The Deputy Speaker House of Representatives,Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu has charged members of the Abia State chapter of the Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria (OMPAN) and other media practitioners in the country to ensure that they become agents of change.
This is even as he also charged the media practitioners to closely work with the government at all level to help build the Southeast zone and the nation at large.
Rt. Hon. Kalu who noted the role of the media as agenda setters of the society, charged the media to point the right direction for people and government to follow.
The Deputy Speaker who made this disclosure while interacting with the members of OMPAN who paid him a courtesy visit in Umuahia, the state capital, while inviting members of the group and other media practitioners in the country to join hands with him to sale Abia State, Southeast zone and Nigeria positively to the world.
Continuing, he urged journalists to help put the political leaders on their toes by engaging them constructively to ensure accountability and transparency through investigative journalism and well-researched information, advising them to avoid publishing stories that would lead to the underdevelopment of the country.
According to him,”You are nation builders. I said so because you put leaders like us on our toes.
“Make sure as watchdog of the society that you point the right direction on what is needed to be done and I beg of you, do so constructively to avoid churning out piece of information that can lead to the underdevelopment of the country.
“So, I urge you to learn how to use your job appropriately, criticize constructively and use it for nation building. Put some efforts in what you are doing.
“A good journalist should be interested in investigative journalism and invest in research than hasty conclusion which temporarily you will embrace incentives but at the long run people will not take you seriously.
“My desire is to work closely with you so that we can sale the Southeast positively and Nigeria to the world. Stop looking for bad news to get traffic, the more you publish the bad news,the more you scare away the investors.
“Talk about good things and project them, sale the good aspect of our leaders and do not create fear and panic; that is what I noticed journalists are doing these days.
“Please play it down because the more you do it, the more you put fear in people. You have a role to play as Journalists as nation builders.
“We need your help when it comes to peace in the Southeast. The entire South East has for the first time came together because people are in pursuit of peace, security, unity and you have a role to play to ensure that peace.
“It is not politics, It has to do with healing the hearts. What government thinks before is that kinetic approach can achieve peace, but we are taking bold steps on how we can build peace using non-kinetic approach.
“We want to embark on various interventions to heal the wounded hearts in the southeast and we started by lobbying for the Southeast Development Bill, in which we will use the federal government fund to rebuild the southeast and the damage caused by the war.
“Guns cannot fix our broken hearts, barrels of guns cannot rebuild the damage infrastructure.
“Peace in the Southeast Project (PISE-P) is lobbying for a bigger portion that will bring a bigger picture. Join hands with us and be an advocate of peace in Southeast “, he pleaded.
Kalu who promised to support and partner with OMPAN, urging members to upgrade their knowledge of new media space, noted that new media space is becoming highly competitive especially with the Artificial Intelligence that is gaining traction.
Earlier, the Chairman of Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria and leader of the delegation Chief Promise Uzoma Okoro said they came to pay a courtesy visit to the Deputy Speaker House of Representatives to congratulate him on his elevation as the Deputy Speaker as well as to interface with him on the area of information and communication.
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In his closing remarks,the National president of OMPAN Mr. James Emeh expressed appreciation to the Deputy Speaker for the audience giving to the association as well as his promise to partner with the Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria.
