The Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila says democracy can only thrive when the citizens are adequately engaged with the help of the media.
Mr Gbajabiamila also expressed sadness over the missing of the Vanguard reporter in the House of Representatives, Mr Tordue Salem and sought spiritual intervention for his release from captivity.
The Speaker was speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day capacity building workshop for National Assembly correspondents, media aides and information officers in the parliament taking place in Abuja.
Declaring open the workshop, the Minority Leader of the House, Mr Ndudi Elumelu, who represented the Speaker, affirmed that “For us to have a better democracy, we must fully engage the citizens, and the media play a central role in this regard,“ adding: “That is why I believe that the theme of this workshop is very important.
The theme for this workshop, “Legislative Reporting and Citizen Engagement,’ is apt at this time. You cannot talk about democracy without citizens’ engagement, because democracy as a system of government is all about the people,” the Speaker stressed.
On the need to build capacity for journalists, he said: “The answer is simple: we need to do this, again and again, to strengthen the capacity of our professionals to do their noble job while guarding against misinformation and misrepresentation in their reportage. When we attend programmes such as this, we get reminded of our responsibilities and how we should go about carrying them out as professionals.
“With the way sensationalism, fake news and misinformation travel in this age of social media, I believe there is the need for journalists in the conventional media not to follow the bandwagon.”
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Architect Amos Ojo, urged journalists covering the National Assembly to protect its image by educating the public on issues for better understanding.
Mr Ojo enjoined NASS reporters to change the narrative of disingenuous elites against the federal lawmakers by always putting the facts across to Nigerians as against mischievous comments often made to disparage the Parliament.
“It is unfortunate that those set of disingenuous elites, who were supposed to be abreast of constitutional provisions had attempted to mislead the public.
“Do we say those who vehemently wanted to undermine the powers of the National Assembly Service Commission, NASC, were ignorant of the workings of the Legislature, as it relates to the doctrine of separation of powers, such as it is obtainable in the United States?
“I think such mischief-makers must be handled adequately by media stakeholders in the National Assembly, anytime they raise their ugly heads.”
The training sessions are expected to end on Tuesday.
PIAK
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