The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has called on broadcast journalists to strive towards promoting patriotism, national unity and cohesion in the country.
The minister, who stated this during the 5th National Broadcasting Commission’s Annual Lecture in Abuja, said Nigerian broadcasters must also join in the crusade against corruption, infrastructural deficit and criminality.
He said: “As Journalists/broadcasters, we are expected to encourage the populace to partner with the government in finding solutions to the myriad of challenges facing our dear country, from corruption, infrastructural deficit to criminality.
“Accordingly, the broadcast industry owns it as a duty to Nigerians to use its platform to encourage productivity, patriotism, national unity and cohesion.”
The minister, who was represented by the ministry’s director of Public Communication and National Orientation, Priscilla Iheoma, commended the NBC for being consistent in hosting this annual lecture.
According to the minister, the theme of this year’s lecture is apt, considering that Nigeria recently held a general election, where the broadcast industry played an important role in shaping the opinions of the electorates in voting candidates of their choice.
“Apart from the traditional role of educating, informing and entertaining the populace, the broadcast industry in Nigeria has also played a pivotal role in sustaining the tenets of our democracy,” the minister stressed.
On his part, the Director-General of the NBC, Malam Is’haq Modibbo-Kawu said the annual lecture was aimed at assisting the Nigerian broadcasting community come to terms with the realities of social existence, so as to address the challenges of underdevelopment and nation-building.
According to him, there has never been a simplistic formula to confront the hydra-headed challenges of development in any society than consistent sensitization of this kind.
“That is why the broadcaster has an obligation to conduct programming and news, as well as commentaries, in manners that would aid the efforts to confront the challenges that face the Nigerian State and society.
“We are all aware that the Nigerian State confronts several challenges today, yet like millions of our compatriots, we are also aware that the Nigerian State, is also making concerted efforts to address these challenges. It is not doom and gloom in our country,” he stressed.
Earlier in his keynote address, Prof. Adam Ahmed, the Director, Directorate of Linkages and Collaboration, Nigerian Defense Academy, Kaduna, emphasized that broadcast media have enormous power and influence on the people that it has become part of their everyday life, hence its indispensable role in society.
“Some people prefer to listen to the radio or watch television before laying their hands on anything. Just imagine how you will feel when you wake up, tune the radio or television but could not get hold of any.
“How would you know the happenings within, outside and inside your environment without the broadcast media?
“It is, therefore, right to say that in any democracy, the broadcast media plays an indispensable role in creating, molding and reflecting public opinion,” he stated.
