Digitization of Kano state-owned media outfits would be completed this year, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has promised.
He gave the assurance while commissioning renovated structures and newly installed equipment at Kano State Radio Corporation and stressed that the budget for the exercise had already been approved by the state legislature.
Ganduje, who was impressed by the number of the projects executed by the Managing Director of Radio Kano, with the internally generated revenue, within a few month of assumption of duty, urged other parastatals to learn from the example of the media outfit.
“I must commend you for judiciously utilizing your internally generated revenue to do this work “, pointing out that not a single Naira was not given to the corporation by government for the projects.
While directing the state Ministry of Local government to revive the local governments retainership arrangement with the corporation and the state television station, ARTV, for additional income, he urged people of the state and beyond to patronize the medium especially by placing advertisement and sponsoring programmes.
Ganduje called on the management of the state media outfits not to give room for politicians to abuse one another, adding that unwarranted indictment of political leaders must not be condoned.
Earlier, the Managing Director, Hajiya Sa’adatu Babaji, assured the governor that the era of using the media to vilify leaders has gone in Kano, explaining that under her, new programmes that are meaningful and have direct bearing on citizens were introduced.
She told the governor that with the revenue generated by the station, the News room, AM and FM Studio as well as several other offices have been renovated, appealing to government to assist the station to build a befitting multipurpose conference hall within the premises of the station.
In their separate speeches, Commissioner of Information, Muhammad Garba, and the Chairman, Kano House of Assembly Committee on Information, Salisu Ibrahim Muhammad, said the government is according priority to progress of its media outfits, noting that present administration is doing everything possible to reopen the moribund Triumph Publishing Company.
Meanwhile, Ganduje has announced that his administration would solve the problem that led to the closure of Triumph Publishing Company before its reopening.
The governor stated this while briefing journalists on his activities before the commencement of the state Executive Council Meeting , maintaining that the administration wants to put the company on the right track.
The governor said that he promised to reopen it, considering its contribution to socio-economic and cultural promotion not only for the state but for the entire country.
On the National Identity Card Registration, Ganduje said he met the national the Director-general of the National Identity Management Agency, on how to improve the exercise in the state, lamenting that despite the commitment of the state government towards the programme, the exercise is still sluggish.
In his remarks, Director-General of the agency, Alhaji Aliyu A. Aziz, thanked Abdullahi for being the first serving governor to visit them, assuring that the agency would look into the issue and address it.
