By Fred N.Manjack
Come 3rd June, 2013, another important chapter will be opened in the good governance drive of the present administration; it is on this day that the Ministerial Platform, the second in the series where Ministers were required to show their score cards, will kick off.
(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Ministerial-platform.jpg) (http://fmi.gov.ng/2013-ministerial-platform-another-opportunity-for-sound-public-information-management/ministerial-platform/)It is also at this time that new agenda for the administration is set.
The ministerial platform will also afford Nigerians the opportunity to know what the ministers were doing in their various ministries, departments and agencies of government. Government is about the people, hence the need for government officials to report to the people from time to time.
It must be stated that this innovation by the administration aimed at making Ministers accountable, is a right step in the right direction because the people deserved the right to be informed on how they are governed.
The briefing is also a fertile avenue to boost the two-fold information flow whereby information from the leaders reaches the led, thereby making the super information high way between the people and government smoother and lucid for mutual understanding.
This kind of scenario especially in a democratic setting would remove suspicion and encourage the people to respect the government.
However, there were aspects of the briefing, which is sometimes taken lightly: the questions and answers session. During this session, officials sometimes do not answer questions satisfactorily. Some audience even believed that some questions were tactically evaded. The overall effect of this is making the questioner to be wary of this type of exercise.
It was also observed that sometimes, officials come to brief with well prepared speeches, yet the contents do not measure up to the expectations of reporters and the audience.(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Ministerial-Platform.jpg) (http://fmi.gov.ng/2013-ministerial-platform-another-opportunity-for-sound-public-information-management/ministerial-platform-3/)
These situations put off reporters and editors who normally, when writing their stories, rely on what they got from the questions and answers sessions, because prepared speeches do not always quench the thirst for news by reporters and editors.
Therefore, officers preparing these texts should as a duty ensure that facts and figures are properly put in place, so that what they are used, they make news and satisfy the yearnings and intention for which the briefings were intended for.
Similarly, the briefing, which is made to promote the policies and programmes of government, must not be made to stop at that intention but to ensure that Nigerians feel the effect of projects and programmes said to have been executed. A stitch in time, according to popular adage, they say, saves nine.
Fred N.Manjack, a Higher Executive Officer subscribed this write-up from the National Press Centre.Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria
Such platforms should happen more often so more reasonable things can be discussed to better the lives of the masses.