital age demands continuous scaling up to meet present day quality of service delivery.

Governor Obaseki who was conducted round the station by the Assistant General Manager (AGM) Engineering, Mrs. Ameze Osagie, assured that his administration would reclaim the portion of EBS land taken over by private developers to ensure there is enough land space for effective operation of the media outfit.

“We have laws in place, for those who have taken over government land around this area, we need to recover the land to enable us carry out the overhaul we are planning for the outfit.” He added.

He however expressed disappointment at the state of facilities witnessed at the Nigerian Observer established by the late Brig.General Samuel Ogbemudia (rtd.) fifty years ago.

He stated that he was in consultation with media experts to come up with a clear roadmap on what to do with the newspaper company.

“I don’t know what we will end up doing with this organization right now because by the time it was set up in 1968, it served the need of that time. Today the media world has changed; technology has changed the operations of newspaper houses. This was a front line technology 50 years ago. But 50 years after, we should look at where the world is today,” he added.