Provide safety nets for private sector workers, MAGIC FM Manager tells government

October 4, 2018

By Ijendu Iheaka

The Manager, News, of Magic FM radio station in Aba, Mr Bonny Onogwu has called for legislation to create safety nets for workers in the private sectors of the economy to cushion their sufferings.

Onogwu made this call in Aba on Thursday during a media briefing to mark the 5th anniversary of the pioneer private radio station in Aba.

He said although workers in his establishment do not face unnecessary sack threats or such other ill-treatments, the service conditions and treatments given to private business workers deserved to be reviewed.

According to Onogwu, the provision of such safety nets would not only improve the economic condition of the private sector workers but also increase their productivity in return.

” In the public sector, you have the normal line of action. But in the private sector, even the girl friend, wife, child of the owner can sack you.

“The owner can work in today and if he does not like you face he can say my friend get out. And the worker is gone.

“The NBC has not been able to look at that side so that the operatives (that is the workers) are not just treated anyhow.

“The private stations are also not allowed to unionize so they cannot be affiliated to Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) or Radio Television And Theatre Arts Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU).

“They should have a situation where if you are ill-treated you will have a place where you have a recourse without going to the court of law as it obtains in the civil service”, he said.

Onogwu said that Magic FM station’s greatest challenge as a business concern was using power generating sets almost 24 hours a day instead of electricity from the national grid.

He said that if power could be provided for the operation of the station from the national grid, they could do more for the benefit of the people they are serving.

He noted that his station had through advocacy contributed so much to development of Abia and adjoining states whose governments receive feedback on the people’s needs and are prompted to action for their benefit.

He said that Magic FM has touched the lives of the citizens through provision of entertainment, education and informational services which give variety to the people’s needs and tells them the truth.

Onogwu said Magic FM 102.9, which is owned by Saturn Communications Limited, began operations on May 15, 2013 and has since then become the darling station of radio listeners.

He said the station’s audience coverage includes Abia, Ebonyi, Cross River, Rivers, Imo, Bayelsa, and Enugu states while also serving some parts of Nigeria’s neighbor, Cameroon