The Chairman of BON Zone C(Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo State), Festus Kehinde made this known in a statement obtained by newsmen.
Kehinde noted that the economic downturn and low revenue generation occasioned by the total lockdown as a result of coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world, has created a financial cul-de-sac for broadcast stations in the zone.
“The economic downturn and low revenue generation occasioned by the total lockdown as a result of COVID 19 pandemic ravaging the world has created a financial cul-de-sac for broadcast stations in the southwest which may necessitate a shutdown of operations if urgent actions are not taken’, the statement reads.
“As a result of the lockdown, the stream of income of broadcast stations have been stifled with most companies who are also experiencing a dire strait, halting the flow of commercials, the blood that runs the stations”, Kehinde emphasised.
He also stated that the broadcast media in the south west contributes substantially to the nations GDP and the sector is a huge employer of labour, especially youths across genres of professions.
“At this auspicious period when the nation is battling the COVID 19 pandemic, the strategic importance of the broadcast industry cannot be overemphasized as the potent agent of advocacy across the nooks and crannies of the nation’.
“A shutdown of broadcast media in the SW will spell doom to the advocacy efforts of government and unleash a large number of youths on the unemployment market. The consequences of such a shutdown of radio and television houses are better imagined than experienced”
The South West zone of BON however called on Governors and governments of the South West, the leadership of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control,( NCDC), members of the Presidential Taskforce Force on coronavirus and the Central Bank Nigeria to put issues of how to sustain the broadcast industry in the front burner and factor the broadcast industry into the stimulus packages being contemplated.
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