By Correspondent in Kano
Worried by the spate of insecurity in Nigeria, the Governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, has called on Journalists in the country to ensure promotion of professionalism, adherence to the ethics of their profession and avail security agencies with useful information to curb the menace.
Editors at the 2021 NGE Convention in Kano.
He made the call on Monday while declaring open the 2021 Biennial Convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in Kano.
The governor particularly urged the editors to exercise caution, as the gate keepers in information dissemination, to make sure that the news they publish promote unity and devoid of fake news that would increase the tempo of insecurity in the country.
He said the country’s constitution recognises freedom of speech but that Journalists must ensure that while adhering to the constitutional provision in the discharge of their duty, it must be done with social responsibility for the peace and development Nigeria.
Ganduje said the state government had embarked on the training and retraining of the Journalists in its media establishments to ensure that they practice within the norms of their profession as well as boosting their productivity.
He described Kano State as the safest state in the country, adding that effective measures had been put in place to ensure crime and criminality were reduced to the barest minimum in the area.
The Chairman of the occasion, who is also a Fellow of NGE as well as one time governor of Ogun State, Chie Segun Osoba, commended the governor for the effective ways he had been managing time and resources of the state for the good of the people.
“Once anybody can manage time and resources, he or she will succeed in whatever endeavour in life,” he said.
He also gave kudos to the governor for not allowing the state to be the home of criminals, as excemplified by the peaceful nature of the state.
In his address of welcome, the president of the guild, Mr Mustapha Isa, described as unfortunate, a development where by “Nigeria has consistently retrogressed in the global index since 2005.
On fake news,Ias noted that it had become an epidemic world-wide and attributed the development to the advent of social media.
“This is not to say that social media is completely bad. We need social media. It is its abuse that governments and requisite agencies should work with service provider to find solution to.
“Let me emphasize that members of the NGE are not involved in fake news.We are trained Journalists and responsible gatekeepers,”he said.
According to him,all NGE members subscribed to the code of ethics of Journalism as developed by the Nigerian Press Organisation.
He condemned attacks on security agencies and destruction of security infrastructure, noting that scarce national resources which would have been committed to providing roads and health facilities “will now be deployed to repair damaged facilities.
He called for legimate ways to ventilate grievances, stressing that “violence is not an option.”
On insecurity, he said the situation remained frightening, adding, “We should not pretend that all is well.”Too many lives have been lost.”
Our Correspondent reports this year’s theme of the Convention is” The Media in COVID-19 Era: Challenges and opportunities”.
The online publication reports that one of highlights slated for the occasion is the election of new officials to be at the helm of the Guild, an exercise that was about to commence when this story was published.
Over 500 editors, cutting across the electronic, print and social throughout the 36 states of the federation and the FCT are attending the event.
