Delta State Owned Media Houses At War With Management

PHOTO: DELTA GOVERNOR, EMMANUEL UDUAGHAN.

The Delta State government owned media houses, the Pointer Newspapers and Delta Broadcasting Service (BDS), Asaba has been engulfed with series of unabated crisis.

The tension, which is between the workers and management of the media houses, has resulted to calls for the immediate removal of the General Manager of the Pointer Newspaper, Mr. Bosah Iwobi by the workers following alleged highhandedness, misappropriation of funds as well as abuse of office.

Protesting his highhandedness and abuse of office, the aggrieved workers who locked out the GM from office also accused management for contributing to some of the existing problems militating against the progress of the company.

The protest which also forced staff of the company into a three-day strike without printing, saw the staff carrying a mock coffin with the inscription “Adieu, Iwobi, rest in peace. Leave us alone, you have killed Pointer”.

Speaking with THEWILL on behalf of the workers on the protest which lasted over two days, an executive member of the Pointer chapel, Asaba, NUJ, who pleaded for anonymity however said that there was no trade dispute but workers wanted the GM removed.

"The workers have resolved that the solution to the problems in Pointer is that the GM should leave. Before the GM came in here everything both the Printing Press, generators and other things were working perfectly but today nothing is working. We have circulation van, operational van but none is working today and apart from that our pit run was running over 5,000 to 10,000 copies a day but today they are less than 1,000 copies daily in this place.

“Our rotary broke down over two years ago now, the Information commissioner, Mr. Oma Djebah came and met him that he should go and borrow money to repair it, he refused but rather prefer to spend N14, 000 daily to print the Newspapers at the roadside business centres because he gets something out of it".

According to the workers, the GM does not listen to what the union advises him to do and he doesn’t take corrections because he sees himself as a sole administrator of the company. "Over 56 people have passed a vote of no confidence on him. During Christmas, he treated the workers badly against the instructions given him by the state government to take care of the workers as expected of him. He was paying editorial claims of 2009 and was only paying those loyal to him while those not loyal to him he did not pay". This they said sparked up the protest coupled with so many atrocities he has long committed against the workers.

"His tenure has since elapsed and also most of our adverts revenue he has been diverting to his personal pocket. The ministry is also behind his elongation of tenure. This is the 18th time this year the workers are saying no to what is happening in the Pointer, so the state government should as a matter of urgency and importance look at what is happening in the company once and for all.

Since he came to office he has closed down all out stations of the company for his selfish interest," they said.

In an interview with both a senior staff of the Pointer and DBS, Asaba who pleaded anonymity, one of them noted that “Delta State is richly blessed with enormous human and material resources, but its two TV stations can not interconnect each other and the state of the POINTER Newspaper, DBS, Asaba and DRTV Warri was getting worse day by day.

"The three government media houses are still in comatose, still in shambles, still in slumber and horrible working conditions, staff complaining here and there, suffering from bad working environment, what a big shame and disgrace, he said.

“The permanent site of the POINTER is still lying fallow and over grown with weeds while the POINTER is gradually going into extinction because of the lack of attention even as it still operates from its borrowed office. The rotary machine, which has served the company for many years, which was gutted by fire, over two years, now has up till date remained unattended to by the government, the other staff added.

The embattled GM, Mr. Iwobi declined comments when contacted. It was also reliably learnt that similar protests took place at the Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS), Asaba over the highhandedness of the GM, Mr. Odowu Oritsejafor and other top management. Sources told THEWILL that for over two years now the casual workers recruited have not been paid.

Delta State information commissioner, Mr. Oma Djebah has disassociated himself from the crisis rocking the Pointer Newspaper and DBS, Asaba.

Mr. Djebah told THEWILL in a chat on Saturday that the ministry was doing all in its powers to bring sanity to the state owned media companies but said that lack of funds was a major constrain. Explaining further, he said half of the state’s revenue goes to DESOPADEC, an agency set up during the Chief Ibori administration to cater for the infrastructural needs of the state’s oil producing areas. He said the Ministry was waiting for the passage of the 2010 state budget to know what it has to disburse to the various media companies.

Meanwhile a meeting has been held between the information commissioner, Mr. Djebah, the management of the three state owned media house the Pointer Newspapers, DBS, Asaba and Warri where a committee was set up to look into the crisis rocking the pointer Newspapers.

As at the time of this report, work has resumed at the media houses.