FOI Bill: Nigeria’s media tasked on national security

FOI Bill: Nigeria’s media tasked on national security
Ukoh Judith, Lagos

The Nigerian Media has been called upon to use the Freedom of Information (FOI) Law as a medium to protect national security and not to scuttle it.

Speaking at the second brainstorming session of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), the Acting Director General, Professor Bola Akinterinwa, said that it was important that the FOI Law should be used as a tool in enhancing national security.

Professor Akniterinwa said that the law calls for proper investigative journalism and objectivity in reporting issues that are sensitive and capable of instigating reactions that could lead to the destruction of lives and property.

He said the Nigerian Media as an institution could improve on its record of the protection of national security through resisting the attractions of scoops and exclusive news.

“Media correspondents should stick always to the rules of social research and investigative journalism”, he said.

Improving standards

Akinterinwa urged the Government and the media to collaborate with the view to improving the quantity and quality of civic education curriculum of departments of mass communication in the existing Nigerian universities.

A spokesperson for the National Security Adviser to the president, Ambassador Layiwola Laseinde, stressed that the issue of upholding national security should not be the business of the media and the security agencies alone, but that of all Nigerians. He said that this would go a long way in enhancing the way other Nations perceived Nigeria.

Akinterinwa also advised the journalists that the freedom of information law does not give them the liberty to publish negative stories about the country that could damage the image of the country, but rather, they should use it to promote positive reporting.

Williams/Ekata