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Unto whom much is given, much is
expected-
Minister Labaran Maku ‘tells fellow
reporters’Jim
Pressman
Newsdiaryonline Wed Nov 23,2011
Labaran Maku:Minister of Information
‘Fellow
Reporter’ Comrade Labaran Maku says in his new capacity as
Minister of Information, he has consistently supported
journalists and the noble cause of journalism in all ways
possible and available to him, including joining to spearhead
the push for eventual passage of the famous Freedom of
Information Law which took many battles and years to achieve.
He has
therefore urged media practitioners to look inward and clean
their Augean stables of all unethical and unpatriotic practices,
even as they perform their onerous duty of holding the
government and public office holders accountable to the people,
as entrenched in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
Maku, a
former reporter and Editor at the
Champion Newspapers,
who spoke at the National Press Centre in Radio House
(Headquarters of his Ministry) Friday November 18, 2011, soon
after he was decorated as the Grand Patron of the Federal
Information Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ),
promised to continue to support his fellow journalists but
argued that “even if a news item is factual and verifiable, if
it is in any way detrimental to national security and stability,
such news should not be played up the way some of the media have
recently tended to
celebrate the activities of anti-state elements whose action
tend to heat up the polity and incite the citizenry to anarchy.”
He said
as part of efforts to clean up journalism practice in Nigeria,
which he said in its glorious past from the Nnamdi Azikiwe days
of the defunct
West African Pilot
contributed more than any other profession to achieve
nationhood and democratic practice for Nigeria, discussion has
started with the Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria
(NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) Nigeria Union of
Journalists and other stake holders, with a view to resolving
the issues around the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), for
effective supervision and sanctioning or rewarding bad/good
journalism practice
in Nigeria.
Makun
regretted that unlike other professionals, journalists do not
respect the written rules, regulations and ethics of their own
profession, even as it is the only one constitutionally
recognized.
Maku
said the journalism profession in Nigeria required a strong
Ombudsman, but that in the mean time, “beyond
professionalization which he supported, members of the NUJ must
move to promote the rules and ethics of the vocation, or else it
will suffer harassment.” He called for greater demonstration of
responsibility, as failure to do so will undermine the growth
and health of Nigeria’s fledgling and still delicate democracy.
At the
ceremony, the maiden edition of the Information Chapel’s
in-house magazine,
Polity Today,
was launched and supported generously by the Minister,
Permanent Secretary Alhaji Aliyu Gusau, OON,
Director General of
the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA),
Sir Peter Idabor (represented) and Special Assistant to the
Information Minister on Special Duties Mr. Henry Angulu (former
two – term Niger State Council NUJ Chairman) also represented,
who were also honoured. The Chapel’s effort also got support
from Ms. Ene Ede, publisher of the rested The Woman Today
newspaper, Directors and Deputy Directors in the Ministry and
the National Secretariats of NUJ and the Nigerian Association of
Women Journalists (NAWOJ).
Not one
to miss the opportunity, National Vice-President in charge of
Zone H (FCT/Niger State), Gbenga Onayiga of the Federal Radio
Corporation (FRCN) Headquarters News Directorate, who is also
Chairman of the Journalists Insurance Committee, reminded the
Information Chapel
leadership of the need for all their members to get on the list
of NUJ-insured practitioners at the rock-bottom premium of N6,
750=00 only attracting a claim of N1.5million payable within one
week of filing, in the event death or permanent disability,
which, Onayiga observed, “could happen to anyone at anytime.” He
therefore added that “no life can be over –insured,” his counter
to those who as civil servant journalists claim that they are
already insured by government.
The NUJ
Insurance scheme account is managed by AIICO, a reliable risk
underwriting firm which has been in the business in Nigeria
since 1964.
The Polity Today
Magazine and Award Dinner was put together by NUJ and NAWOJ
segments of the Federal Information Chapel, in a collabo which
has been recommended to other Chapels by National President,
Asabe Baba Nahaya. Other prominent NAWOJ-FCT Chapter members
present also supported Mrs. Nahaya…
Th
This is the document referred to in the Witness
Statement on Oath of Clifford O. Kokogho as
“Exhibit
COK.2”
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