Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev Ignatius Kaigama, has called on Media Practitioners to use communication as a channel for building bridges of unity.
He stated this during an interactive session with Catholic Media Practitioners, Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, ahead of 2021 World Communications Day celebration.
World Press Freedom Day
Kaigama also described Media Professionals as those who sacrifice time, energy and resources in carrying out their work with courageous commitment in providing information about those suffering in the shadows of natural and man-made disasters as well as lending their voices in amplifying cases of oppression and injustice inflicted on the poor, issues of the environment, inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts, democracy and its impact on our society.
The Bishop said: “we cannot allow your voices to fade away or be silenced. This explains why the international community marked the World Press Freedom Day on May 3.”
He quoted Pope Francis as saying: “the entire human family would be impoverished and would be at the worst for it if the opinions and information of Media Practitioners are ignored or misinterpreted. It is necessary to move beyond the complacent attitude that we already know certain things”.
Revolution in communication media
The Archbishop called on Journalists to respond to the revolution taking place in communications media and information technologies “with fresh energy and imagination as we seek to share with others the beauty of God.”
“Media Practitioners should go and see for themselves and spend time with people, listen to their stories and to confront reality”, he added.
National challenges
Kaigama said that the 2021 World Communication Day is an auspicious occasion to highlight some of the major challenges that have continued to serve as cogs in the wheel of development and progress of our dear nation with a view to seeing how best we can resolve them. Some of these issues include: Covid-19 pandemic, insecurity, unemployment, poor economic situation, corruption and non-participation of youths in policy decisions.
“In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the human family is asked to feel itself and live really as an inter-connected and inter-dependent family, to provide assistance to the less privileged and marginalised, irrespective of faith, social standing or ethnic background”, he said.
“In hindsight, the youth played significant roles in the development of this nation. It was especially the youths who took over the government from the colonialists. Today, certain challenges have tended to inhibit the active participation of the youth in the economic and political transformation of our country, among which are nepotism, unemployment and poverty”, he added.
The theme for the 2021 World Communications Day coming up on May 16, 2021 is: “Come and See’ (Jn. 1:46): Communicating by encountering people where and as they are”.
The World Communications Day was established by Pope Paul VI in 1967 as an annual celebration that encourages people to reflect on the opportunities and challenges that the modern means of social communication (the press, motions pictures, radio, television and the internet) afford the Church to communicate the Gospel message.
Nneka Ukachukwu
