Staff on morning duty noticed that the transmission station was shut down and reported the incident to both management and union leaders.
Bayelsa State-run Radio Bayelsa, also known as “Glory FM,” went off-air on Tuesday as staff found the station under lock.
Staff on morning duty noticed that the transmission station was shut down and reported the incident to both management and union leaders.
Tonye Yemoleigha, chairman of the Radio Bayelsa Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said that the union received reports of the station’s closure and made efforts to reach the management to no avail.
“Workers who turned up for morning duty were locked out and the station is off-air. We have tried to reach the general manager, but he is not reachable on phone. We have reported the matter to the relevant officials of government.
“It may be necessary for them to engage the services of a welder to remove the keys in order to allow staff to gain access to reopen the station,” Mr. Yemoleigha said.
It was gathered that the incident also affected the operations of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) FM station, “Creek FM," as its transmitting facility is domiciled on the premises of Radio Bayelsa.
Engineering staff of Creek FM could not gain access to the premises of Radio Bayelsa to switch on the station’s transmitter to broadcast their programmes.
It would be recalled that Radio Bayelsa has been experiencing labour disputes since the general manager of the station, John Idumange, was appointed in December 2016.
Mr. Idumange had last week admitted to flogging four union leaders in self-defence following an aggravated industrial dispute at the broadcast station
Mr. Idumange could not be reached for comments as he declined to take calls made to his mobile phone.
