Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, BON has warned that all TV and radio stations in the country may shut down operations over the persistent fuel scarcity and skyrocketing diesel price.
According Yemisi Bamgbose, the executive secretary of BON, the broadcast stations can no longer cope with the lingering fuel scarcity and skyrocketing prices of the black market fuel.
Mrs Bamgbose made it known that the situation has caused a delay in staff salaries attributed by the high cost of machine maintenance and scarcity of fuel.
According to her, the shutdown of TV and radio stations will pose huge security threat to the dissemination of fact-checked information.
“There is a lingering scarcity of petroleum products and diesel, which fuels the generating sets of these organisations, has more than doubled in price over the last four months,” reads part of the statement.
“With diesel costs averaging more than N700 per litre and having to resort to buying petrol from the black market at more than N2000 per litre, broadcast organisations are recording such huge deficits that have resulted in staff salaries being delayed,” said the BON executive secretary.
BON disclosed in the importance of addressing the issue of scarcity to avoid the total shutdown of operations by Broadcast organisations, adding that some have reduced their transmission hours.
The statement added that failure to do so and accurate and verified information dissemination will give way to “the uninhibited proliferation of fake news and unverified information.
