Francis Sadhere
Warri based Lawyer and peace Ambassador, Barrister Robinson Ariyo, has
appealed to the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, to include
the only state television known to the people of Warri and its environs in his “Finishing strong” agenda.
Describing the life of the Delta Broadcasting Television and Radio as one that has been abandoned in the face of huge resources, he attributed the poor level of awareness and poor integration amongst ethnic groups in the state to the abandonment of the state own electronic media.
“How can you preach peace, local values, create awareness and integrate people without a local TV and radio station focused on the state? The Delta State Government has to realise that the Press as the fourth estate of the realm
plays a pivotal role as the custodian of the public interest and as a watchdog, he said.
According to the Warri based lawyer, Delta State will never achieve much even in the area of tourism without first developing its own state media.
“Every time the Government wants to publicise activities it will embark on deals with Channels TV or AIT. If the moneys spent on these publicity stunts were spent on DRTV, it would have resulted in far better impact” He said.
He particularly decried the fact that despite the unfortunate incidence which resulted in the inferno that completely consumed the studio of DRTV some years back, the staff of the station continue to operate under unbelievably poor conditions through a make shift studio. Barrister Ariyo said.
“The Station does not even have an Outside Broadcasting Van to work with. It is a miracle that the station is still able to produce and broadcast programs on a daily basis. This shows how resilient Deltans can be. Imagine if the desired
support and equipment were provided, these Deltans will perform wonders in this field. When we were in Bendel State, we used to top the Chart of broadcasters; today we are second class. It is possible to plug the huge amount we pay for AIT and Channles into DRTV for equipment and materials and then encourage private cooperation in the area. This is still possible to ensure that His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan finishes strong” He concluded.
