….Station Suspends Broadcast, Seeks Public, Govt Support to Recover
The Management of Ebinla Radio 102.3FM, Ado-Ekiti, has temporarily suspended broadcast activities following extensive damage to its transmission equipment caused by lightning.
The incident, according to the station, destroyed equipment valued at over ₦500 million.
In a statement, the station listed the affected equipment to include: 1 Single-phase transmitter, 1 Three-phase transmitter,1 Single-phase UPS, 1 Three-phase UPS, 2 Industrial standing air conditioners, and the entire wiring system of the transmission room
The Chief Executive Officer of the station, Okinfunfun, who also serves as Coordinator of Sorosoke Mediation Centre, SMC, and Associate Director of Touching Life Foundation, TLF, made an emotional appeal to the public, government at all levels, corporate bodies and Nigerians in the diaspora for assistance.
Okinfunfun said the damage was too enormous for him to bear alone and that the incident had wiped out everything he had worked for to establish the station.
“I would have cried out earlier, but I needed to ascertain the full extent of the loss. All I have ever worked for to establish this station has been destroyed by lightning,” he said.
He noted that the station had put in place precautionary measures to forestall such an occurrence, but the force of the lightning overwhelmed them.
Okinfunfun appealed to the station’s teeming listeners to bear with the management, assuring that Ebinla Radio would bounce back stronger and more effective in no distant time.
He also expressed appreciation to a sister radio station that has volunteered to provide spare equipment to enable the station resume skeletal operations pending when it can procure new ones.
Ebinla Radio 102.3FM operates both as a human rights radio station and a mediation centre. Since its establishment, it has been providing public service in advocacy, conflict resolution and community engagement.
