Fire razes Focus Television station

•JACITAD, DSA respond

THE premises of Lagos-based Focus TV studio were over the weekend razed down by an early morning inferno. Properties worth several millions of naira were lost to the fire.

Confirming this to newsmen on Monday, the chief executive officer, Focus Television, Mr. Tayo Adewusi said as at 7am they were in the premises to put finishing touches to some fittings, only for him to receive a call about the inferno an hour later.

He also confirmed that nothing was recovered from the studio which was commissioned in 2008
by the former Minister of State for Communications, Alhaji Dasuki Ibrahim Nakande.

Located in Ikeja, he noted that the studio is a digital entertainment cable television station with bias for information technology, business and gospel.

Adewusi also said the Focus TV is a cable channel on the Disc Communications platform, offering a bouquet of digital cable channels that could be received with an installed Yagi antenna on UHF 45.7 MHz on the DISC terrestrial transmission space.

Focus TV, he said, became a powerful tool in the hands of creative men and women, entertainers, politicians and the state as a medium for broadcasting items of news, music, talk, sports, entertainments and movies.

“It has bias for Information and Communications Technology - ICT reporting in line with global trends which takes into cognizance the role of ICT in the development of the various strata of society and humanity,” he said.

Adewusi recalled that Focus TV drive its offering from the ICT Watch; a weekly industry feature on Minaj Broadcast International (MBI) which has been sustained for over seven years and continues to provide issue-based reports and analyses as well as the coverage of industry innovation and product launch.

Reacting to the incident, a non-governmental organisation, the Joint Action Committee on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Awareness and Development (JACITAD) called on the industry stakeholders, especially telecom operators and concerned individuals to come to the aid of Focus TV in the bid to rebuild the studio.

JACITAD through its president, Mr. Prince Osuagwu kick-started the support with a donation of N100,000.

This donation, he said, though was not anticipated by has to be promptly decided after due consideration and consultation with relevant members of JACITAD executive.

Equally responding to the call by JACITAD, an affiliate, DigitalSENSE Africa (DSA) Media supported JACITAD’s on this project with a sum of N10,000.

Speaking after visiting the scene of the fire, the Executive Director, DSA, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, lamented the inability of fire service personnel at Alausa to contain the fire, describing it as a sad situation.

She also prayed for the grace to bear the loss by the management of Focus TV led by Mr. Adewusi.

She urged industry players to contribute their quota in re-building of Focus TV at this trying period.

In addition, Mr. Bayero Aganbi of AIT Infotech, said that what has gone with the fire cannot be quantified in monetary terms, adding that since the studio came on live in 2008, a lot of additional investments have been made in terms of equipment and documentation of programmes.

Remmy Nweke:
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