The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Malagi, has assured Nigerians that the President Bola Tinubu administration won’t gag the press but practitioners must operate responsibly.
The minister, who stated Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, maintained that there is no intention by the current administration to censor the media.
He described the President as a Democrat who has benefited from the media and will not turn around to dictate to the media how to do their job.
“You can see that already happening, who has been pressured? Which broadcast station has been pressured? Which newspaper house has been pressured?
“Nobody will be pressured, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a democrat as you know and he is a product of communication because he has relied over the years on the media to also shape him as he is. So, why would he now come back and say ‘do it this way’?
“Nobody has been pressured and there is no intention whatever to do that. We believe you allow people to say things the way they are provided that what they have said is also absolutely true. Truthfulness, honesty, and responsibility in government communication is two-way.”
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Malagi, on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on December 14, 2023.
Over the years, journalists have been hounded and manhandled by security operatives in the course of carrying out their duties, and in some cases, the network is jammed to stop them from transmitting information from certain areas.
Acknowledging this intimidation of media practitioners, the minister said it is wrong for security operatives to stand in the way of journalists who are carrying out their job, adding that the media have the right to report events as they are.
Malagi added that it is important that the security agents look at the situation in a way that will allow both media practitioners and the people they are reporting to have a secure environment to operate.
On the spread of fake news on social media, the minister said it is not an issue peculiar to Nigeria, noting that the government is dealing with it its own way but that the United Nations is bringing out some kind of operating guidelines for the social media that all countries would hopefully adopt to checkmate fake new.
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