By Ayo Bada
Senior Correspondent
Journalists have been urged by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu, to uphold the ethics of the profession by reporting truth that will help develop the country.
“Your profession is one of the best in the whole world but you can make a mess of it if members of the body are not reporting correctly and not cross-checking their facts before publishing.
“Investigative journalism is very important if we must move the country forward.
“By not reporting the truth, we tend to break the country and it is easier to destroy than to build but it is important to build than to destroy,” he told officers of the Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), who visited him.
Akiolu said the problems Nigerians are facing now arose from the bad governance of the past and not the fault of the present administration.
“We should not blame the present administration on what we are going through because it is the fallout of the past administration.
“We need to be patient for things to be normalised. We are too much in a hurry for the dividends of democracy but we are quick to forget that a lot of things had gone wrong that need correcting before we can move forward.”
He explained that President Muhammadu Buhari has the best intention to re-position the country but this will take time.
Lagos NUJ Chairman, Deji Elumoye, presented to Akiolu a book written by the Lagos NUJ on the first civilian Governor of Lagos State, Lateef Jakande.
“We appreciate you for accepting us in your palace and we pray for peace and love to reign not only in Lagos State but in the country in general,” Elumoye said.
He charged journalists to always balance their reports, and promised that the Akiolu’s advice will be passed on.
Others on the delegation were Lagos NUJ Secretary, Bimbo Oyetunde; Assistant Secretary, Odifa Alfred Odifa; Treasurer, Kehinde Ajayi; Internal Auditor, Idowu Ogunleye; and Ex-officio member, Ben Ibe.