Oyo State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde has advocated mutual cooperation among the broadcast house owners, government and the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to ensure sanity in the profession and promote development agenda.
The governor who spoke through the State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatunbosun on Thursday while receiving the NBC Zonal Director at his office said the essence of broadcast which was to disseminate information to the generality of the people would only be achieved if the players towed the path of professionalism.
Olatunbosun the State administration has been using all communication outlets to reach out to the masses, not just to broadcast government programs and achievements but to allow the people set developmental agenda alongside the government, as government represented the people, adding that town hall meetings were also used to coalesce ideas and get feedback.
“Ibadan is the base of broadcast industry in Nigeria because broadcasting started here, we are using this medium to assure the practitioners that the present administration will work towards collaboration with broadcast agencies and the stations in the State to make sure the industry develops.
“Parts of the mass media tools the governor believes should be used to project and coalesce ideas for good governance is town hall meetings that will involve all categories of the society, this will be used to identify the core yearnings of the people in order to promote agenda-setting mechanism.
“It is our belief that with cooperation among the owners of broadcast stations, broadcast agencies, which NBC is among and the State government that will lead to regular meetings through which issues relating to the progress of the industry will be discussed and the code of conducts will be regularly harped upon, sanity will be fostered and maintained among practitioners.”
The Zonal Director of NBC which comprised of Oyo, Osun and Ogun States, Mr Raphael Akpan sought the cooperation and assistance of the State Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism to regulate the State-owned broadcast stations, adding that all private stations in the State have been abiding by the rules guiding the practice of broadcast.
Akpan said the agency has sanctioned most of the private stations through fines payable to the agency’s purse while it has been fair to all broadcast stations, whether private, government or community-owned.
