Minister urges NAN to leverage on credibility to regain competitive edge

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has
urged the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to leverage on its credibility
over the years to regain its competitive edge and play in the 'big
league'

''I have come with just one message to you today: The News Agency of
Nigeria must regain its competitive edge and play in the big league,''
the
Minister charged during his visit to the headquarters of NAN in Abuja
on Friday, which kick-started his tour of Parastatals under the
Ministry

He recalled that a few years back, NAN was dominant in the country's
news architecture, and was widely quoted within and outside the
country as a source of credible news.

''Today, it has lost that edge. In an increasingly competitive news
environment, only those media organizations that exhibit creativity in
their approach to the news business will excel, and NAN has what it
takes to excel,'' Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said NAN, the national wire service that was established in 1976,
must show more hunger for the kind of news that cannot be resisted by
subscribers.

''It must go beyond a bland reporting of the news, beyond
front-loading its cast with mostly news about the activities of
government. It must become the first source of credible news about
Nigeria. A situation where Nigerian media establishments quote foreign
wire services for events that occur in their country is a big blow to
NAN, which should ordinarily fill that void,'' the Minister said.

He challenged NAN to uphold its editorial policy, which includes that
news and comments emanating from the agency must be truthful, honest
and fair, but must not jeopardize peace and harmony in the country.

It is also important, Alhaji Mohammed said, to emphasize that in
accordance with that policy, NAN cannot be neutral in any matter
affecting the sovereignty and unity of the country.

He noted that NAN has largely maintained its credibility over the
years, hence must leverage on that to bounce back to the top league
among national and even international news agencies.

''It must show more passion, more hunger and more creativity. Since
the news business is dynamic, the agency must train and retrain its
staff to mould them into top class professionals,'' the Minister said,
adding that the agency must strive to become Africa's top national
news agency, which will be ''first with the news on Nigeria, and
indeed Africa''.

Earlier in his address of welcome, the Managing Director of NAN, Mr.
Ima Niboro, told the Minister that the agency ''is quietly undergoing
re-engineering to re-position it for the challenges of the 21st
century''.

''The ongoing reform is fundamental in providing a modern working
environment, including the provision of equipment and tools, (as well
as) training and retraining of its high manpower,'' he said.

Mr. Niboro said NAN is rehabilitating its satellite communication
system with a view to modernizing it so it can effectively serve the
needs of the news agency.

Segun Adeyemi
SA to Hon Minister of Information and Culture
Abuja
Dec. 4th 2015