Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Friday evening, inspected Fresh FM’s headquarters in Ibadan after parts of the station were gutted by fire.
Naijaonpoint learnt that the governor, who arrived at the scene around 7:30 pm, sympathised with the Chairman of Fresh FM, Dr. Olayinka Ayefele, and the station’s management over the incident.
Makinde described the fire outbreak as unfortunate but noted that it had exposed lapses in the state’s emergency response system.
“What has happened here is a wake-up call for us as far as response time is concerned. I believe if we had taken Oyo State Fire Agency to the level that we want it to be, this damage would not have been to this extent,” the governor said.
He explained that the Oyo State Fire Service would be overhauled to ensure better service delivery.
Makinde further stated, “I would be sitting with the chairman of that agency to see what we can do. We have a fire station here around Scout Camp. If it had been equipped to the level that they could handle this, they would have been here before the people at the secretariat came. Those are things that I have seen that we have to work on.”
The governor expressed gratitude that no casualties were recorded.
“To the chairman and management of Fresh FM, I want to encourage you all. First, if you have this kind of situation, we have to be thankful to God that we didn’t lose any life,” Makinde stated.
He assured that the state government would provide support to the station to ensure it returned to full operations quickly.
“In terms of moving forward, I believe myself and the state government will give support to them. They are very vital to informing our people. We won’t let the station close for an extended period of time. So, I give them that assurance,” he said.
In his remarks, Ayefele thanked Governor Makinde for visiting and expressed appreciation to fans of the station and first responders for their concern and support.
It was learnt that several key sections of the station were affected by the inferno. These included, Fresh FM Studio, Blast FM Studio, Newsroom, transmitter room, office of the Blast FM General Manager and office of the Fresh FM Assistant General Manager.
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