Radio Nigeria Prime FM, Lokoja, Kogi State has been vandalized by men of the underworld, carting away valuable broadcasting equipment.
Some of the items carted away includes three transmitter copper line, Automatic Antenna change over, a set of transmitter copper, twenty two RF Amplifier modules, one hundred am battery, one console and Radio for Audio streaming.
According to the security man on duty, Mr Daniel Haruna, the hoodlums stormed the station at the early hours of this morning, numbering about fifteen and armed with guns and cutlasses.
Mr Haruna said they did not rough handled him, but took away the property they gathered.
He stated that the hoodlums warned him to keep silent over their operation since they were not his personal property.
Reacting to the development, the General Manager of the station, Alhaji Adeiza Momohjimoh described the action of the hoodlums as unfortunate and showed how callous criminals could go about their activities.
Alhaji Momohjimoh noted that the incident was a setback that would take time for the station to come back on air.
He appealed to the security agencies to help media houses with personnel to secure their property particularly at night and to forestall such occurrences in future.
The Manager also called on the management of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria to look into perimeter fencing of the land to avoid encroachment and easy accessibility.
In a swift reaction, Kingsley Femi Fanwo, Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, condemned the vandalization of Radio Nigeria.
He said the state government will work with security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended and brought to book.
Fanwo stated that the Kogi state government is committed to protecting all federal agencies within the state, saying efforts will be made to stop this from becoming a new normal.
“We will work with the management of the station to ascertain the degree of vandalization and also get clues on what led to the unfortunate incident.
“We will be ready to render any possible support to the station in this trying period as we urge federal agencies in the state to be security conscious and always inform the State Government if and when they need support,” Fanwo assured.
