The management of Gotel TV, founded by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has sacked about 70 percent of its workforce, according to a report by Oak TV.
Letters of termination were said to have been given to the affected workers on Wednesday.
The purge, it was learnt, is direct fallout of the economic recession in the country.
A notice from the station’s management on Tuesday said the downsizing was part of a “restructuring exercise embarked upon by Gotel Communications Limited”
Oak TV reported that “the TV station which has its headquarters in Yola, Adamawa State has been struggling to navigate the difficult economic conditions that have befallen the nation and therefore decided to suspend its operations to re-evaluate the company’s finances.”
It said, when contacted, Managing Director of the Station, Mohammed El-Yakub, “hiring and firing” were decisions of any entrepreneur while declining to make further comments.
A former member of the TV station, Paul Ibe, told Qed.ng on telephone that he was not aware of any sack by the broadcast company.
He, however, said companies are taking the painful decision to let go of staff because of the harsh business environment in the country.
“Banks, oil companies and telecommunication companies are sacking workers to survive. Companies have to stay alive to be of benefit to anybody, he said.
Gotel TV was established by Atiku in 2008, one year after his second term as vice president ended.
It belongs to a conglomerate with which the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain provided direct and indirect jobs to more than 50,000 Adamawa residents as at the first quarter of 2015.
