THE
Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Labaran Maku, has given the
assurance that the Federal Government has no plan to gag the press.
The minister gave the assurance on Thursday in Asaba at the opening of the 9th All Nigerian Editors Conference.
The theme of the conference is, ‘Nigeria beyond oil: The role of the Nigerian Editors.’
Maku said the media were operating in an atmosphere of freedom and vigorous debate.
He said the media had remained the
freest in Africa, adding that even in the military era; it operated with
a considerable degree of freedom.
He said, “Nigeria has remained the
leader in terms of press freedom in Africa and gagging of the press in
this country is not practicable.
“We must worry about the quality of our reports and we need strong ethics for the profession to survive.”
Maku added that the government was
favourably disposed to discuss issues pertaining to press council with
the Nigeria Guild of Editors and other stakeholders.
The minister said security remained a
very serious challenge to the country and called on the media to join
hands with the government in fighting the menace.
He said the government was poised to end terrorism and so, had deployed all strategies to fight it.
He added that the transformation agenda
of the present administration was based on government’s realisation that
oil resources would be exhausted.
The minister said the government had
embarked on measures at revitalising other sectors of the economy to end
the country’s dependence on oil.
Maku further urged the media to focus
more on the country’s economy than politics and said that government
would continue to identify with the activities of the Guild.
In his address, the President, Nigerian
Guild of Editors, Mr. Femi Adesina, said Nigeria needed to envision and
evolve a nation beyond oil or it could “perish.”
He said, “Petroleum has been our
mainstay, and we have allowed the easy money from oil to strangulate
other cash cows like agriculture, solid minerals, tourism and many
others.
“But as they say, `everyday is not
Christmas, and the Egungun (masquerade) festival must end one day. The
honeymoon is about ending.’’
Adesina added, “Oil is fast becoming a
vanishing source of easy revenue. Nigeria once had a pride of being one
of the largest producers of petroleum on the continent, but not anymore.
“Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Cameroun, Chad
and some others have also found oil. And much more contentious is the
fact that America, our largest customer has discovered shale oil and so
may not need to patronise us again.
“I tell you doomsday is by the corner, except we become proactive and stave off the evil.’’
He argued that it was inconceivable that a country which could no longer fund its imports remained a consumer nation.
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