Minister tells NTA, FRCN to get set for elections

BY EVEREST AMAEFULE

Newly-appointed Minister of Information, Senator Patricia Akwashiki, has asked the Nigerian Television Authority, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and other parastatals in the ministry to brace up to manage information issues that may arise from the forthcoming general elections.

The minister gave the charge when she met heads of agencies in the parastatals in Abuja on Monday according to a statement made available to our correspondent by Press Secretary to the Minister, Mr. Joseph Mutah.

Akwashiki told the parastatals and agencies in the ministry that they must brace up to be able to manage some of the issues that might arise in the aftermath of the elections.

She said as information managers, they should be a step ahead of those planning to foment trouble by sensitising the general public on the need for peace during and after the elections.

Akwashiki said, “I know we have a lot of problems. It is the general song everywhere. Once we don’t have enough revenue to go round, we are bound to have problems but I know that it is also in times of trouble and problems that people show their best.

“I believe we can look inward and outward as the case may be to get other sources or other means of improving ourselves and generating monies and revenues for us to work.”

She stressed that as a deliberate policy to guard against misinformation, public information organs in the ministry should be given the wherewithal to fill the media space with factual and verifiable information.

The Permanent Secretary in the information ministry, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, said despite the paucity of funds, the ministry had initiated and implemented two major information management programmes.

She pledged the preparedness of the management and staff to work with the new minister to actualise the mandate of the ministry.