By SAM JONES YENAGOA (Sundiata Post) –
Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Hon. Ayibaina Duba, has called on the local media to publicise the achievements of the Governor Douye Diri Prosperity Government ahead of the state governorship election on November 11 this year.
Duba made the call on Tuesday at the flag-off of a two-month training programme for staff of the state owned Niger Delta Television (NDTv) at the Ernest Ikoli Media in Yenagoa.
He said as the government was accused of habitually lying to Bayelsans, the television station should showcase what the government has done and attach the visuals to authenticate its claims.
Duba told the trainees to take the two-month training seriously as it will also help them even when they have retired from the civil service.
His words: “I just want you to understand that you media people your responsibility now is to make the local people know what the government is doing. I want to state categorically here that the state government headed by Douye Diri is not in the business of lying to Bayelsans.
“I want to ask Bayelsans, which one do you prefer, the one who will be silent quietly doing what is needed to be done or the one that will go to the media and start shouting and at the end of the day, it is not done?
“When we say something we go ahead to do it and that is what the Prosperity Government is all about. There is no road project that we have decided to embark on that the project had been stopped, they are all on going. Every commitment that we have made, we are ready to keep it. It is an election year and people have been talking a lot of things.”
Commending the media house he said, “This is an ambiance of the office of an oil company. There are still some people who don’t believe that there is a TV station that is of the state of the art. But, we started a process, the government decided that every media house must have a facelift and now it is not just a facelift, but total uprooting of what was there and replanting it with a new one.
“We are done with the radio and today is for television and we are all here so that you will be properly trained for two months. And they will take you through the entire processes.
“The only advice I will give you is that you should be committed to the training. The knowledge you are going to acquire is not for me or for the governor. Even when you retire there is what we call consultancy, the knowledge you have you can still use it when you are retired.”
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Jane Yawei, harped on the need to balance work ethics and morals stating that they are the guides that propel proficiency at the work place.
“I want you to count yourselves as being privileged and honoured for this training because of the huge investment. My concern is on the work ethics, it is one thing to do your job effectively, but there has to be balance in the work ethics.
“It is not just about knowing how to handle the camera or any equipment. You have to examine yourself. Work ethics is about morals that guide an organization such as punctuality, professionalism, productivity, focus because a lot of people can manage equipment, but are lacking in this moral ethics. I want to implore the general manager to live above board.”
Earlier, the acting general manager of NDTv, Mr. Frederick Fabor, had thanked the government for the gesture and promised to ensure proper maintenance and handling of the equipment.
Fabor assured the government that the management and staff of the television station will continue to ensure adequate information dissemination to the people.
Mohammed Merhi, managing director, Comflax Nigeria Limited who are the consultant/trainers assured they will train the staff for proficient use of the state of art equipment.
He said, “We have commissioned this studio with a fully state of the art transition equipment and modern digital studios. We are starting with the training of their TV studios on how to operate these fully digital state of the art equipment.
“In these two months of training, we will ensure that the training will cover every single detail of this new technology and give enough knowledge on how to use these equipment properly.
“We will be here in the next two months to make sure that all of you are trained on how to run a TV station.”
