Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Thursday thanked the outgoing acting Chief Executives of Information parastatals, saying their tenure witnessed significant achievements by his ministry.
Speaking at a meeting with the outgoing and incoming Chief Executives in Abuja on Thursday, the Minister said during the three months they acted, ”we recorded many achievements because it was within that period that we successfully rolled out the pilot scheme of digitization in Jos.
”This was something that for more than 10 years successive governments have failed to do, and with little or no resources but with a lot of determination and support we met that deadline.
“It was with you that we were able to hold and complete the first National Summit on Culture and Tourism and we followed up again with the Implementation Team.”
He listed other milestones in the past three months as including the hosting of town hall meetings in Lagos and Kaduna to bridge the communication gap between the government and the people.
The Minister also said the government-owned media organizations are now more credible than before, and commended the outgoing acting Chief Executives for their efforts in that regard
“When I launched the sensitization campaign against insecurity, I didn’t go to any outside broadcaster but today the average Nigerian knows the saying ‘if you see something, say something’ that has been popularized by the NTA, FRCN and VON.
”I used your various platforms to ensure that every minister speaks at least once a day either on NAN platform, NTA programme, FRCN or VON and they give me feedback. Today, our platforms are becoming more credible than they used to be and we have just started,” he said.
The Minister pledged to work with the new Chief Executives to elevate the ministry and its agencies to be more visible and proactive in information gathering and dissemination.
Alhaji Mohammed expressed the optimism that having made their marks in their various professions, the new Chief Executives will bring their wealth of experience to add value to the mandate of his ministry.
The newly appointed chief executives are Dr. Garba Abari, National Orientation Agency; Chief Osita Okechukwu, Voice of Nigeria; Mr. Bayo Onanuga, News Agency of Nigeria; Mr. Ishaq Modibo Kawu, National Broadcasting Commission; Mansur Liman, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and Yakubu Mohammed, Nigerian Television Authority.
