PCNI seeks Partnership with News Agency of Nigeria

The Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative (PCNI) has called for a strategic partnership with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that will enlighten the public on its interventions in the region. The call was made by the Vice Chairman of PCNI, Mr. Tijjani Tumsah, during a visit to the Managing Director of NAN, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, on Thursday 6th of July, in Abuja. Tumsah said that the collaboration would ensure that only correct and well researched information is disseminated to the public regarding the various levels of interventions by the presidential committee. According to him, it is also imperative that the media conveys an accurate picture of the reality in the North East since the international community also sources information from local news coverage.

Tumsah disclosed that the committee had developed the Buhari Plan, a road map for the recovery and rehabilitation in the region, and sought the understanding and cooperation of the media to enable PCNI successfully carry out its mandate. He highlighted the enormity of the PCNI’s task dwelling on the scale of the devastation in the North East which constitutes 22 percent of Nigeria’s landmass and the challenge of coordinating the numerous humanitarian and developmental interventions being prosecuted by federal and state authorities, local and international non-governmental organizations and partners, the private sector and concerned individuals.

Central to undertaking this task, the Vice Chairman said, is the PCNI dashboard, an online platform on which the public can see what intervening bodies are doing, who is doing what, where it is been done and its impact in the region. He also affirmed that the newly commenced monthly coordination forum was designed to put all the actors on the same page and enable feedback and synchrony of intervention activities.

In his response, Onanuga pledged the support of the Agency to PCNI and commended it for the responsible manner in which it is carrying out the huge task of rebuilding the North East. He said NAN, as the largest news agency in the Africa, would avail the committee of its platform to disseminate information on its activities. The NAN MD stressed that addressing the problems of poverty and education in the region would go a long way in addressing the root causes of the Boko Haram insurgency since many poor and uneducated youths and children risk becoming tools in the hands of the insurgents. He said that the situation in the North East was of serious concern to all well-meaning people, because only when there is peace, can meaningful development take place.