Gombe Gov Commends BON, says role of the media in North-East challenging
By Ben Ngwakwe, Gombe
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has said the role of the media cannot be overemphasised in view of the daunting challenges facing the nation especially their catchment areas of coverage in the North-East Zone.
He harped the need for people to be well informed so as to be able to shun fake news and misinformation being speculated through the social media.
Yahaya said, “You have a lot of work to do because so many things are happening, parameters have changed. The psyche of youths needs to be changed from chanting slogans ” sai ka yi” ( you must do it) is alien to our values. Youths have now left farming to the old ones. It is now your duty to change the narrative.
“Much as we are winning the war against Boko Haram, kidnapping seems to be replacing it. For you to change the narrative you need to train and retrain your staff. Unfortunately, Social Media is replacing the Conventional Media, and it is full of mischief, and fake news, that only prayers and training will help the media practitioners to adapt to the new situation, and to be able to perform effectively for the overall development of the North East and Nigeria.”
The Governor was represented by his Deputy Governor, Dr. Manassah Daniel Jatau, on Thursday in Gombe, when the Governor charged the Chief Media Executives of the North-East on need for ensuring balanced, accurate and un-provoking reports towards maintaining peace and order, when they paid him courtesy call.
The Governor stressed the need for the Executives officers of the media in the zone to package information that would foster peace and bring development.
He stressed the need for the Chief Executives to adopt the train-the-trainer or step down approach as a solution to achieve the aim of infusion new ideas for performance since the economy may not provide for all the staff to be trained overseas.
He commended them for towing the part of the North East Governors by for meeting to share ideas experiences and knowledge amongst themselves for the growth of the North East sub- region and Nigeria as a whole.
Earlier, in his address, the Chairman, Zone B, of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, Adamu Isa Abadam, explained that the Zone B, of BON comprises the six states in the North East sub- region which has a membership of 45, private, and public owned Radio and Television stations, and cable satellite providers.
He further explained that the Media Executives meet every three months rotating between the states in the North-East, sharing ideas, knowledge and experiences towards progress of the profession.
He noted that the Media is facing daunting challenges of poor or lack of patronage from big companies,poor revenue drive, and inadequate training all of which are very paramount for the smooth running of any media organisation.
He solicited for support from the government to the media stations and practitioner to be able to give in their best for the benefit of all.
