The Federal government says it is committed to ensuring freedom of media practice in Nigeria.
Information and National Orientation Minister, Mohammed Idris, said this at a dinner organised by the International Press Institute (IPI) to celebrate the re-election of Mr Raheem Adedoyin, as a Director of World IPI on Thursday in Abuja.
Idris said that the President Bola Tinubu’s administration has accorded a special priority to the entrenchment of responsible media journalism.
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“”We believe in media freedom,we believe in responsible journalism,,”” he said.
According to him, media practitioners must be free to carry out their job effectively.
” But you can’t carry out a freedom itself and leave responsibilities,they have to go together for media freedom to be entrenched,” he said.
The minister further explained that freedom may not necessarily mean doing things at the one’s desire.
He said, “We shouldn’t take it for granted,we shouldn’t think because we are media practitioners,we automatically have a freedom to do what we desire.”
Idris also said that press freedom was a collective responsibility that required all hands to be on the deck to continue to fight for it.
The minister,however, described the re-election of Rasheem as Director representing Africa in IPI Board as deserving and a pride to Nigeria.
“”Raheem , you made IPI Nigeria like a 50 years old organization, your contribution to journalism can not be quantified,” he said.
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, reminded journalists on their task.
He added that there were rules and laws guiding journalism practice which must be observed whenever journalists were discharging their duties.
” Let’s not write stories because of traffic, or advertisements , let’s be conscious of our writings ,”he said.
In his speech, Adedoyin thanked the IPI Board, minister of Information and Malam Kabiru Yusuf for nominating him to represent Nigeria.
He said that his 29 years service as a Secretary to the Institute in Nigeria was his life -pride achievement and pledged to continue contributing to the development of journalism practice in Africa.
