World Television Day: Obaseki salutes inventors, counts impact on knowledge industry

The Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has commended the inventors of television, who rose to the occasion when industrial revolution displaced traditional means of communication in Europe and America in the 1920s, to attend to the communication need of the time.

Obaseki said this in commemoration of the United Nations World Television Day, marked on November 21, yearly.

“Television has impacted positively on humanity with its power to educate, entertain and inform a mass of people simultaneously. The device has been very effective in mobilising and sensitising the populace about government policies and programmes,” he said.

He added that “beyond the traditional function of television, the device has continued to serve as a veritable tool for educating millions of Nigerians, a trendsetter, an electronic baby-minder and a means for transmitting societal values and re-orientating people.”

The governor assured that his administration’s resolve to reposition the state-owned Edo Broadcasting Service television, was in recognition of the power of the device in governance through the dissemination of educative and enlightening programmes.

“EBS will be repositioned to join the elite league of media stations to compete keenly with the big names in the industry in the areas of standards, personnel, equipment, content and in revenue generation,” he said.

Obaseki said with the new world socio-economic order that has influenced the settlement pattern of people, it would have been impossible for a town crier to move from Benin to Auchi and deliver a message to people at the same time.

Television, he maintained, does this with ease and even gives feedback, allows phone-in segment for public participation in a programme, which ultimately raises the quality of the conversation.

In December 1996, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 November as World Television Day commemorating the date on which the first World Television Forum was held.