The Minister of Information
and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed is leading a Nigerian delegation to the 2016 International
Press Institute (IPI) annual congress in Qatar, the United Arab Emirate (UAE),
just as he makes case for special collaboration with Al Jazeera on capacity building
for journalists, reports ITRealms.
Speaking
at Doha, Qatar, Mohammed sought collaboration between his ministry and the
Doha-based international broadcaster, Al Jazeera, in the area of capacity
building for journalists in the government-owned media organizations,
especially the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
This followed a request made
by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to Al Jazeera
to collaborate with the Ministry of Information and Culture in its efforts to
restructure the NTA and other publicly-funded media establishments to enhance
their performance.
He said the collaboration
could be in the areas of capacity building as well as exchange of programmes
and personnel.
''Our plan is to reposition
the public media organizations to make them effective and competitive,
irrespective of which government is in power,'' Alhaji Mohammed said during a
meeting with the Acting Director General of Al Jazeera, Dr. Mostafa Souag, in
Doha, Qatar, on
Saturday.
''For a long time, government
media organizations have lost their independence and credibility. I want to restore
the glory and credibility of the publicly-owned media organizations,'' he said.
The Minister also called for a
'special relationship' between Al Jazeera and the Nigerian Government in the
coverage of the key policy areas of this Administration - the fight against
corruption and terrorism as well as the efforts to revamp the economy.
He assured Al Jazeera that the
present Administration in Nigeria ''is an extremely open government'' and that
the organization would not have any problem doing its work in the country.
Responding, the Acting
Director General of Al Jazeera hailed Nigeria for providing a conducive
environment for the media to carry out its duties.
''Despite a lot of conflict
and tension, you have managed to create a conducive environment for the media.
This is very important for us in the media and we hope to see more freedom and
more protection for the media,'' he said.
Dr. Souag said Al Jazeera is
willing to cooperate with the ministry in the area of training, asserting, ''Our
training centre is one of the most professional in every aspect of the media,
We are more than happy to work with you.''
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