Govt won’t gag media, say Reps

Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja

The National Assembly has promised to ensure that the freedom of information is strengthened and Nigerian media is not gagged.

The lawmakers gave the assurance yesterday at the launch of a book, titled: The Powers That Be, written by the Managing Director of The Sun, Onuoha Ukeh, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media, Benjamin Kalu, advised the media to use its power for the good of the country and Africa.

The lawmaker, who also represented Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, tasked the media to show more of the nation’s strengths than its weaknesses.

He added that negative reports about the arms of government do more harm to the growth of the nation.

Kalu urged the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) to encourage practitioners of the new media to operate.

The lawmaker noted that the social media had challenged more Nigerians to venture into journalism practice more than into other areas.

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“We will partner the media in our joint task effort at nation-building. We will ensure that the freedom of information is strengthened and the media is not gagged. But while we do so, we all must also take responsibility to ensure that the media is not used to perpetuate pessimistic truths but to reinforce Afro-positive narrative.”

“As partners in nation-building, the media must be a tool to showcase our strengths better than our weaknesses so that the opportunities that exist in our country and our continent could be embraced by the citizens of the world who are watching. Let our story not be of how dark we are but how hopeful we are.

“Suffice to say that unfair reportage on the nation or any arm of government is an impediment to the growth of any nation. We must realise that unprofessional journalism, combined with the scourge of fake news, poses a critical threat to our democracy and national development.

“We are mindful of the significant role played by the new media and fully appreciative of the fact that today, with an internet penetration of 56.4 per cent and over 115.9 million active internet users, real Nigerians now have an opportunity to contribute to social change, using the social media.

“Social media has encouraged the interest of many people in journalism more than in any other profession. I, therefore, seize this opportunity to encourage the NUJ not to stifle practitioners of the new media but to develop trainings and development programmes to groom and assimilate them into international best practices.

“Today, I encourage the media to always to always protect their constitutional role as enshrined in Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered, recognising that they are a critical part of the democratic part of checks and balances and, therefore, cannot afford to drop the ball in the sustenance of our democracy.”