You lack credibility – Lai Mohammed tells NTA, NAN, FRCN

In from Timothy Enietan-Matthews (Nation’s capital) . . .

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Thursday, lambasted government owned media outlets, saying, that they had lost the great following they had because they had thrown professionalism to the winds.

According to him, for this reason private media establishments were more highly rated than federal government-owned media organisations such as the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The minister stated this in Abuja at a meeting with the heads of parastatals under his ministry, observing that private media platforms were doing much better while government-owned media are busy playing the second fiddle.

According to Mohammed, the organisations must first regain their credibility before they can now attract adverts, that would bring in revenue.

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“Why have you all chosen to play second fiddle in the country’s media landscape? I ask because the NTA and FRCN of yesterday is not the same as what we have today,” Mohammed queried.

“Whereas most broadcast journalists of note in our country today passed through the NTA and the FRCN, there is no denying the fact that the private radio and TV stations are doing much better, at least going by the fact that most Nigerians prefer them to the public broadcasters. Indeed, most Nigerians find the private broadcasters more credible.

The minister vowed that under the current administration, no opposition party would be denied the opportunity of airing its views.

“In the end, all of us here, including the Voice of Nigeria, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria and the Nigerian Press Council will have a role to play in the days ahead, when we launch the massive national reorientation campaign aimed at achieving a paradigm shift in the way we do things”, Mohammed stated.

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