The director general of the Voice of Nigeria (VON ) Mallam Jibrin Baba Ndace has said the agency is determined to change negative perceptions about Nigeria and Africa by the outside world.
The DG stated this Tuesday when he received the Curator of Global Sharpers Abuja Chimdi Neliaku who led her team on a courtesy visit on him.
He said: “There cant be more challenging times for nations to tell their stories than now. We all travel outside the country, we know the challenges that we face as a nation. We know how other nations perceive us. We know attempt by people to paint in bad light. Everyday at VON we tell Nigerian and African stories in eight languages.
“We are willing to partner and collaborate with you because we realize that even telling the Nigerian story cannot be done by the government alone. You need people who will buy in into the narrative of government, I think that is where organizations like yours come in. “
He said VON is willing to partner with like-minded organizations to shape a positive narrative about Nigeria.
“I want you to realized that there is only on Voice of Nigeria and it belongs to Nigerians and it is important that we offer this platform to people who believe in Nigeria. It is important that we relisted that we don’t treat our country as if it the worst country in the world.
“I advise other young Nigerians to embrace what you are doing. We can not allow people to shape who we are but that is only possible if we build positive narratives about our people and our country so that even when negative things happens it’s not amplify as if that is who we are.
“There is no country that is perfect in the world . VON will be at the forefront of telling Nigerian story in a accurate, truthful, believable and consistent manner. We are not going to lie because there are a lot of positive stories about Nigeria to tell the world. Working with me management team, I assure you that we are willing to go the whole board in telling Nigerian and African stories.”