Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has reiterated his administration’s commitment to repositioning the state-owned newspaper, the Nigerian Observer, to meet national and international standards.
Obaseki disclosed this on Thursday after inspecting the newly acquired printing press machine at the newspaper’s head office in Benin City.
According to Obaseki, “You can see that the press machine has now been installed and we are awaiting another one. What we are hoping is to revitalize the state-owned Nigeria Observer Newspaper.
“But more importantly, the plan is to make this place a printing hub for the state. We will ensure that we are able to get constant electricity in this place in the next few days. The State Government Press and the House of Assembly Press will be efficiently run from this place.
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“We are also looking at the possibility of setting up another production centre here, but in this case, that will support entertainment.”
Obaseki further noted: “Entertainment is a related industry, so this is essentially part of trying to get more young people employed particularly as it relates to the entertainment industry with the cooperation that we are having with the German Government, through GIZ.
“We are hoping that by the first quarter of next year the entertainment hub here would have started, which will be supported by the printing and publishing business.
“This centre is going to be more of a production facility because of the constant electricity in the place, but the entertainment village will still have amenities for the entertainers and other participants in the entertainment business.”
“The entertainment village occupies more hectares of land but they will be doing their mixing and post-production work at the Observer printing centre,” he added.
The governor assured that all staff of the media outfit would be trained on technology and the use of the modern facilities, adding: “That is why we are having the training centre to train people to cope with the new world but those who can’t cope, we will look for alternative engagements for them.”
The engineer in charge of the building work, Pekuric Limited, Cyril Okpeahior, noted: “We are rebuilding The Observer. We have built some houses where the main Printing Press will be housed. About two of the buildings are ready. The governor has asked us to take on some more buildings.”
