The Deputy Speaker House of Representatives, Rt Hon. Benjamin Kalu has called on media practitioners in the country to work closely with the government to help in building the South East zone and the nation at large. He made this appeal on Saturday in Umuahia when he played host to members of the Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria (OMPAN).
The Deputy Speaker urged the media practitioners to as watchdog of the society, point the right direction for people to follow by selling the right narratives for the Abia and the country at large.
Continuing, he urged journalists to help put the political leaders on their toes by engaging them constructively to ensure accountability and transparency through investigative journalism and well-researched information, advising them to avoid making hasty conclusions leading to churning out pieces of information to the public which is capable of undermining national development.
According to him, “You are nation Builders I said so because you put leaders like us on our toes. Make sure as watchdog of society that you point the right direction on what is needed to be done and I beg of you do so constructively to avoid churning out piece of information that can lead to the underdevelopment of the country.
“So, I urge you to learn how to use your job appropriately, criticize constructively, and use it for nation-building. Put some effort into what you are doing.
“A good journalist should be interested in investigative journalism and invest in research rather than hasty conclusions which temporarily you will embrace incentives but at the long run, people will not take you seriously.
“My desire is to work closely with you so that we can sale the South East positively and Nigeria to the world. Stop looking for bad news to get traffic, the more you publish the bad news, the more you scare away the investors.
“Sale the State, sale the nation, talk about good things and project them, sell the good aspect of our leaders and do not create fear, panic that is what I noticed journalists are doing these days. Please play it down because the more you do it, the more you put fear in people. You have a role to play as Journalists as nation builders.
“We need your help when it comes to peace in the South East. The entire South East has for the first time came together because people are in pursuit of peace, security, unity and you have a role to play to ensure that peace.
“It is not politics,It has to do with healing the hearts. What the government thinks before is that the kinetic approach can achieve peace, but we are taking bold steps on how we can build peace using the non-kinetic approach.
“We want to embark on various interventions to heal the wounded hearts in the South East and we started by lobbying for the South East Development Bill, in which we will use the Federal Government fund to rebuild the South East and the damage caused by the war.
“Guns can not fix our broken hearts, barrels of guns can not rebuild the damaged infrastructure. Peace in South East Project (PISE-P) is lobbying for a bigger portion that will bring a bigger picture. Join hands with us and be an advocate of peace in South East “ he pleaded.
Kalu who promised to support and partner with OMPAN, urged members to upgrade their knowledge of new media space, and noted that it is becoming highly competitive, especially with Artificial Intelligence.
Earlier, the Abia State Chairman of the Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria and leader of the delegation Chief Promise Uzoma Okoro said they came to pay a courtesy visit to the Deputy Speaker House of Representatives to congratulate him on his elevation as the Deputy Speaker as well as to interface with him on the area of information and communication.
In his closing remarks, the National President of OMPAN Mr James Emeh expressed appreciation to the Deputy Speaker for the audience given to the association as well as his promise to partner with the Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria.