The Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has revealed why he
always sing and dance at campaigns and public events, stating that "If I
had not gone to school, I would have been a Fuji musician,"
Speaking with newsmen in the state, the governor came hard on the media
for carrying mischievous, desperate and malicious reports against his
administration, insisting that his government is not among the worst in
the country.
He asserted that the credibility gap in the nation's media
publications has resulted to newspapers in the country presently
circulating less than 300,000 copies, whereas a popular title sold
500,000 copies per edition in this country up until 1975.
According to Aregbesola, "I am happy that our state continues to
survive in spite of the mischievous, desperate and malicious contents in
some sections of the media against our government. Unfortunately, media
in recent times have portrayed our government as one of the worst in
the country whereas the reverse is the case.
"Sunday Times in those days sold 500,000 copies per edition in this
country up until 1975 and Sunday Times was so popular that whoever was
literate in Nigeria will want to read it either by borrowing it, buying
it or going to the library. The circulation of all Nigeria newspapers
today is less than 300,000, so it should therefore interest us how a
nation with increased population generally, have almost ten time of
graduates that we had in 1975 now has the circulation figures we now
have. It is therefore important for us to interrogate the decline in
readership.
"If you ask me, closely watching the economy, the decline is as a
result of credibility gap in our media publications. I want to appeal to
our media people to support the course of disseminating reliable,
accurate, informative and entertaining news. Reports in newspapers have
erroneously portrayed us as a famished state. About this time last year,
it was as if heaven will fall. It was as if the entire world was
collapsing on our state. What churches do normally became an opportunity
to portray us as famine-stricken state. One person even went to the
extent of donating his wardrobe allowance.
"Everything was made to look as if people are dying on the streets
here. Recently, I still read in our papers that we are owing mountains
of salaries, while the reverse is actually the case. I have decided to
ignore such tantrums. Available records have shown that there is no iota
of doubt in the fact that some media practitioners have demonstrated
their hatred to us through their adamant disposition to falsehood,
baseless and unfounded claims against our noble political voyage.
"I wonder why they found it difficult to display high sense of
commitment to journalistic ethics and media professional code of conduct
despite the conspicuous realities. The pertinent question is that
whether or not the media assess itself, facts must always be
disseminated and reported, and it is on the basis of this we have always
advised the media experts to support the dissemination of reliable,
accurate, objective, authentic, impersonal, dis-sensational and factual
news.
"No amount of propaganda and condemnation would dissuade us from
attaining economic prosperity just as we are determined to complete all
the ongoing projects before the end of our tenure here. I am not
quarreling with any paper. I only plead for accurate reporting of
events. To those of you who are critical but factual, it is your hard
stance that has kept us on our toes. I want to appeal to the media to be
factual in their reports."
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