Obuah
Having operated
for over 50 years uninterrupted save a few incidences of military high
handedness on the practitioners during the military era, the Nigerian Press has
come to stay and has also performed impressively well.
What now
remains is for the media practitioners across the country to shift from their
outdated western perception of news as the unusual and odds in the society to
developmental journalism.
The Rivers
State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bro. Felix Obuah made
these observations in his goodwill message to mark this year’s World Press
Freedom Day Celebration in Port Harcourt.
In a statement
of goodwill entitled “Kudos to the Nigerian Press” and signed by his Special
Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, the State PDP boss said
considering the humble beginning of the press in Nigeria and the height it has
attained today in global reckoning, our media men and women should be
commended.
“They have
actually done well by all descriptions having overcome the challenges posed by
the analogue system to competing with the rest of the world in the contemporary
digital and internet media regime”, Bro. Obuah noted.
He however
regretted that the Nigerian Press is yet to pull off completely the vestiges of
westernization in news reporting and coverage.
Rather than
highlight the developmental projects and landmark achievements as is the case
in Rivers State under Governor Nyesom Wike, some media men seem to be reluctant
to do so and prefer to promote those things that tend to threaten the unity of
our people, Bro. Obuah further noted.
According to
Bro. Obuah, the massive developmental projects and the near magical turn-around
of the situation in the State from the parlous and precarious state left behind
by the immediate past regime under Rotimi Amaechi ought to attract media
searchlight for global attention than they have recorded.
He enjoined
media practitioners to be wary of enemies of progress in whatever guise who
revel in distracting them from objective and impartial reportage which is the
fulcrum of journalism.
Recalling the
opening of the courts after the unusual clampdown by the Amaechi administration
for one full year, the face-lift being given to the judiciary for optimal
performance, giving life back to the moribund State legislature no thanks to
Amaechi’s brand of politicking, massive infrastructural development across the
23 local government areas of the State, payment of all the backlog of salary
arrears and pensions owed civil servants and pensioners by the immediate past
administration, positive changes aimed at repositioning institutions of high
education in the State, youths and women empowerment programmes, Judicial
Commissions of Inquiry to expose incidences of fraud and looting of State
treasury, violence before, during and after elections at all levels, and
security measures with a view to protecting lives and property of citizens in
and around the State by the Nyesom Wike administration are good topics for
editorial analysis and discourses for public enlightenment and not only the
pockets of youth restiveness and sponsored protests by aggrieved politicians,
Bro. Obuah stated.
The State PDP
Chairman also prayed for the souls of media practitioners across the globe who
lost their lives in line of duty, stressing that their names should be
immortalized as martyrs for paying the supreme price for the society.
And for those still
active in the profession, Bro. Obuah said they should, while celebrating
reflect on their past mistakes and weaknesses and make amends and come back
stronger, forcefully, more reliable and representative of the true happenings
in society.
Signed:
Jerry Needam
Special Adviser
on Media and Publicity
To the Rivers
PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah
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