(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/labaran_maku-300x243.jpg) The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, has called for the strengthening of public Information machinery in the country, in order for them to be competitive and effectively deliver on their services to the people of Nigeria.
The Minister made the call while speaking in audience with the newly appointed Director-General of the Bureau For Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr Benjamin Ezra Dikki who paid him a courtesy call to brainstorm on the advantages of commercialising the Public Information Organs.
Mr Maku noted that the drive for commercialisation should not be such as to deprive the agencies of mass public enlightenment campaign bearing in mind, the peculiarities of the African media environment.
The Minister advised that there must be a strong mechanism of public Information management, noting that a careful study of the broadcasting sector should be carefully carried out before embarking on commercialisation and amendment of laws establishing them.
Mr. Maku expressed the need to jointly study the concept of the proposal by the Enterprise to harmonise perceptions and to enable both parties agree on the objectives to be achieved.
He expressed the need to involve non-state actors such as academia and experts in public broadcasting industry to look at the most effective ways to realise the objectives for which the sector was established and enable it tap opportunities and resources that exist both within and outside the public sector for proficient management of their own operations.
Earlier, the Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises, Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki, said that the visit was prompted by the need for the BPE as a reform agency, to work with the Ministry and its agencies such as the NTA, FRCN, NAN and the Nigeria Film Corporation, to begin a comprehensive review of the policies that govern the sector and for a comprehensive review of the existing legal and regulatory framework.
Mr. Dikki also expressed the need for the Minister, as the custodian of the policies of the Federal Government that govern the media sector, to kick start the process of the review which will dovetail into the setting up of a Project Team to comprehensively study the media sector and make proposals to the Minister for policy reviews of the legal and regulatory framework of its operations.
Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria
Public information machinery is always an important part of any country. He has done the right thing by calling their attention to it.