FG committed to bring prosperity to broadcast industry — Minister

The Federal Government on Tuesday in Abuja restated its commitment to bring prosperity to the broadcast industry and move the sector forward.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the assurance in an address of welcome at the 5th Annual Lecture of Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

The theme of the lecture for the year is “Contemporary Challenges of the Nigerian State: Need for Construction Broadcast”.

“Permit me to reiterate my commitment to the realisation of the objectives of this administration in taking the broadcast industry and indeed information sector to the next level of prosperity.

“Let me congratulate the NBC for being consistent in holding this annual lecture.

“The theme of this lecture is apt considering that Nigeria recently had general elections while the broadcast industry played a vital role in shaping opinions of the electorate in voting candidates of their choices.

“Apart from the traditional role of education, informing and entertaining the populace, the broadcast industry has also played a pivotal role in sustaining the tenets of our democracy.

“The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has great respect for the media and will continue to work with them as partners in progress.

“In recent times, our information screens have been flooded with contents that test the peace and unity of the country; these contents circulate within social media platforms,” Mohammed said.

He said some social media contents, mostly unverified, found their way into the mainstream media and generated hate speech and fake news.

The minister urged the broadcast media to constructively make use of social media contents with great sense of patriotism for peace and unity.

“However, to make robust the broadcast industry, President Buhari has approved wide ranching reforms, including the licensing of online TV and radio stations

“We have also approved the reviewed Broadcast Code to bring it in line with current realities,” he said.

The minister was represented at the lecture by Ms Priscilla Iheoma, Director of Public Communication and National Orientation in the ministry.

In his remark, the Director-General of NBC, Malam Ishaq Modibbo-Kawu, urged broadcasters to extract maximum mileage from the lecture to deepen their sense of responsibility to the country.

“The NBC’s endeavour with the Annual Lecture Series flows directly from an overview of the work that you do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

“The duty of regulating broadcasting becomes ever more challenging, as the number of stations being licensed to operate increase by the day.

“The NBC has to keep up with the growing numbers of licencees, amongst who are those who believe they should not be regulated or who regularly air content that leave much to be desired from the perspective of the Nigeria Broadcast Code.

“Let me assure you that the NBC will continue to serve the very interest of our dear country, Nigeria,” Modibbo-Kawu said.

The guest lecturer, Prof. Adam Ahmed, Director of Linkages and Collaboration, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, urged NBC to sign memoranda of understanding with media organisations to sanitise the sector.

Ahmed also called on the Nigerian media to always emphasise on national integration and unity.

The first Annual Lecture of NBC was held in 2015 with the theme: “New Media Convergence and The Future of Broadcast: Greedy Telco, Naive Broadcasters and the Scramble for Spectrum”.