Senate Duty Whip calls for synergy between parliament, media

Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, the Duty Chief Whip of the Senate, has called for a synergy between the 9th National Assembly and the media to foster national development.
Abdullahi made the call on Monday in Abuja while delivering a paper at the technical session of the official launch of the West African Parliamentary Press Corps.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the event attracted participants from neighbouring countries from the ECOWAS sub-region.
The senator urged practitioners in the nation’s media industry to key into the ongoing efforts of the current assembly and the Federal Government to address issues of insecurity, social and economic challenges.
The former spokesman of the 8th Assembly gave instance of the ongoing war against insurgency, which he said had not been properly reported by the media.
He said the Nigerian media had the legitimacy and accountability to carry out its roles as the watchdog of the society.
He said the legislature, executive, the legislature and the media must have cautious handshakes by taking everyone to account.
He said: “We must have some cautious handshakes among all the arms of government. And this must be done by taking everyone to account.
“National interest must always be taken to account when you carry our your constitutional duties.
“Using the Boko Haram as a case study, it appears that the Nigerian media houses are in competition in reporting the war against the Nigerian state by the insurgents.”
He also tasked the leadership of the Nigerian media to tackle the menace of fake journalists which he said was threatening the pride of the profession.
He said: “I want to task the leadership of the media profession to address the issue of fake journalists especially in this age of social media.
“If you are a rat, you are a rat. You cannot be anything else. So if you are a journalist you should be known as a real journalist.”
He, therefore, urged the press through the parliamentary reporters to engage Nigerians robustly about the legislative agenda of the ninth Assembly, which he said would be tailored to address national issues.
NAN reports that the President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, was represented at the event by his Deputy, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who inaugurated the WAPPC.