Listeners of Confluence FM Lokoja popularly known as “Radio Kogi Lokoja” have called on the State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to declare state of emergency on the radio station while describing the continuous shut down of the popular broadcast medium as shameful to the state. Our reporter reliably gathered that the station was shut down on August 2nd 2021 due to the break down of transmitter, Kogi Reports with the details.
Some listeners expressed displeasure over the neglect of the Radio which is the only state-owned broadcast medium established in Kogi since its creation in 1990.
A resident of Lokoja, the State capital, Muhammed Abdullahi, described the inability of the Kogi state government to fix the radio station in the last 5 months as a big shame to the government, considering the role of Radio Kogi to the dissemination of Government policies and programmes.
Abdullahi noted that “Radio Kogi, despite their inability to be on air, still remain the authentic station for getting information about happenings in Kogi State. It is very unfortunate and shameful that things turn out like this.” “No serious government will leave its only Radio Station to be off air for 1 month not to talk of 5 months, considering the fact that it is a revenue generation agency of Kogi state government.”
A Christian religious leader, who does not want his name in print, maintained that reaching out to the people through preaching on Radio has been difficult in the last 5 months. He pleaded with the Governor to fix whatever is hindering the Radio from working as soon as possible, adding that the ugly development does not speak well of the New Direction administration. An Islamic scholar, who also crave anonymity, appealed to Governor Yahaya Bello to fix the State Radio for the sake of listeners who have been living in total darkness of information about happenings of the government.
Another Listener, Taiye Emmanuel from Obajana, said the introduction of online broadcasting is a welcome development, but cannot serve the majority, especially the aged and non educated listeners of the Radio Station.