The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says Nigeria has one of the most vibrant media ecosystem in the world.
He said this when he paid a working visit to the corporate headquarters of the Media Trust Limited, owners of Daily
Trust group of newspapers and Trust Television, in Abuja, on Monday.
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The minister said the Federal Government will soon launch a national sensitisation campaign against the growing scourge of money rituals, which has already claimed many lives, especially of women and girls, in the country.
“Please permit me to reiterate the fact that this Administration continues to regard the media as an indispensable partner, and also believes that a vibrant media is a prerequisite to the success of any democracy.”
“I have always said that Nigeria has one of the most vibrant media ecosystems in the world, and I remain firm in this belief. That is why the brand of adversarial journalism being practiced by a section of the press here in Nigeria, including Daily Trust, does not appear to us a threat. Unpalatable as it may seem sometimes, this combative or oppositional style is a stark reminder of the watchdog role of the media.
“Gentlemen, our visit today is coming at a time of great concern across the country over the rising cases of ritual murders b unscrupulous people, most of them very young, who are seeking to get rich at all cost. We have therefore decided to use this opportunity to begin the process of raising national awareness on this scourge.
”For those who may still be in doubt, ritual killings have assumed a worrisome dimension in recent years. According to an NGO, Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), 150 women and girls were killed for ritual purposes between January 2018 and December 2021,” he said, while also citing recent ritual killings in
other parts of the country.
Alhaji Mohammed said the National Orientation Agency (NOA) is already partnering with religious and traditional organizations as well as NGOs to forge behavioural change, especially among the youth, some of
whom, he said, are afflicted by the get-rich-quick syndrome
He also announced that he has directed the National Film and Video Censors Board, the regulatory body for films and videos in the country, to take the issue of ritual killings into consideration while censoring and classifying films and videos, in addition to engaging with stakeholders in the industry to express the concerns of the
government and Nigerians on the need for Nollywood producers to eschew money ritual content in their movies.
While calling on the media to lend its strong voice to the efforts to stamp out the growing menace of ritual killings, the Minister commended a newspaper that has already written an editorial against the menace.
“I implore the Daily Trust, and indeed all media organizations, to join the campaign against the scourge,” he said
He said the fact that some ritual killers said they learned the money-making tricks from some social media platforms has further given a fillip to the Federal Government’s campaign to rid
social media of unwholesome content.
