Lai Mohammed Charges NPAN to Develop Code of Conduct for Journalists

•Obaigbena harps on need for media organisations to take ombudsman seriously

James Segun, Ugo Aliogo and Oluchi Chibuzor

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has welcomed renewed efforts of the Nigerian Press Organisations to revamp the code of conduct and a co-regulatory framework measure to boost integrity and professionalism of the media industry.

This was just as stakeholders in the media space have called for the establishment of Ombudsman in the country despite the challenges that had hindered its operation

Mohammed who made the call at one-day media roundtable held in Lagos, yesterday, with the theme ‘Deepening Media Professionalism Through Co-Regulation,’ urged the media stakeholders to do “Its best to sustain the goodwill of the Nigerian media and develop a practical code of conduct for the Nigerian journalist.”

The event was organised by the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN).

Representing the minister, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Press Council (NPC), Mr. Francis Nwosu, said the “council will continue to work with media space to promote professionalism and encourage every journalist.

“The NPC is not an instrument to gag the Nigerian press, but an instrument to help develop the profession.”

However, the Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of the THISDAY Media Group and  ARISE News Channel, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, said media organisations must separate paid content from editorial content, adding that the cost of operating Ombudsman must be taken very seriously.

For him, the media organisations must “be very careful in inviting the government to come and partake in sanctioning you, they will abuse it.

On the Ombudsman, he said: “How do you want to include the Press Council – the body we rejected in total, what kind of inclusivity is that? The point is this, name and shame which is the power of this body is more effective than any; the fact that you have sanctions and are published and you are named and shamed.”

However, one thing that was echoed at the event was the need to align the media industry to globally acceptable practices through self-regulatory framework to elevate the profession, gain public trust and stave off strangulating government regulation.

The event which was to ratify the amendment of code of ethics for Nigerian journalist and co-regulation of the Ombudsman saw the group proposing an administrative secretary for the management of Nigeria’s Ombudsman.

On his part, the President of NPAN, Kabir Yusuf, noted the need for professionalism among practitioners.

“The media is very important and we must professionalise to do better for ourselves because there is nobody that will do the job for us even when they have tried and we resisted it. The event is how do you get the Ombudsman in place and this second attempt must not fail,” he added.

Delivering his speech, the chairman of the event and former governor of Ogun state, Olusegun Osoba urged the Nigerian journalists not to renege on their fight for truth.

He, however, noted that some online platforms, “are becoming a thorough embarrassment to the profession because so many of them are not trained.”

He urged most traditional newspapers to take their online presence very seriously.

According to him, “anybody who is not internet literate cannot be a reporter anymore. So anybody who is going to be a journalist must be IT inclined, should be able to use his phone to send his stories immediately. He does not need to go to the office and that is one of the positions I want to recommend.”

The National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Chris Isiguzo, noted that the Ombudsman would enable the media and the government to have a workable document, and stressed the need for proper enumeration of journalists.

On his part, the Chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), Mr. John Ugbe, who was represented by Mr. Yemisi Bamgoye, said the organisation was, “ready to support whatever decision is taken and we cannot allow the government to continue to suffocate the media.”

However, in his introduction speech, the Chairman, Nigeria Guild of Editor, Mustapha Isah, said, “some journalists break the code of conduct without facing consequences and we must let them understand the code.”

Making a technical presentation for the operation of Ombudsman, the Editor-in-Chief, Leadership Newspapers, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene, who spoke on, ‘Thoughts on Co-regulation through an Independent Ombudsman Framework,’ said the session was motivated by the conviction that the media need to do some introspection and reposition itself for accountability and for the public good.