NLC COMMENDS EBS ACTING MD, FESTUS ALENKHE, PASSES VOTE OF CONFIDENCE, BACKS TRANSFORMATION
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Edo State Council, has commended the Acting Managing Director of the Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS), Comrade Festus Alenkhe, for what it described as an unprecedented transformation of the state-owned broadcast station.
The labour body, in a statement signed by its Edo State Chairman, Comrade Bernard Joman Eguakhide, expressed a “vote of implicit confidence” in Alenkhe’s leadership, saying his appointment had brought renewed vibrancy to the operations of EBS.
According to the NLC, the appointment of Alenkhe followed changes made across ministries, departments and agencies by the administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo after assuming office.
The statement said the government’s objective of effectively communicating its activities to the people of Edo State was not being fully achieved until Alenkhe, a journalist with more than two decades of experience at EBS, was appointed Acting Managing Director.
“The narrative changed when His Excellency, in his wisdom and in a bid to ensure his voice is heard and government activities are properly interfaced with the people, appointed a seasoned Journalist, Comrade Festus Alenkhe, as Acting Managing Director,” the NLC said.
The labour organisation said that since Alenkhe assumed office, “the transformation has been palpable and unprecedented,” citing changes in news programming, current affairs and the promotion of the state’s cultural heritage.
“There is renewed vibrancy in the clear and unbundled dissemination of news, current affairs and cultural heritage,” the statement said.
It added that programmes had been streamlined “to meet the information and education needs of Edo people,” while the station had introduced live news bulletins featuring reporters broadcasting from Lagos, Abuja and different parts of Edo State.
The NLC said the development had helped make government projects, policies, activities and programmes more visible across the state.
The labour body also highlighted EBS’s coverage of major events outside the state, describing the live broadcast of the funeral of the Catholic Archbishop of Benin, Most Rev. Augustine Obiora Akubeze, as a “historic feat.”
According to the statement, the coverage earned the station “wide commendation from the leadership of Catholic Archdiocese of Benin Metropolitan See.”
The NLC further cited EBS’s live broadcast of the final of the WAFU B football tournament in Burkina Faso as another major achievement under Alenkhe.
“In another masterstroke, EBS beamed live the final of the WAFU B football tournament played in far away Burkina Faso — an innovation hitherto thought impossible for a state station,” the statement said.
The labour organisation declared that the changes represented the kind of broadcasting service it had long desired.
“This is the EBS we have always desired,” it said.
The NLC also praised Governor Okpebholo for appointing Alenkhe, describing the decision as “putting a square peg in a square hole.”
The statement expressed confidence that Alenkhe would continue to develop the station and position it prominently in the digital broadcasting space.
“We have full assurance that Comrade Alenkhe will excel and will put EBS and Edo State on the world broadcasting map in this era of digital information technology,” the NLC said.
Consequently, the labour body said it had resolved to pass a “Vote of Implicit Confidence” in Alenkhe’s administration at EBS, adding that his leadership style was one it wanted to continue to see at the station.
