Rivers Commissioner Tasks Professional Bodies, Scholars On Societal Values

The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, has charged professional bodies and scholars to evolve policies and programmes that would entrench core values of society back to the nation’s psyche.

He gave the charge while speaking at the eighth annual conference of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN), in Port Harcourt.

Speaking on the theme, “Media and Citizens Participation in Governance for Accountability and Peace in Society”, Nsirim said citizens cannot not participate in governance or the nation achieve accountability and peace, if there are no values to build on.

“The dilemma of the Nigerian Nation is that our values are dead. Those values of honesty, hardwork and integrity no longer form the fulcrum as what society should put as foundation for building our society.

“Professionals in the communication and education sectors are found in a helpless situation. But I believe strongly and I share this optimism with a lot of people that I see a better Nigeria,” he said in a release by his media aide, Amieyeofori Ibim.

Nsirim expressed dissatisfaction with the ways Nigerians celebrate people with questionable wealth and urged participants at the conference to work out ways through which the lost values of hardwork and merit can be restored.

“Let all Nigerians understand that a better Nigeria where every citizen will have a sense of belonging no matter your creed, no matter your religion, no matter your tribe, no matter your sex, should be built on this long lost values,” he said.

In his keynote address, Dr. Jossy Nkwocha expressed worry that some radio stations use their phone-in programmes for ethnic profiling and to make inflammatory statements on issues.

He said some news reporting clearly showed lack of professional crisis reporting skills while some were laced with ethnic, political and religious bias that undermines national peace and security.

Dr. Nkwocha who spoke on “The Role of the Media in Accountable Governance and Sustainable Peace in Society”, called for training and retraining programmes for media practitioners on crisis reporting and peace-building skills.

He also recommended that media practitioners should be courageous to draw public attention to the fundamental objectives contained in Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which charges the media to hold government accountable.