Segun Babatunde in Bauchi
As part of its determination to ensure effective media coverage of its activities, Bauchi state government has organised a two – day retreat for members of the Government House crew towards enhancing their capacities
The retreat is also meant to equip them for effective reportage of the state government policies and programmes.
The Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor, Comrade Mukhtar Gidado in an address of welcome during the opening ceremony of the retreat held at Yankari Game Reserve, Bauchi yesterday assured them of regular and extensive training for effective reportage of government policies and programmes for the overall socio – economic and political development of the state..
Comrade Gidado said as governor’s media aide, he is resolute, committed and determined to support and improve the capacity of members of the press crew to enable them report objectively, balanced and accurate, the laudable programmes of the governor.
” On behalf of His Excellency, Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, I extend my fraternal regards and best wishes to the members of the Press Crew and appreciate you for your support and effective coverage of our government activities.”
” It is a well known fact that, Journalism as a profession will continue to play a dominant role in the governance process through its basic roles of informing, enlightening, educating and entertaining the citizens, therefore effective discharge of these responsibilities by practitioners improves good governance and thereby ensure sustainable development.”
He noted that, training and retraining such as this, is needed regularly to keep the members abreast with evolving trends in the profession as well as the policies of government within and beyond.
Gidado who expressed confidence that the training will go along way towards improving the professional competency of the participants, hoped that the outcome of the retreat will contribute significantly to the enhancement of their capacity and productivity.
The Governor’s Media Aide while highlighting some of the achievements recorded by Governor Bala Mohammed in the last one year, attributed the support enjoyed by governor from the citizens to the accurate reportage of journalists.
” At this point, I want to request you to reciprocate Governor Bala Mohammed’s kind gesture of sponsoring this retreat by propagating all the laudable policies and programmes of his dynamic administration.”
Declaring the retreat open, the State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Hon Garba Dahiru said the importance of the retreat cannot be over emphasized, as it will add value to the performance of the participants.
Dahiru recalled that, journalists played a critical role in ensuring the advancement of any society and therefore tasked them not to relent in giving their contributions for the success of the administration of Governor Bala Mohammed.
” I commend the initiators of this retreat because it is a welcome development and therefore we expect you to use the knowledge acquired to ensure objective and timely reportage of the policies and programmes of our amiable Governor.”
On his part, the Director of Press Affairs, Government House Bauchi, Alhassan Sulaiman Dambam appealed to the participants to use the skills and knowledge acquired at the retreat to assist in tackling the challenges facing journalism profession occasioned by quacks.
In a welcome address, the Chairman, Government House Press Crew, Mahmud Ibn Muhammad expressed gratitude to Governor Bala Mohammed for organising the retreat assuring of members commitment to reciprocate the gesture.
Mahmud Ibn Muhammad described as the first of its kind, the conduct of such retreat in the history of the directorate.
