Media, a powerful tool in nation building – El-Rufai ….As NUJ Kaduna Correspondents’ Chapel opens new office
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai on Friday described the role of the media in nation building as inevitable because there is no society than grow without it.
The Governor, who stated this during the official opening of the new office of Nigerian Union of Journalists Correspondents’ Chapel Kaduna, called on the media practitioners to adhered and uphold the integrity of the profession.
Represented by his Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity), Samuel Aruwan, the governor added that, as powerful as media appear to look like today, it should not be abused.
“Media is important and inevitable in our quest to build a strong nation. But we should not abuse the privilege of being the practitioners. Media persons in public service should be careful so their practising colleagues will not abuse them.
“The fact that you are a journalist does not give you immunity to write or do anything you like.
“As good as media is, it is unfortunate that today, people sit at their comfort zones and fabricate stories and when they are being queried, they brought in all manners of things including religion and ethnicity in an attempt to protect their act.
“We must separate hatred, personal things in what we do. We in Kaduna state will not clamp down on the media. We have never done that.
“The future of the country lies with media. If anything goes wrong in the country and state, the media should be ready for the role it plays. We must do our work professionally in the interest of the country and the states we work in”, he stressed.
Earlier, the Chairman, NUJ Kaduna, Adamu Yusuf described the Chapel as the heartbeat of the union in the state as it comprises of all media representatives nationally and internationally reporting from the state.
“We must commend the efforts of the Executive Members of this Chapel for launching its compendium, the full names and pictures of their members will complement the efforts of the state and the national body of NUJ to fish out quacks among us and that will also help to sanitize the system”, he said.
“Few of the obligations of journalism if I am to remind you are: truth, objectivity, balance and social responsibility to the state, country and the world in general”, Adamu added.
Chairman of the Correspondents Chapel, Comrade Midat Joseph in his opening remarks assured the public of the Correspondents Chapel’s readiness to partner with established lawful agencies in Kaduna State, saying that they are the news makers of the society.