These are hard times at Lagos Television (LTV), UHF 35, the Lagos State government-owned broadcast station, as staff morale is low due to a continuing deterioration of facilities, FIJ can report.

Once a television station that harboured the hopes of competing with its private counterparts, or at least staying not too far away from them, things have now gone so bad that some of the station’s long-serving staff are wondering if this is indeed the end of the road for their careers.

FIJ’s findings show that a number of the station’s equipment have suffered from wear and need to be replaced for effective operations.

In the past year, the station’s terrestrial broadcast suffered repeated loss of viewers, as it is often off air due to a lack of electricity and diesel to power its generators.

On Saturday, for example, a combination of power outage and a lack of diesel meant the station went off air from about 8pm until Sunday.

“Our 8 pm news failed on Saturday. We were off air because we did not have diesel,” one staff member who asked not to be named told FIJ.

“Our Outside Broadcasting (OB) van is mere decoration; it is not working. Our terrestrial platform is our strength for generating income, but it has been dead for over one year.”

FIJ understands that the last time LTV got operational vehicles was during the governorship tenure of Akinwunmi Ambode, which ended in 2019.

N50MILLION TO BUY TWO CAMERAS, FEW FURNITURE

Staff of the television station were happy in 2021 when the government of Babajide Sanwo-Olu showed interest in giving the place a facelift. However, the state government bizarrely spent N50 million on the purchase of only two cameras and a few furniture items.

“We are still using the teleprompter bought by Lateef Jakande [Governor of Lagos from 1979 to 1983],” one staffer said. “That is the only one we have.”

“The lack of diesel has negatively affected the terrestrial service for longer than I can remember,” the conerned staff member continued.

“It has been off for God-knows-when. I can’t even say how long, and the problem is diesel.

“Most of our viewers are terrestrial. If you go to Badagry, go to Ikorodu, Epe, everybody there is on terrestrial. We should be on terrestrial.

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“We lose money, we lose viewers; our subscribers are on terrestrial, but they don’t get to see us. Our OB van has cameras, but the cameras have no lens. They have not been used for one day.”

STAFF UNION, MANAGEMENT’S RELATIONSHIP STRAINED

On March 4, 2022, The Radio Television Theatre & Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) wrote a letter to Olusina Thorpe, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Lagos State, accusing him of declaring a war against their members.

They said they had twice sought audience with Siju Alabi, General Manager of LTV, but she ignord them on two occasions; meanwhile Thorpe, whose audience they simultaneously sought, invited them each time.

“In pursuit of industrial peace, we wrote to the General Manager on the 16th of February 2022, and highlighted all the concerned issues,” read a part of the letter sighted by FIJ.

“The General Manager disregarded the letter, [but] the permanent secretary invited us on the 25th of February 2022 for family discussion.

“To our dismay today, 4th March, 2022, before the commencement of the meeting, you [the PS] dispersed the meeting, which is synonymous to declaring a war against the entire members of the two in-house unions (NUJ and RATTAWU).”

FIJ learnt that during a meeting between the NUJ, RATTAWU and Thorpe later in March, a resolution to repair the relationship between workers and Alabi was reached.

“The Director, Service Matters/PSO, informed the management that approval for bailout would be granted and phased out, but the management needed to deduct and remit immediately in order to avoid debts,” the resolution read in part.

“She further advised the general manager to always run an open-door policy with the union members. Likewise, the union members show respect to the general manager and desist from badgering with her.”

FIJ understands that one reason for the strained relationship with Alabi was that she was hiring contract staff with discriminatory pay packages, and incurring heavy financial cost.

Among the resolutions was a decision for the state government to help fund diesel purchase for the station. The NUJ and RATTAWU then demanded 12 items, including vehicles/operational tools, pension arrears, health insurance scheme, maintenance of vehicles/mechanic and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

They also demanded new operational vehicles (barter), monthly deduction to reduce pension arrears, freelance, terrestrial TV (Ikorodu), attention of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to LTV, National Housing Funds, and contents and programmes.

A CALL FOR HELP

“Please save the future of past and serving members of staff of LTV,” another staff member told FIJ.

“Please help us. Lagos is richer than Ogun State. Go and check OGTV; compare them to LTV. OGTV is directly under the Governor’s office; putting LTV under the ministry of information is killing the station because they reason like ‘ministry people’ to the detriment of broadcasters.”

When FIJ asked this particular employee about the recent renovation, this was the response: “The renovation, though shoddy in some aspects, was a big relief. However, state-of-the-art equipment and staff motivation remain an issue.

“The schedule of a media house is complex, with round-the-clock transmission. But LTV lacks basic amenities to compete favorably with its competitors, which means staff are practically required to perform magic. There is the basic problem of lack of a staff bus, resulting in staff being left to their fate when closing at odd hours.

“The monthly subvention of N1million from the state government is shocking; the staff wage is about N35million monthly. Perhaps the government picking the wage bill might unshackle the station from its fetters.

“Experience has proven that LTV staff possess the wherewithal to compete with their peers in other stations, and do so much more, but technology drives broadcasting in the 21st century.”

‘GO TO LTV NOW, IT’S BETTER’ — AKOSILE, THORPE

When FIJ contacted Thorpe for comments on the situation of the station, he said the station was back on air and in better shape “than the news that was being spread”.

He also advised the FIJ reporter “to visit LTV and see things for himself”.

He however declined further comments on the contents of the resolution with the unions.

Gboyega Akosile, Sanwo-Olu’s chief press secretary, told FIJ the governor had made significant contributions to the station, and the terrestrial TV was working fine.

On the strained relationship between the unions and Alabi, he said, “Not everybody will like the way you lead.”

Akosile also denied the claims of the station’s members of staff and said LTV was better than before.

FIJ made several phone calls to both Siju Alabi and Gbenga Omotosho, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information, but they were not answered. They had also not responded to text messages sent to them at press time.