The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has solicited the cooperation of the National Assembly in sharpening government information machinery for his ministry to achieve set objectives.
The minister made the appeal on Monday in Abuja during an oversight visit of the House of Representatives Committee on Information and National Orientation to his ministry.
He said the cooperation of the lawmaker is pertinent to his ministry in sustaining and surpassing the achievements recorded by in the previous year.
Presenting the ministry’s first year stewardship to the committee, the minister said that upon assumption of office, he met the various groups in the sector to secure their cooperation in the discharge of his assignments.
He recalled that the administration came into office at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency and the ministry introduced a security consciousness slogan: “If You See Something, Say Something’’, which has become a household slogan.
Mohammed said the ministry also launched campaign against corruption, not to vilify anyone but to present Nigerians with facts to show the cost of corruption to their lives.
Mohammed said the government introduced Town Hall Meetings, which provides the platform for cabinet Ministers to interact directly with the citizens, present their stewardship, take questions and also get feedback.
“We have so far held these Town Hall Meetings in Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Uyo, Enugu and Abuja.
“We have since launched the sectoral editions of the Town Hall Meetings, starting with the Special Town Hall Meeting for the Youth in Abuja in December 2016.
“Next is the Special Edition on the economy, which is billed for Lagos on Jan. 31,’’ he said.
To provide adequate, timely and factual information to the people on the activities of government, and to counter those spreading fake news on government, he said the ministry launched the Federal Government’s Mobile App, called the FGN iAPP.
“Once downloaded to your phone, you get accurate and timely information on the go, irrespective of where you are in the world.’’
Besides, Mohammed said the ministry launched the national reorientation campaign, “Change Begins With Me’’, to restore time-tested virtues of honesty, diligence, hard work, timeliness, love of country and shunning of all acts of corruption.
Also, to bring the dividends of digitisation to all Nigerians, he said the ministry reinvigorated the Digital Switch Over broadcasting.
“Twice Nigeria has missed the deadline to go digital, but now we are determined to meet the deadline of June 2017 for a successful migration from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting in the country,’’ he said.
He said the ministry had managed to implement most of its activities despite huge challenges, especially paucity of funds.
The Chairman of the committee, Rep. Odebunmi Olusegun thanked the minister for the presentation and pledged the support of the House to the ministry.
Odebunmi and other members of the committee raised questions on topical national issues such as price of food items, roads, power unemployment and economic diversification, which the minister answered. (NAN) ROT/MST