The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has urged government-owned media to raise the level of their professionalism and credibility.
The minister, who said this at a meeting with heads of parastatals under the ministry in Abuja on Thursday, accused them of mortgaging their credibility on the altar of political correctness.
He said that if effectively utilised, the combined reach of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN, could ensure the success of the change campaign of the present administration.
“It is a great pleasure for me to meet you all for the very first time since I assumed duties in this ministry. Let me start with the Federal Government-owned media organisations, especially the NTA, FRCN and NAN.
“I am concerned why have you all chosen to play second fiddle in the country’s media landscape? I ask because the NTA and FRCN of yesterday are not the same as what we have today.
“Whereas most broadcast journalists of note in our country today passed through the NTA and the FRCN, there is no denying the fact that the private radio and TV stations are doing much better, at least going by the fact that most Nigerians prefer them to the public broadcasters.
“Indeed, most Nigerians find the private broadcasters more credible.”
Mohammed said that the government-owned media’s total disregard for editorial independence even when they were endowed with highly trained and qualified personnel, had led Nigerians to see the privately-owned media as more credible.
“Yet, these Federal Government-owned media establishments are endowed with highly-trained and well-qualified personnel, better infrastructure and a wide reach.
“It is interesting to note that these government-owned media organizations complain of financial woes, forgetting that there is a link between credibility and profitability.
Advertisers will surely flock to more credible media organizations, and of course it is also true that content drives advertisement.
“The same law of diminishing return also applies to NAN, which was once the leading national news agency in the whole of Africa, boasting of the best professionals in the news business.
“Today, the agency is punching far below its weight, despite its presence in all the states of the Federation.”
The minister said that it was ministry’s intention to provide the government-owned media with the kind of leadership that would make them to become first sources of information in a manner that would make them function more effectively as vehicles for the change mantra of the Buhari administration.
He said that once that was done, they would be in a position to regain their lost glory “but they must first enhance their own credibility, because no credibility-deficient news organisation can successfully propagate the message of change.”
Mohammed assured Nigerians that under the Buhari administration, no Federal Government-owned media organisation will deny the opposition the opportunity to air their views.
“It is true that while we were in opposition, we were treated as outcasts by these public broadcasters.
“They denied us the use of their platforms; they rejected our adverts and even made themselves available for the most abhorrent hate campaign ever in the history of electioneering campaign in our country.
“But in an era of change, which is our mantra, that cannot and will not continue. Opposition members are Nigerians just like members of the ruling party.
“Even the ruling party will benefit when the opposition are allowed to air their views freely, because you learn more from people who disagree with you.
“Therefore, let the ruling party and the opposition air their ideas and let the people, who wield the ultimate power, decide at the end of the day.
“To the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), I say we are committed to the realisation of the Digital Switch Over in Nigeria, because of the inherent opportunities that this will unleash in the news, entertainment, and creative industries and the vibrancy that it will usher into the sector.”
According to him, this will in turn create jobs for millions of our teeming youths. The same is true of the National Film Corporation and the National Film and Video Censor Board, which are also key to propagating the change agenda.
“In the end, all of us here, including the Voice of Nigeria, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria and the Nigerian Press Council will have a role to play in the days ahead, when we launch the massive national reorientation campaign aimed at achieving a paradigm shift in the way we do things,” he said.
The Director-General of FRCN, Dr Ladan Salihu; the Managing Director of NAN, Mr Ima Niboro; the Director-General of NTA, Sola Omole; and other heads of parastatals under the ministry were present at the meeting.
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