Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated his administration’s commitment to freedom of the press in the country.
In his message to mark the World Press Freedom Day on Monday, May 3, 2021, Buhari urged Nigerian journalists to be responsible, saying the media must be sensitive to Nigeria’s current situation.
“The media must be sensitive to what we are going through as a country, and anything that would exacerbate the situation, and further inflame passions and emotions, should be avoided,” a statement issued by presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, said.
“The media needs to ensure that while informing, educating, entertaining and setting agenda for public discourse, it does not encourage incendiary words and actions that could further hurt our unity in diversity,” he said.
He pledged greater cooperation with the media to discharge its duties, in line with the theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day, ‘Information as a Public Good.’
He noted that freedom of the press is an irreducible minimum in a democracy that would flourish, adding that freedom must, however, be used responsibly.
He noted that licentious freedom is different from freedom with responsibility and urged the Nigerian media to embrace the latter, rather than the former,
The Nigerian leader charged those who manage information for government to do everything in the public interest and urged the media to use the Freedom of Information Act available to make its jobs easier.
According to him, it is very vital to have access to reliable information in an era of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, all to cause discord in the society.
GIK/APA