The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values, Hon. Olusola Fatoba says the committee will work with agencies under it, to reposition government media organisations.
He was speaking when the Federal ministry of Information and its Parastatals appeared before the committee to defend their 2024 budget proposal, in Abuja.
Hon Fatoba, charged the agencies to provide the committee with the challenges bedeviling the agencies for further legislative action.
He noted that the committee was seeking recommendations from the heads of agencies to enhance their performance.
The Chairman called for continuous interaction between the committee and the agencies.
“We want action. We need to be sure that your agency is doing what it is supposed to be doing.
We will approach the appropriation committee for increase in the allocation to enable you meet your mandate,” he said.
Voice of Nigeria
The Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Mallam Jibrin Ndace, was amongst the chief executive officers who appeared before the committee.
He presented a budget proposal of over 3.38 billion Naira (three point three eight billion naira) for the year 2024.
He presented the budget during the budget proposal defense exercise of the the House of Representatives
Committee on information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values, in Abuja.
The breakdown of the budget showed Overhead of #751, 125, 322. Capital, #230,669,795 while Personnel cost was put at #2,405,270,577.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Press Council, Mr. Dili Izuora, appealed for the council to be returned to federal budgeting as it was earlier removed.
Nigeria Television Authority
The Director General of the Nigeria Television Authority, Mr. Salihu Dembos said that the NTA was partially commercialised, hence the need for government to continue funding it.
He said that revenue generation was key to the agency, but it can not ignore national interest.
National Orientation Agency
Similarly, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Mr. Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the agency needs more funds to tackle the issue of orientation, which is very important to the country.
“The situation in the country demands that NOA does better than it has been doing,” he said.
Federal Radio Corporation
For his part, the Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Mr Muhammad Bulama, urged the House of Representatives to review the 2024 capital allocation of the corporation from 200 million Naira (two hundred million Naira) to 4 billion Naira (four billion Naira.)
This, according to him, would enable the corporation to execute its mandate of informing, educating, and enlightening Nigerians on government policies and programmes efficiently.
The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Information, Dr Ngozi Onwudiwe was asked to asked to reappear on Thursday 14th December.
