Sorry State of Edo Media Outfits: Wake - Up Call To Gov. Obaseki

Working the talk is one of the hallmarks of impactive leadership.

A quality many people especially Edo citizens would love demonstrated repeatedly by Governor Godwin Obaseki.

This is against the backdrop that he was much touted as a genius, development and investment technocrat.

Obaseki on the 14 August, 2017 paid an unscheduled inspection visit to the Bendel Newspaper Company Limited, (BNCL) and Edo Broadcasting Service, (EBS).

People of the State; at home and abroad commended the visit, as it seeks to breathe life back to the state owned media houses, they reasoned.

Also, media practitioners across the country were in high expectation especially as it affects the Bendel Newspaper Company Limited (BNCL), publishers of The Observer titles.

The hitherto very vibrant news medium is currently in shambles no thanks to years of abandonment by successive administrations.

Worried like everyone, a concerned journalist in a media parley at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ), Edo State  Council (Press Centre) in 2016 appealed to Obaseki not to forget the Observer should he assume office as governor.

In reaction, he promised the request should be considered a done deal.

Eventually when he emerged governor, he kept to his words less than a year in office.

He visited the Observer, he saw the decay, and reassured that plans were under way for a total turnaround of the print medium in no distant time.

But it has become worrisome that a year after the visit, nothing has been heard about the planned revival of the once centre for training of Nigerian journalists and pride of the then Mid - west State for optimal performance.

The Governor did promised his administration will leverage on digital technology to enable the media outfit compete favourably with other similar enterprise across the country.

“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 was in consultation with experts to come up with a clear roadmap on what to do with the newspaper company which was established 50 years ago by Brig.Gen Samuel Ogbemudia (rtd.), the Governor disclosed.

“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 said.

Again at this year's  Workers' Day celebration in Benin city, the "Wake and See Governor" while delivering his speech announced that the Newspaper company will receive delivery of printing equipment within 90 Days to kick start the process of repositioning the outfit.

The announcement was greeted with a thunderous applause from cheering workers who were at the UNIBEN Sports Complex for the May Day celebration.

"The Observer; I want to assure you that within the next 90 days, a new printing line will be installed in the establishment", Obaseki told the  workers.

Two days later,  Obaseki reiterated on the occasion of this year's World Press Freedom Day (May 3rd) that his administration will strengthen the state owned media platforms for Edo people to express themselves and contribute to the development of the state.

Recalling that EBS radio and television did very well in ages preceding the digital era, Obaseki stressed that the digital age demands continuous scaling up to meet present day broadcasting demands quality.

The 90 days promised had elapsed but nothing on ground at the Observer premises as new equipment.

The relevance of the Observer like the EBS to the State government and citizens cannot be over emphasised.

The Observer alone has the capacity of engaging no less than a thousand workers if truly re - position to modern day standard.

Also, its contribution to IGR of the State will certainly quadrupled, among many other positives.

The Governor therefore should immediately march words with action in the media industry of the State as he has done in other sectors in his bid to industrialize Edo.

Also, it is important to lay bricks on the solid foundation built by leaders past so that their labour would not be in vain.