News

The minister of information and culture Lai Mohammed has
said that all government owned media will give equal
opportunity to every party to publicise their view especially
during campaigns.
Speaking at his first meeting with directors of the ministry,
Mohammed said although his party, the All Progressive
Congress (APC) was denied access to government media
platforms during the past election campaign, the present
administration will not do the same.
He said no media platform owned by the government will
deny oppositions the opportunity to air their views.
He urged the directors to focus on becoming driving force and
uphold the change mantra of the President Muhammadu
Buhari’s administration.
Mohammed said: “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.”
“Opposition members are Nigerians, just like members of the
ruling party. Even the ruling party will benefit when the
opposition is 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,” Mohammed said.
He lamented the fact that private owned media is doing better
and also more credible than government ones in Nigeria.
“Let me start with the Federal Government-owned media
organizations, the NTA, FRCN and NAN. Why have you all
chosen to play second fiddle in the country’s media
landscape? I ask because the NTA and FRCN of yesterday is
not the same as what we have today,” he said.
The minister blamed this on lack of professionalism exhibited
by the government-owned media.
He said: “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.”
Mohammed said the present administration intend to provide
leadership for the federal government-owned media
organizations in a manner that will make them to become the
first source of information.
This leadership, he said will make the media function
effectively as a change agent for in line with the present
administration’s mantra.
“The combined reach of the NTA, FRCN and NAN, if effectively
utilized, will facilitate the success of the change
campaign. But they must first enhance their own credibility,
because no credibility-deficient news organization can
successfully propagate the message of change,” he said.
He also said the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is
committed to the realisation of the digital switch over in
Nigeria due to the inherent opportunities it will help unleash in
news, entertainment and creative industries.
“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,” the
minister added.
The European Union having released its report on the 2015
general election condemned the coverage of campaigns by
government owned media including Nigerian Television
Authority (NTA). It also accused Africans Independent
Television (AIT) for its involvement in partisan politics.