President Muhammadu Buhari’s foreign trips since assuming office are critical to the implementation of his administration’s key policies of enhancing security, jump-starting the economy, creating jobs and fighting corruption, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said.
In a statement on Friday in Abuja, the Minister said all the trips have been anything but frivolous, and that they have started yielding fruits in terms of turning the tide in the fight against the insurgents who have been most active in the North-east, attracting investments in the range of billions of dollars and securing global support for the administration’s anti-corruption fight.
”Nigerians, whether in the ruling or the opposition parties, have a right to ask questions about the activities of their President. But it is absolutely important that they do so from an informed, rather than partisan or sensational, standpoint,” he said.
The minister explained that most of the President’s trips – to Nigeria’s neighbouring countries of Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, as well as to Germany, US, France and the UN – were devoted to rallying regional and global support for the war against terrorism
”He was in Germany at the invitation of the G7 to solicit support from the Industrialized Nations for the war against terrorism. No one who has witnessed the killings and maiming in the past seven years by Boko Haram will call such trips frivolous. After all, the security and welfare of the citizens are the reasons for the existence of any government.
”The President’s visit to South Africa was to attend the regular summit of the African Union; the trip to Ghana was aimed at fostering better relations with a brotherly country; the trip to India was for the India-Africa summit that provided the opportunity to explore ways of enhancing Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) from Indian investors, while the trip to Iran was to attend the forum of Gas Exporting Countries, a veritable platform for discussing how to better harness Nigeria’s abundant gas resources for industrial/domestic consumption
and export, at a time of dwindling oil prices.
”The President also travelled to Malta to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, from where he travelled to Paris for the UN Conference on Climate Change. The President’s second trip to South Africa since assuming office is for the China-Africa forum. On the few occasions that the President has embarked on a State Visit, he has tied that to an agenda that will further the quest for support for the war against terror and the efforts to enhance FDIs, thus stimulating economic growth and creating jobs,”the Minister said.
He said that apart from rallying global support for the country’s wars on terror and graft or seeking foreign investments, it is important that Nigeria leverages President Buhari’s brand, a high integrity quotient and an embodiment of committed and dedicated leadership, to further Nigeria’s relevance and visibility on the global stage.
”President Buhari is well respected on the global stage for his high integrity, his transparency, his patriotism and his purposeful leadership. It is important to leverage on this respect in such a way that Nigeria can become a major player, either in the realms of economy or global diplomacy,” the minister said.
He said the President had embarked on the trips on a very stringent budget, cutting his delegations to numbers far below what his predecessors used to travel with, while even the trimmed entourage had received reduced allowances on the occasions that the host governments have provided accommodation and feeding.
Lai Mohammed challenges NAN on credibility deficit
The Minister of Information Lai Mohammed has challenged the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to leverage on its credibility over the years to regain its competitive edge in the media industry.
The minister gave the charge Friday during his visit to the headquarters of NAN in Abuja, as part of his tour of parastatals under his ministry.
”I have come with just one message to you today: The News Agency of Nigeria must regain its competitive edge and play in the big league. I recal that a few years back, NAN was dominant in the country’s news architecture, and was widely quoted within and outside the country as a source of credible news.
”Today, it has lost that edge. In an increasingly competitive news environment, only those media organizations that exhibit creativity in their approach to the news business will excel, and NAN has what it takes to excel,” the minister said.
He said NAN, the national wire service that was established in 1976, must show more hunger for the kind of news that cannot be resisted by subscribers.
”It must go beyond a bland reporting of the news, beyond front-loading its cast with mostly news about the activities of government. It must become the first source of credible news about Nigeria. A situation where Nigerian media establishments quote foreign wire services for events that occur in their country is a big blow to NAN, which should ordinarily fill that void,” the minister said.
He challenged NAN to uphold its editorial policy, which includes that news and comments emanating from the agency must be truthful, honest and fair, but must not jeopardize peace and harmony in the country.
In accordance with the enabling policy, he posited that NAN cannot be neutral in any matter affecting the sovereignty and unity of the country.
According to him, NAN has largely maintained its credibility over the years, hence must leverage on that to bounce back to the top league among national and even international news agencies.
”It must show more passion, more hunger and more creativity. Since the news business is dynamic, the agency must train and retrain its staff to mould them into top class professionals,” he said.
He insisted that the agency must strive to become Africa’s top national news agency, which will be ”first with the news on Nigeria, and indeed Africa.
Earlier in his address of welcome, the Managing Director of NAN, Mr. Ima Niboro, said that the agency is currently undergoing re-engineering to re-position it for the challenges of the 21st Century.
He also said that NAN is rehabilitating its satellite communication system with a view to modernizing it so it can effectively serve the needs of the news agency.
”The ongoing reform is fundamental in providing a modern working environment, including the provision of equipment and tools, training and retraining of its high manpower,” he added.
-Vanguard
