Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has
said contrary to what naysayers want people to believe, the Buhari
administration is working assiduously to redeem its electoral pledges,
especially in the critical areas of developing the economy as well as
fighting corruption and insecurity.
Lai Mohammed stated this in Abuja on Friday while signing a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the visiting Chinese Vice
Minister of The State Council Information Office, Mr. Guo Weimin, in the
area of media and cultural relations.
“Contrary to the lies that are being purveyed daily in the
Social Media, this government has been working assiduously to redeem its
electoral pledges. Our fight against insecurity is yielding very
positive results.
“Our fight against corruption is focused and is ongoing and we
are resolute and we have resolved that we are going to fight corruption
until corruption goes under. We are happy that in this regards, we have a
very good partner in China because we are aware and we know how China
fought corruption and how China is fighting corruption.
”We have succeeded in nursing a very sick economy and very soon, Nigeria will get out of recession,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed, who said the signing of the MOU will further
deepen the already excellent relationship between the two countries,
expressed optimism that some provisions of the MOU that encourage the
news agencies of Nigeria and China to reflect, in their reporting, the
social, economic and cultural development in both countries, will
eliminate the phenomenon of fake news.
“This is significant because we are today in the era of fake
news. Unlike China, the Social Media here is completely unrestrained.
Therefore it is important that you get your news directly from the
official source,” he said.
The Minister sought the support of China towards the training of
the Ministry’s Resident Information Officers on modern Governance Public
Communication methods in order to build their capacity as the
respective spokespersons of Ministries, Department and Agencies.
Alhaji Mohammed also sought partnership with China in the areas of
film production and distribution, development of community cinema houses
and collaboration in the co-production of films as well as screening of
Nigerian films in China and vice versa.
He called for cooperation between the Nigerian Film and Video
Censorship Board and the China Censorship Board to curb the importation
and exportation of pirated and adulterated movies of both countries.
The Chinese Vice Minister said the signing of the MOU between the
two countries marked a new beginning in the relationship between the two
countries, particularly in the area of media and cultural relations.
He said staff training and programme exchanges will further
solidify the cultural ties between both nations. Mr. Weimin said his
ministry will scale up the broadcast of news about Nigeria in China and
appealed to the Minister to reciprocate the gesture.
The Chinese Vice Minister acceded to Alhaji Mohammed’s request for
the training of the Resident Information Officers and said the Chinese
Ambassador to Nigeria will fine-tune the capacity building engagement.
Mr. Weimin was accompanied by the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Zhou Pingjian, to the signing of the MOU.