President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to the media to exercise its
\nfreedom with responsibility to Nigerians and rise to the defence of
\ndemocracy as the 2015 elections draw nearer.<\/p>\n
The President made the appeal on Thursday in Abuja at a fund-raising
\ndinner organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors.<\/p>\n
Represented by the Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, the President
\nsaid in spite of the challenges, democracy in the past 14 years had served
\nNigerians better than the decades of military rule.<\/p>\n
He urged the media to exercise the freedom it presently enjoy with utmost
\nresponsibility to the nation, noting that the media remained a critical
\nfactor in the success or otherwise of the 2015 election.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am appealing to the media; this democracy we are seeing is far better
\nthan the military regimes that we have had.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy challenge to practitioners is to present our country in a positive
\nway; let us defend this country and the democracy we currently enjoy.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria can only be fixed by the people of Nigeria, that is why I am
\nparticularly appealing to the media to project our country in their
\nreports,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Jonathan added that in spite of the challenges in the country, Nigeria had
\ndone significantly well both at home and in the continent.<\/p>\n
According to him, Nigeria represents the hope of `Black Africa\u2019 and
\nNigerians, including the media cannot afford to fail in their
\nresponsibilities.<\/p>\n
Other speakers at the occasion called for a total change in the
\norientation to media reportage of events, and political actors in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the occasion, Prof. Jibril Aminu, recalled that from the
\nfirst republic through the era of military dictatorship, the media played
\nactive roles in stabilising the polity.<\/p>\n
He urged practitioners to reflect their love for Nigeria in their reports
\nto help stabilise the polity, especially during electioneering periods.<\/p>\n
He said that Nigerians had no other country to run to hence the need for
\nall Nigerians to put aside ethnic, regional, religious and political
\ndifferences in the interest of national unity and development.<\/p>\n
The governors of Edo and Delta, Comrade Adams Oshiomole and Dr Emmanuel
\nUduaghan, in their separate remarks said the unity of Nigeria was not
\nnegotiable.<\/p>\n
They appealed to the media to close ranks with political and opinion
\nleaders in the country and work for the unity of the nation regardless of
\nthe bickering among politicians.<\/p>\n
Earlier in his welcome address, the President of the Guild, Mr Femi
\nAdesina, said the idea of a national secretariat had been conceived by
\npast leaders of the Guild.<\/p>\n
He said that the current executive was only building on the foundation
\nalready laid by previous leaders.<\/p>\n
Adesina said that the secretariat complex and an annex would be cited in
\neither Lagos or Abuja.<\/p>\n
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Maku announced a N50 million
\ndonation by the Federal Government for the project, while donations from
\nEdo and Delta state governments were undisclosed. (NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to the media to exercise its freedom with responsibility to Nigerians and rise to the defence of democracy as the 2015 elections draw nearer. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n