The Osun
State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has revealed why he always sing and
dance at campaigns and public events, stating that “If I had not gone to
school, I would have been a Fuji musician,”
Speaking with newsmen in the state, the governor came hard on the media for
carrying mischievous, desperate and malicious reports against his
administration, insisting that his government is not among the worst in the
country.
He asserted
that the credibility gap in the nation’s media publications has resulted to
newspapers in the country presently circulating less than 300,000 copies,
whereas a popular title sold 500,000 copies per edition in this country up
until 1975.
According to
Aregbesola, “I am happy that our state continues to survive in spite of the mischievous,
desperate and malicious contents in some sections of the media against our
government. Unfortunately, media in recent times have portrayed our government
as one of the worst in the country whereas the reverse is the case.
“Sunday
Times in those days sold 500,000 copies per edition in this country up until
1975 and Sunday Times was so popular that whoever was literate in Nigeria will
want to read it either by borrowing it, buying it or going to the library. The
circulation of all Nigeria newspapers today is less than 300,000, so it should
therefore interest us how a nation with increased population generally, have
almost ten time of graduates that we had in 1975 now has the circulation
figures we now have. It is therefore important for us to interrogate the
decline in readership.
“If you ask
me, closely watching the economy, the decline is as a result of credibility gap
in our media publications. I want to appeal to our media people to support the
course of disseminating reliable, accurate, informative and entertaining news.
Reports in newspapers have erroneously portrayed us as a famished state. About
this time last year, it was as if heaven will fall. It was as if the entire
world was collapsing on our state. What churches do normally became an opportunity
to portray us as famine-stricken state. One person even went to the extent of
donating his wardrobe allowance.
“Everything
was made to look as if people are dying on the streets here. Recently, I still
read in our papers that we are owing mountains of salaries, while the reverse
is actually the case. I have decided to ignore such tantrums. Available records
have shown that there is no iota of doubt in the fact that some media
practitioners have demonstrated their hatred to us through their adamant
disposition to falsehood, baseless and unfounded claims against our noble
political voyage.
“I wonder
why they found it difficult to display high sense of commitment to journalistic
ethics and media professional code of conduct despite the conspicuous realities.
The pertinent question is that whether or not the media assess itself, facts
must always be disseminated and reported, and it is on the basis of this we
have always advised the media experts to support the dissemination of reliable,
accurate, objective, authentic, impersonal, dis-sensational and factual news.
“No amount
of propaganda and condemnation would dissuade us from attaining economic
prosperity just as we are determined to complete all the ongoing projects
before the end of our tenure here. I am not quarreling with any paper. I only
plead for accurate reporting of events. To those of you who are critical but
factual, it is your hard stance that has kept us on our toes. I want to appeal
to the media to be factual in their reports.
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