BAYELSA GOVT. URGED TO UPGRADE RADIO BAYELSA

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The Bayelsa State Government led by Hon. Seriake Dickson had  kept silent over the fire disaster that occurred in the studios of the state radio  station two weeks ago
 The Bayelsa State,  Radio Station, Glory FM 97.1 engulfed in flames 2nd July, 2019 which took the people of the state and the Ijaw nation by surprise.
That was not a palatable news which spread like a wild-wind  through the state capital Yenagoa, and it's environs.
And from medium to medium, the fire incident at  Radio Bayelsa was  the breaking news of the day or headline  news  which caught the  attention of concerned Bayelsans at home and abroad including me.  When I heard the news I heard no alternative than to move down to the  Radio House in earnest, and lucky for me the General Manager, Dr  John Idumange was in the office, and with him was Veteran Journalist, Publisher and Author Nengi  Owei Ilagha who's mission was the same with mine.

The General Manager while leading us through the debris said that the cause of the fire was not yet ascertained, but seeing round the so called Bayelsa State radio station, which is acclaimed as being the voice of the Ijaw nation may not be distant from being next to the poorest radio station in Nigeria if not the poorest.
A radio station built by Military Administrator Omonyi Caleb Olubolade, a Navy Captain as a stop gap measure at the pioneering stage of governance in 1997 to the broadcast sector, had continued  to be so over the years, with huge annual budgets approved by the State Government without improvement of either facilities or manpower development.
Radio Bayelsa is a sorry sight, a skeleton of a Broadcasting House which from the gate announces poverty. The 22 year old radio station could be noticed from the flooded environment through to the caravans being used as offices, which gave the impression that the State Radio station is an 'orphan' in the hands of the powers that be.
The main building housing the radio station was O.K for the state at that fledgling stage, but it is a show of shame now for our leaders who abandoned the radio station  un-cared for over the years before the fire incident.
If Radio Bayelsa is the voice of Niger Delta is every need for the present administration to take necessary steps to build a befitting radio station for the state and for the Ijaw people across the world.
Taking a closer look to it , one may be tempted to say that Bayelsa had what it takes to build a befitting edifice for radio broadcasting in the state.