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As part of on-going efforts to revitalize the information dissemination machinery of the state government, Delta State Commissioner for Information, Dr. Ifeanyi Osuoza, Monday, paid on-the-spot assessment visits to Delta Broadcasting Service, Asaba, and the Delta Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd., publishers of The Pointer Newspapers, to ascertain their functionality status.

While addressing the management and staff of the state-owned broadcast station, Dr. Osuoza admonished them to avoid acrimony and work together in harmony to achieve the objectives of the station, which is to propagate the policies and programmes of the government.

Thecommissioner frowned at in-fighting among staff, noting that a toxic work environment was a recipe for disaster, and would have negative effects on staff and corporate productivity.

The commissioner visited the Delta Printing and Publishing Company, publishers of The Pointer newspapers, where he expressed disappointment at the productivity level of the paper in terms of the quality of its content and returns on investment for the huge sum the state government was spending to print the newspaper through a third party.

Dr. Osuoza advised the management to improve on its performance as well as develop a unique selling point that would make the paper marketable and attractive to readers.

On the request for additional staff, the commissioner stated that such requests would be considered sparingly and on an urgent need basis, noting that the paper could utilize information officers posted to the 25 local government areas of the state as their correspondents, as this would reduce costs as well as enhance the paper’s reach and increase its capacity to publicise the government’s developmental strides, especially at the grassroots.

While stressing that Governor Oborevwori was concerned about the state of government-owned media in the state, the commissioner revealed that a high-powered committee had been set up by the governor to look into the challenges of the outfits with a view to revamping them, and making them the pride of Deltans.

Speaking earlier, the General Manager of DBS, Asaba, Mrs. Christine Emetulu, listed some of the challenges affecting the smooth operations of the station as modern transmission equipment, absence of operational vehicles, among other needs.

Alsospeaking, Chairman of the Board of DBS, Asaba, Hon. Austin Chikeze, represented by a member of the Board, Mr. Paul Osahor, expressed delight at the appointment of Dr. Osuoza as Commissioner for Information, stating that the commissioner was abreast of the challenges and would tackle them headlong.

At The Pointer newspaper, the General Manager, Mr. Sam Ijeh, stated that ownership of the operational premises of the paper was currently a subject of litigation, and appealed to the commissioner to interface with the Ministry of Justice to secure appropriate documentation of the original allocation of the property to the paper.

Mr. Ijeh mentioned challenges of poor power supply, lack of working equipment and low patronage from government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as part of the bane of the paper’s operation.