Al Jazeera To Train Journalists At NTA and Gov’t Owned Media – Lai Mohammed

Nigeria and the Doha-based international broadcaster Al
Jazeera are to collaborate in the area of capacity building
for journalists in the government-owned media organizations,
especially the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
This followed a request made by the Minister of Information
and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to Al Jazeera to
collaborate with the Ministry of Information and Culture in its
efforts to restructure the NTA and other publicly-funded
media establishments to enhance their performance.
He said the collaboration could be in the areas of capacity
building as well as exchange of programmes and personnel.
”Our plan is to reposition the public media organizations to
make them effective and competitive, irrespective of which
government is in power,” Alhaji Mohammed said during a
meeting with the Acting Director General of Al Jazeera, Dr.
Mostafa Souag, in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday
”For a long time, government media organizations have lost
their independence and credibility. I want to restore the glory
and credibility of the publicly-owned media organizations,” he
said.
The Minister also called for a ‘special relationship’ between
Al Jazeera and the Nigerian Government in the coverage of
the key policy areas of this Administration – the fight
against corruption and terrorism as well as the efforts to
revamp the economy.
He assured Al Jazeera that the present Administration in
Nigeria ”is an extremely open government” and that the
organization would not have any problem doing its work in
the country.
Responding, the Acting Director General of Al Jazeera hailed
Nigeria for providing a conducive environment for the media
to carry out its duties.
”Despite a lot of conflict and tension, you have managed to
create a conducive environment for the media. This is very
important for us in the media and we hope to see more
freedom and more protection for the media,” he said.
Dr. Souag said Al Jazeera is willing to cooperate with the
ministry in the area of training, adding: ”Our training centre
is one of the most professional in every aspect of the media,
We are more than happy to work with you.”
The Minister is in Qatar to attend the 2016 Annual Congress
of the International Press institute (IPI), which is due to
open later on Saturday.