THE Board of Continental Broadcasting Services Ltd (CBS), owners of Television Continental (TVC), and Radio Continental, has explained why it laid off 145 staff last Friday. The media outfit is owned by Chief Bola Tinubu, a chieftain of. the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Lagos State
A statement issued by the management of the media outfit said the decision was part of its effort to restructure the enterprises. According to the statement, the restructuring is geared towards repositioning the business for better and greater delivery of its services to its audiences and advertisers.
The organisation explained that in line with the changes, it would reconfigure its workforce, as part of the rationale to achieve its objectives. “A total of 145 people are affected by Friday’s announcement,’’ the statement said.
“We wish to make clear that our core channels consisting of TVC News Nigeria, TVC Entertainment and Radio Continental, will now become the main focus of our business going forward, where we will deliver high quality news and entertainment programmes to our audiences and advertisers across Nigeria and beyond.
“The winding down of TVC News Africa will allow us to concentrate on these key areas of our business,” it added.
The statement explained that the CBS Board of Directors has also approved a substantial new investment in its staff across the group of companies which would enable it to substantially enhance its news and current affairs output on TVC News, entertainment programming on the market, TVC general entertainment channel and its key radio asset, Radio Continental.
“For those staff members affected by today’s announcement, the Board of CBS Ltd has approved a generous severance package, in addition to a programme of assistance to enable them seek new employment,’’ the statement said.
It could be recalled that Officials of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Radio, Television and Theatre Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU) had described the massive purge at TVC as “a national embarrassment”.
Labour leaders who spoke in Lagos condemned the mass layoff. Mr Deji Elumoye, Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos State, said the sack was unnecessary and embarrassing to the nation. According to Elumoye, the sack is uncalled for especially at a time when media houses, including TVC, are under-staffed. ”In most media houses, journalists are overworked. One person covers two to three beats and now they have been sacked. It is unacceptable”, he said. The NUJ chairman said CBS had the right to hire and fire but should have endeavoured to pay workers their entitlements before issuing the sack letters. He said the sack was a wrong way to celebrate the organisation’s 10 years anniversary achieved by the workers. He said the organisation should have restructured the management level such as the expatriates who are being paid in dollars rather than sack 80 per cent of the journalists.
Mr Bobboi Kaigama, President, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), also condemned the sack in its totality and said that the organised labour would look into it soon. “The leaders of the NLC and TUC are in Geneva for the International Labour Organisation conference. We will take action on it when we return”, Kaigama assured.
previous post
