The Kwara State House of Assembly has urged the state government to resuscitate the moribund booster stations of Radio Kwara and the state Television Service (KWTV) for effective dissemination of information to the people at the grassroots.

The plea was part of the resolutions of the House after adopting a motion on notice titled "Need to address non-reception of Radio Kwara and Kwara TV signals in Baruten and other local government areas", moved by the Chief whip of the House, Hon Umar Muhammed Gunu of Ilesha Gwanara Constituency.

The co-movers of the motion were the Leader of the House, Hon Hassan Oyeleke, Hon Adamu Usman of Okuta/Yashikira Constituency and Hon Ahmed Ibn Mohammed who represents Kaiama/Kemanje/Wajibe Constituency.

Gunu noted with displeasure that Radio Kwara inherited the transmitter from Federal Radio Corporation in 1979, nothing was done till the administration of late Governor Mohammed Lawal in 1999 when the transmitter and mast became very weak and eventually collapsed.

He said the transmitter procured by late Governor Lawal's administration was later commissioned in 2005 by former Governor Bukola Saraki who also procured an additional one to bring the number of transmitters to two.

The lawmaker expressed concern that since 2005, no improvement had been made on the equipment of Radio Kwara especially the transmitter until it collapsed again thereby cutting away Baruten local government and other parts of the state in the southern axis from the reception of Radio Kwara signals.

He added that all booster stations that hitherto assisted in carrying the signals and also broadcasting programmes in local languages had gone moribund.

Gunu said with the non-existence of booster stations in Baruten local government, people now rely on Radio Parakou in Benin Republic. "This is the case in some parts of Ekiti, Oke-Ero and Irepodun Local Governments where the people also rely on FM stations in Ekiti State. This issue is seriously affecting the psyche of the grassroots people and is also negatively affecting the revenue drive of the broadcasting stations".

Reading the resolutions of the House, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon Mathew Okedare who presided over the plenary urged the state government to commit the needed resources to the rehabilitation of Radio Kwara and Kwara TV so that they could continue to broadcast the programmes and activities of the state government to the whole world and particularly the grassroots.

Some members who contributed to the motion, noted with displeasure that the condition of personnel in the state owned media also needed to be looked into.

They observed that but for the love the staff of the state media houses have for their jobs and the state, the condition in which they work was not good for effective and efficient service delivery.

Meanwhile, the House has directed the state Ministry of Energy to as a matter of urgency bring the contractor handling an abandoned electrification project in Alera Community in Share, Ifelodun Local Government back to the site to complete the project.

The directive was part of the recommendations of the House following the adoption of the report of House Committee on Energy, Works and Transport on a matter of general public importance raised by Hon Jimoh Akanni of Share/Oke-Ode Constituency.

Akanni had on Thursday, August 6, raised a matter of general public importance on the abandoned electrification project in Alera Village, Share Ward V.

He said the project had been abandoned since 2010 when the contractor left the site after erecting electricity poles and transformer without connecting the community to the national grid at Bode-Saadu.

The committee observed that the contractor had been fully paid even when he had not completed the job.

Reading the recommendations of the House, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon Mathew Okedare who presided over the plenary, mandated the ministry of energy to report the progress to the House after two weeks.

The House urged the state government to cash back the electrification of Egba/Sangotayo project so as to allow the contractor after completing his job, link Alera community to the national grid.