Niger State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, Comrade Idris Abdulkareem Lafene, has expressed his utmost displeasure over the sorry state of state-owned media organisations, including Newsline, Radio Niger, NSTV, and even the UK Bello Arts Theatre Hall.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a secretariat complex by the state chapter of Radio Television, the Theatre and Arts Workers Union, RATTAWU, called on the state government to look into the plights of these media houses to make them functional as they remained the voices of Nigerlites.
He congratulated the RATTAWU executives for initiating the project and pledged to support the leadership of the union morally and financially to ensure the completion of the project in good time.
The state chairman of the union, Comrade Isa Mahmud, while speaking with newsmen during the ceremony of the edifice in Minna, said the secretariat, which would have state-of-the-art facilities, would be constructed in phases, adding that the first phase was expected to cost the union about N150 million, while the second phase was estimated to cost about N150 million also.
Comrade Mahmud told journalists that the secretariat will have a conference hall, an ICT centre, and offices for both the chairman and other executive members of the union.
He said that his leadership initiative for the project was in fulfilment of the promise made during their inauguration on April 23, 2023, that before the end of his tenure in office, a befitting office secretariat complex would be built by the union.
The state chairman of RATTAWU disclosed further that the union, which has been in existence since 1978, has no secretariat to call its own, stressing that building a befitting secretariat for members' use was a matter of concern to him even though, on assumption of office, the union was so much indebted, but his leadership had passion and a dream to take the union to greater heights.
He said there was a need for him to have that dream fulfilled by embarking on the construction of the secretariat, and he expressed his profound gratitude to all those who stood by his executives to kick-start the project.
He specifically thanked the state government, the Speaker, the Niger State House of Assembly, and the organised labour in the state under the leadership of Comrade Idris Abdulkareem Lafene for all their support for the project and prayed that God would reward them abundantly.
The Speaker, Niger State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Barr. Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, on his part, applauded the state RATTAWU chairman and his executives for embarking on such a laudable project and pledged that the House will stand by the union to ensure the completion of the secretariat in no time.
He announced a personal donation of N1 million to the union in support of the project, promising that the entire House of Assembly would contribute a reasonable sum of money as part of their contributions to the project.
The construction of the state Secretariat of Radio, Television, Theatre, and Arts Workers Union, RATTAWU, by the Niger State Chapter of the union, named after the former Governor of Niger State, Late Abdulkadir Abdullahi Kure, will cost over N300 million naira.