The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, has called for a new media campaign against terrorism and related activities in West Africa and other regions of the continent.
Maku made the call at the opening of the 8th Congress of the West Africa Journalists Association (WAJA) in Abuja on Friday.
He
Labaran Makusaid that the freedom enjoyed by the media in the region should be restricted to the promotion of issues that would advance the region and not to the activities of terrorists.
The minister stressed the need for people of the region, including the media to unite against anti-progressive elements operating in their communities.
“We need to defend our countries from the influences of local divisive groups, the first lesson for journalists, therefore, is that we must begin to sensitise our people to the dangers of terrorism.
“This freedom the media enjoys today in the region must not be extended to terrorists and their activities.
“We should not give terrorists a free reign of publicity; we should not report terrorism from the point of view of celebrating terrorists.
“There must be some level of control on what goes out to the public about terrorists,’’ he said.
Maku said that the society was increasingly becoming vulnerable and could be divided if the media continued to give publicity to terrorist activities.
He said the domestic media must be propagated and supported to disseminate information from the stand point of promoting societal harmony.
The minister called on governments in West Africa to support the development of a strong and vibrant local media to ensure genuine development of the region.
He urged stakeholders in the region to ensure the establishment of strong institutions to regulate the practice of journalism.
Maku said the practitioners in the region must exercise the freedom they enjoyed with responsibility to their nations and people.
He said that operating in a free atmosphere without a strong instrument for professional control was inimical to the development of the profession.
Earlier, WAJA President, Malam Mohammed Garba, said the association had done much in the past four years to improve on journalism practice in the region.
Garba said that WAJA had secured two training facilities with the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and a Norwegian NGO to build the capacity of practitioners in the region.
He reiterated the association’s commitment to improve the environment for smooth journalism practice in the region, particularly the participation of women in journalism.
In his remarks, the West African Regional Director of UNESCO, Mr David Kayanja, expressed UNESCO’s concern on the safety of journalists worldwide, particularly the killing of 31 journalists between January and April.
Kayanja urged sub-regional governments to do more to protect the rights of journalists working in the area.
He urged the media to pay more attention to issues relating to the post-2015 development agenda which would soon be unveiled by the United Nations.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that delegates are expected to deliberate on issues relating to women participation and other gender-based issues on day one of the meeting.
Delegates from 15 countries in West Africa attended the opening session of the meeting.