The Chief Executive Officer TVC, Mr Andrew Hanlon, has promised to ensure the Television Station, which was attacked by some yet to be exposed arsonists during the violence that trailed the EndSars protest, comes back stronger and better than it was before.
Hanlon made this promise while receiving a Lagos State Government team lead by the executive Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who had visited to commiserate with the staffs of the organization as well as assess the level of destruction inflicted on the station.
Hanlon took the Governor round the main auditorium, which hubs the stations operation. This was completely razed by the attackers. According to Hanlon, the auditorium housed three main studios, three control rooms, three master control rooms and central transmission laboratory said to have been equipped with the modern communication gadgets worth millions of dollars. But all that is left of that is ruins.
Hanlon explained that more than 250 production staff working in the razed building had been out of work since the incident happened. He disclosed also that over 500 direct employees of the station had been struggling to work in temporary accommodation put up by the company.
Lamenting the whole situation, Hanlon said, “People’s hard work and the huge investment that went down into the TV station were destroyed in a period of about an hour. The incident was really traumatizing for all of us. The rioters left immense devastation. The entire interior of the building was destroyed. This is all that is left of our bubbling building, which was a centrepiece. Thankfully, no member of staff died in the incident.”
He, however, assured the committee that efforts are already in gear to returning the station back to its operations with a promise that the station would bounce back stronger than it was. The Lagos State Governor was accompanied by the Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Gboyega Soyannwo, and Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso.