NAN, NIS partner on effective information gathering, sharing

The Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria,  Buki Ponle, says the agency is exploring avenues to partner the Nigeria Immigration Service on effective information gathering and sharing.

Ponle said this when he led the agency’s management team on a courtesy visit to the NIS’s  Comptroller General,  Muhammad Babandede on Wednesday in Abuja.

He expressed the commitment of the agency to providing effective, quality and quantity-filled information.

Ponle, who assumed duty as the Managing Director of NAN on September 1, 2020, noted that the agency had partnered various organisations on information sharing for efficient service delivery to its numerous clientele.

“With the NIS focusing on addressing human trafficking and child trafficking, we seek to partner you to ensure all your programmes are well circulated.

“We have various means of disseminating information. We have the multimedia section which is all about visuals, with the videos uploaded on YouTube.

“We have NAN mobile. This is a situation whereby you get breaking news from NAN through SMS alert. You get information first before everyone gets it. It is called NAN SMS alert.

“We have the Forum section which gives any CEO, DG or MD of any organisation opportunity to visit the agency and talk about the achievements and challenges of their organisations.

“We hope you will partner with us to ensure effective dissemination of your activities,” he said.

Ponle commended the effort of the CG on the development and improvement of the service, adding that the NIS had become a service to reckon with.

He lauded the agency on its effort at ensuring issuance of visa to visitors on arrival, noting that Nigeria was the greater beneficiary in terms of services rendered.

”Immigration is outstanding. The effort on Visa on Arrival is a laudable achievement. I choose to wear this colour of cloth just to identify with you since I do not have the immigration service uniform.

“The agency is a success. This shows that the CG knows the job, carry people along and from what I saw, the staff morale is high.

“More power to your elbow and May your shadow never run down,” he added.

Ponle assured the immigration service of the agency’s continued effective service delivery such that would  promote unity and development in the country.

Responding, Babandede congratulated NAN MD on his appointment.

Babandede commended the effort of NAN on reportage and coverage of the service’s activities, adding that NAN was an agency to rely on.

He noted that NAN had been on the forefront of disseminating news on Immigration service, adding that the service was looking forward to partnering it.

“I want to congratulate you on your appointment. I want to assure you that we will attend to you anytime. We appreciate your presence here and we are ready to partner with the agency.

“In fact, I am ashamed of myself that you are the one looking for us. We are the one who should be looking for NAN.

“I look forward to this great opportunity to partner with you on all your platforms. As a service, we are proud of what we have achieved so far and we are ready to do more by telling the world what we are doing and what we are yet to do.

“If we have NAN here with us, we have the whole world already because when we talk to NAN, we talk to everybody.

“I used to receive alert from NAN before, but we will see how we can continue.

“However, we are working on having handsets that will be a public line for all the deputy Comptroller Generals and by so doing, we all can be receiving information from NAN always.

“After all it is “B” and “B” working together. We will assist NAN to grow because if we assist NAN to grow, then global issues would be addressed at the grassroots.

“I look forward to working with you,” he said.

NAN reports that the highlight of the event was presentation of plaque, NIS magazines, annual reports and group photographs.