The Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Bayo Onanuga, says the agency will set up a video portal, to enhance its multimedia services to clients.
Onanuga, who disclosed this on Thursday during a visit to the management of ThisDay Newspapers in Apapa, Lagos, said that the agency would also develop a photo portal.
According to him, NAN will soon inaugurate a video portal, in line with modern technology, to provide more efficient services to the organisation’s over 300 clients.
“Very soon, we are going to launch a video portal and a photo portal.
“As of now, subscribers get photos by e-mail, but we are going to put everything online, so that they can access it.
“We are also going to upload into that portal all our historic photographs, because we have them in the archives.
“NAN has facilities to do video interviews or television interviews and run like a normal television station, even though we don’t have a television license, we have all the facilities that can make this possible.’’
He said that since his assumption of duty three months ago, NAN has re-designed its website, to enhance easy access to the news and information provided by the agency.
The NAN managing director also said that the purpose of the visit was to enable the agency to synergise with THISDAY Newspapers, to resolve all challenges and chart a way forward.
Onanuga, noted that NAN reporters filed numerous stories which were sometimes delayed because they had to pass through two levels of editing, before being disseminated to the clients.
He said that another challenge faced by the agency was the operation of shift duty by the editors.
Onanuga, however, assured that the agency’s management would ensure that all issues were resolved soon, to enhance productivity.
He added that NAN was collaborating with many foreign news agencies such as Reuters, DPA and Xinhua, to boost its services.
The Editor-at-large of ThisDay Newspapers, Mr Ayo Arowolo, said the agency could use its position to do in depth analyses on the economic and social policies of government.
“NAN is in a better position to do such analyses on government’s policies and programmes, and this could be on a quarterly basis, for instance,’’ Arowolo said.
He added that there were many programmes of government designed to improve the economy, which the people were not well informed about.
Earlier, the Managing Director of ThisDay Newspapers, Mr Eniola Bello, while welcoming the NAN managing director, urged the agency to take advantage of its national spread to provide clients with dependable stories.