Centralize information ahead of polls, Governor Nnamani urges

February 2, 2007

He made this suggestion while welcoming the Minister of Information and Communication, Mr. Frank Nweke Junior, who paid him a courtesy visit recently in Enugu.

Governor Nnamani hinted that the suggestion was vital because of the obvious fact that various news media may likely come out with divergent results and speculations as results of elections.

“As we go through the transition process, we need to make sure that we centralize information or else, democracy itself will be threatened,” he said.

The Governor said that the 37th National Council on Information meeting was coming up with such a crucial dialogue at the appropriate time and added that it needed to set out clear principles for emanation of information and for channeling and interpretation of such.

“This would ensure that you don’t end up with many media facilities making political interpretations and pronouncements, because if this happens, we are going to end up in confusion,” Governor Nnamani stated.

He believed that such bodies as Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Information, working in liaison with other agencies of information, must work out parameters that will guide the elections of 2007.

Governor Nnamani also stated that information management was very important in this era of globalization, information technology, developmental governance and private sector-driven reforms.

“If you look at the challenges that threatened democracy in such African States as Cote d’voire, Senegal, Angola, among others, you will understand that information management is vital,” the Governor added.

Governor Nnamani also described Mr. Nweke Jr. as one of the worthy ambassadors of Enugu State who was flying a banner of excellence.

Earlier on, Mr. Nweke had told the Governor that they were in Enugu to attend the 37th National Council on Information meeting.

He stated that the platform would enable the Federal Government to interact with state governments and added that the meeting was particularly crucial in this election year.

The Information Minister said that under his charge, he would try to see how he could mobilize understanding and support and get all public information managers, both in government and private media, to do things the right way.

The Information Minister thanked Governor Nnamani and the Enugu State Government for agreeing to host the conference within a short notice, stating that he was happy to be associated with the Governor and his giant strides in terms of human development and unprecedented infrastructural development.