Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN), Dr Liman Mansur, has charged media practitioners to support the conduct of credible and acceptable elections by adhering to ethics of journalism.
He gave the charge while speaking at an orientation programme for the 2023 Batch A Basic Courses students of the National Broadcasting Academy (NBA), Ikeja, Lagos.
The 2023 general election to elect a new president, National Assembly members, state governors (with the exemption of some states) and members of the state Houses of Assembly will hold across the country on 25 February and 11 March.
The FRCN DG, represented by Pastor Ayodele Alliyu, Director of Academics, NBA, particularly admonished broadcast journalists to adhere to fairness in their reportage of the electoral process.
He said Radio Nigeria, as the flagship of broadcasting organisation in the country, will do all within its means to support the conduct of credible elections.
He urged all media practitioners, cutting across broadcast, radio and television, print and online, to avoid fake news and be more patriotic in reporting issues concerning the country.
Dr Liman particularly urged media practitioners to be concise in their reportage during and after the conduct of the elections.
He said the organisation will collaborate with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure a seamless conduct of the election which he said will be acceptable to all Nigerians.
Speaking on the essence of the training, the Director of the NBA, Mr Ike Okere, urged the new students to make their studies their main focus during their course of study.
He however stated that concentrating on their studies should not take them away from engaging in other extra-curricular activities.
Okere, who was also represented by Pastor Ayodele Alliyu, pointed to new positive infrastructural developments taking place in the Academy.
He was however not unmindful of some noticeable shortcomings in the Academy, assuring that they will be attended to within the availability of funds.
The National Broadcast Academy (NBA), formerly known as the FRCN Training School, has been in operation since 1957.
It was established in 1957 as an in-house training department of the station at the FRCN Broadcasting House in Ikoyi, Lagos.
It was initially designed to cater for the training needs of FRCN stations across the country.
It later became a training institution for the industry and individuals who require special proficiency in certain areas of Broadcasting.
