Obaseki Seeks Empowerment Of Journalists

Governor Godwin Obaseki, has praised journalists for playing critical roles in advancing democracy in Nigeria and has also spoken of the need to empower journalists to continue to play those roles.
Obaseki in a message he sent to the National Executive Council Meeting of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) that held in Benin also praised the media for being the eyes and voice of the people in a democracy. But he urged them to set agenda and provide working facts on activities and programme of government.
The governor, who was represented by the commissioner for Information and Orientation, Christ Osa Nehikhare, said journalists must understand their all-important functions as partners in sustaining, preserving and advancing democracy and good governance.
He said, “The media must guard against fake news, hate speech and misinformation, among others. As purveyors of information, the media must verify and fact-check before publishing or sharing any information, particularly during this period of electioneering
“It is in the recognition of this indispensable role that the media plays in the advancement of a progressive society, that Nigeria, like other democracies, gave constitutional backing to the media in the 1999 Constitution, empowering journalists to hold government accountable to the people.”
Obaseki said, “As a government, we are working tirelessly, in partnership with all stakeholders to ensure improved livelihood for our people and achieve economic prosperity for the state and have taken deliberate steps to sustain the gains recorded in this regard through various reforms and interventions in the state’s healthcare and education system, civil service, security architecture, agricultural sector, as well as other infrastructural projects, among others.
“Amid dwindling revenue from the federation account, it has become imperative for state governments to rely on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to continue to effectively fulfill their promises to the people. Hence, the need to intensify revenue drive through constant awareness campaigns and sensistization. Journalists and media practitioners are very critical in this regard, which makes the tax focus of this NEC meeting very apt.
“We are revamping our tax administration system to make it easy for our people to pay their taxes with the use of technology and will be looking forward to partnering with you to intensify the campaign to let more Edo people know the importance of living up to their civic responsibility by paying their taxes,” he said.
The NUJ national president, Chris Isiguzo, said the media were willing to support government improve on revenue collection, explaining that the theme of this Conference, “Tax: Towards An Inclusive Collection and Administration,” was chosen to open up conversation on the Tax Regime in an effort to stimulate awareness in citizens about tax.
“We can all recall that the Federal Government is ramping up its tax collection process with a plan to raise about N9 trillion from Value Added Tax (VAT) alone between 2023 and 2025. We therefore, can appreciate conferences like this one holding here today which is aimed at assisting Government in this effort.
“Collecting taxes and other rates is a fundamental way for countries to generate public revenues that make it possible to finance investments in human capital, infrastructure, and the provision of services for citizens and businesses.
“Taxes have a key role to play in making growth sustainable and equitable, especially when we consider this in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, that ravaged the global economy and which effects are still being felt especially in less developed economies like Nigeria. We hope that the media will rise up to the challenge of informing and educating Nigerians on these issues to enable them understand the importance of paying taxes,” he said.
The NUJ president said the union was collaborating with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to train journalists against the 2023 general elections
He said, “The NUJ has realised that ethical journalism is imperative in the development of the profession of journalism and in the development of democracy. Regrettably, one of the setbacks for journalism in Nigeria is the inability of some journalists to properly imbibe ethical considerations in the practice of the profession. Some are not bothered about fake news and hate speech especially as they relate to the process of elections.
“In fact, election as a mechanism of choosing leaders is a test of the maturity of a democratic process and that one of our greatest problems in Nigeria has been the inability to conduct free and fair elections.
“A situation where Electoral contests are rigged; results manipulated or annulled and in the process crises set in are problems that should be eradicated and the media are pivotal to this.”
Isiguzo said the coming of multimedia technology has thrown up challenges for journalism, and urged journalists to occupy the social media space to reduce the incidence of fake news and hate speech being thrown about the social media.
“It is important that Journalists be given timely and evidence-based information as these are necessary in a democracy. Unfortunately, authorities are still reluctant to open up to Journalists on issues of accountability, ignoring the fact that access to information for journalists is crucial for ensuring public awareness and trust,” he said.
The NUJ president thanked Governor Obaseki for hosting the NEC meeting and to the Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Alhaji Muhammad Nami for facilitating the Tax Conference. The chairman of Edo State council of the NUJ, Comrade Festus Alenkhe, thanked everybody that graced the NEC meeting in the state.