…Cautions against fake news
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris Malagi, has assured Nigerians that he will tell them the truth about government policies and programmes at all times.
Malagi stated on Monday at a reception organised to honour minsters of Information and National Orientation, Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy and Minister of Tourism at National Press Centre, Abuja.
He said the ministry will open, transparent and accountable on all government policies and programmes.
He said: “I want to tell you all that I am a reporter reporting for duty. Mr President has asked me to come and tell you that this is a brand new Ministry of Information and National Orientation.
” Most of the heads of agencies in this ministry are actually my friends because I have interacted with you in the last 20 to 30 years. It is like asking somebody in the house to come and lead his house. I assure you that we are going to have a brand new ministry of information.
“Today is not a day for policy
pronouncements, we here to meet with stakeholders of the ministry. But we want to assure you that we are poised to ensure that the renewed hope agenda of Mr President gains traction.
” Mr President has sent me to come and tell you the way it is. We will own up where we are wrong, we will own up where there are mistakes. National orientation will be at the core of this ministry in addition to the information dissemination that we all know. “
while caustioning Nigerians especially members of the press against fake news, he said the ministry will in the next few days invite all stakeholders especially the press to roll out it programmes for Nigerians.
” We are going to have a ministry of information and national orientation that is open, that is transparent and that is also accountable to Nigerian people.
“To members of the press, anything that you want to know we will let you know but please no fake news. If you don’t understand anything and you want clarification on any issue, we will be here for you,” he said.
In her remarks, the Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, said the ministry under her watch will reposition Nigeria for greatness.
She said: “Nigeria is at the precepe of greatness. Nigeria has always been a great nation but we are currently at precepe of greatness.
“When I was told that I have been appointed a minister, there is no ministry I wished to be posted to than the ministry of Culture and Creative Economy. I have always had the passion to take this ministry to the level that is required.
“I am a poet, an author and song writer. So I understand the process of creativity. We are going to export Nigeria to the outside world. We are going to make Nigeria the greatest nation in the world.
“We will change the narrative of who are to the world. We will also change the narrative of who we are to ourselves. We come from a country that is diverse with over 250 languages, we will leverage on that to sell Nigeria to the world.”
Also speaking, the minister of Tourism, Ms. Lola Ade-John, pledged that her ministry will leverage on the huge tourism potentials of the country to generate revenue for the government.
