“Buhari, APC won’t monopolise NTA, other public media” – Lai Mohammed

Nigeria’s information and culture minister Lai Mohammed said the days are gone when government-owned media are open only to political office holders.

He made the reassurance in Abuja during an interactive session with members of the House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values on Thursday.

He had made the same assertion at a meeting with online publishers. NewsroomNG was part of that close-door forum.

“As publicly-owned media outlets, they are accountable to the people of Nigeria and not to the ruling party or the ruling government and I would not accept a situation whereby publicly-owned media would be seen just as the mouthpiece of government,” Mohammed said on Thursday.

“We believe that as publicly-owned media, the opposition and everybody in Nigeria must have equal access to us and we must also represent their views.

“This is a multi-cultural, multi-value and multi-opinionated country and, therefore, we must not abuse the fact that we are currently in power and we are operating publicly-owned media to deprive other Nigerians access to these media,” he said.

Mohammed had said at the meeting with online bloggers he was frustrated by how the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) shut out opposition voices during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.

Mohammed’s disappointment with the NTA was expressed in his recent criticism of the network’s well-known unprofessionalism and poor programme, and broadcast, quality.

The minister told online publishers he would ensure every Nigerian has access to public media.

That means President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will make no attempt to have Nigeria-owned megaphones to themselves.

We shall see..