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| Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture |
Federal Government has fired the heads of the six information-related parastatals under the
Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.
The
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the disengagement
during a meeting he held with the Chief Executives of the Nigerian Television
Authority (NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Voice of Nigeria
(VON), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and
the National Orientation Agency (NOA) on Monday .
The
Minister directed the disengaged Chief Executives to hand over to the most
senior officials in their various establishments.
He
thanked them for their service to the nation and wished them the best of luck
in their future endeavours.
The
affected chief executives are the Directors-General of NTA, Sola Omole; FRCN
(Ladan Salihu); VON (Sam Worlu); NOA (Mike Omeri); NBC (Emeka Mba) and the
Managing Director of NAN (Ima Niboro).
When
contacted, Mr. Niboro confirmed he and his colleagues had been removed.
“The
minister met with us at 9 a.m. today to inform us of government’s decision to
replace us,” Mr. Niboro said.
“He
said he wanted us to be the first to know so we don’t get to read it on the
pages of newspapers.”
“We
thank President Buhari and the minister for giving us the opportunity to serve
the administration for the past eight months. Some of us knew the pressure
under which the government had been to remove us. So our removal this morning
is understandable.
“I
especially thank the minister for the gentlemanly manner he handled the whole
matter. We are grateful and will continue to hold him in high esteem.”
Mr.
Niboro and his five colleagues were appointed at various times by the Goodluck
Jonathan administration.
Minister
Mohammed had given indication the officials would be fired on November 20, 2015
when he called them to a meeting where he accused them of partisanship and lack
of professionalism.
At
that meeting, the minister noted that government-owned media organizations had
a wide range of highly trained personnel, working tools, as well as a wide
reach, but had unfortunately continued to engage in “outright unprofessional conduct”.
“Why
have you all chosen to play second fiddle in the country’s media landscape? I
ask because the NTA and FRCN of yesterday is not the same as what we have
today,” the minister had said.
“There
is no denying the fact that the private radio and TV stations are doing much
better, at least going by the fact that most Nigerians prefer them to the
public broadcasters”.
“Indeed,
most Nigerians find the private broadcasters more credible”, Mr. Mohammed
noted.
He
condemned the official’s disregard for editorial independence.
“They mortgaged their
credibility on the altar of political correctness,” he said.
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