Be proactive – Kogi information DG admonishes media aides »

The Director General of Kogi State Bureau of Information Services and Grassroots Sensitisation, Mr. Abdulkarim Abdulmalik has called on government media aides in the state to be proactive in setting goals on their jobs rather than waiting for things to happen and be on the defensive.

“I want all of us to become agenda setters. We should stop being at the receiving end and stop being in the defensive”, he averred while speaking at a media retreat in Lokoja the state capital, organised for media aides of Local Government Administrators across the 21 Local Government Areas.

Abdulmalik urged them to create their own programmes and remain busy at reporting government activities loud and wide enough to eliminate the chances of defending baseless accusations.

The information officer who commended Local Government Administrators in the state for their performance despite paucity of funds equally applauded their media aide, saying why it seemed they were not doing enough was because they were never in the traditional media.

“On the aspect of reporting the government, many of you are doing wonderfully. Why some people are thinking that you are not doing enough is because you have not graduated into exploiting the opportunities in the conventional media. You are not heard on the radio, you are not read on the newspapers or magazines.”

The Director General urged the aids not to limit their performance to the new media alone but also dominate the traditional media and give adequate coverage to government programmes as good ambassadors of the state at the grassroots.

He also encouraged aids who were non professionals to acquire requisite training to enhance their performances in accordance with the ethics of journalism and practise differently from other social media users who were not trained.

To achieve this, he urged them to create synergy among themselves in collaboration with media organisations in the state, explaining that they would eventually gain in the field of journalism.

Earlier, the Special Adviser to the State Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Engr Abubakar Ohere charged the media aides on doing more in reporting of the activities of the state government at the grassroots while also demanding their total loyalty to their employer.

The media aides described the retreat as enriching and called for adequate funding of the information department at the local government level.