Good journalism promotes better governance– Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the perception of Nigeria as safe place might have informed the decision of the International Press Institute (IPI) World Congress 2018 to host the event in Abuja.

He added that he was honoured to host such an array of senior journalists who showed up for the IPI conference in Abuja.

The President stated this on Thursday at the opening of the IPI World Congress 2018 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Buhari, who said the conference was holding in Nigeria at a time when the world was facing global terrorism threats, explained that new technology and change in media landscape have made profound impact on the practice of the journalism profession.

The President also commended the theme of the conference titled: “Why Good Journalism Matters. Quality Media for Strong Societies”, stressing that “good journalism promotes good governance”.

He said “Our country has a rich history of robust relationship with the IPI, prominent Nigeria journalists and media operators were and continue to be in the leadership of the international body.

“The changing landscape, the explosion of the social media and the rapidly evolving new technology have had profound impact on media business and practice. It is therefore, that you have chosen an appropriate theme for your conference”.

The event was launched by Buhari shortly after his returned from Bauchi State where he went to assess the level of damage caused by windstorm.

Speaking during a panel discussion, Minister of Interior, Gen Abdulraman Danbazzau (rtd) said that the close family affinity between royal fathers in Nigeria and its neigbouring countries was posing serious challenge to securing the country’s porous borders.

Danbazzau said the problem of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East which has been effectively tackled by the Federal Government did not affect only Nigeria.

Danbazzau, who however assured that the Federal Government was using technology to monitor Nigeria’s borders, blamed State governors over poor governance which he explained is contributing to the insecurity challenges of Nigeria.

He said, “You will agree that with the situation whereby, you have half-brothers that have virtually common cultural affinity, it is extremely difficult.

I have visited some towns and I have requested to meet with the leadership of border communities and when they came, and we started discussing the security of our borders and coincidentally, the chief of the community that is in Nigeria and that of the Niger Republic are brothers, same father, same mother.

So, they did not like me to talk about borders because as far as they are concerned, there is no borders”.

The minister of Interior also noted that it was unfortunate that some people in the country were taking undue advantage of the insecurity to politicise it to their advantage.

Danbazzau, heaped substantial blame for insecurity in many states of the federation on the inability of the governors to deliver good governance to their citizens.

His reactions in this regard came against the background of latest comments by Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari, that he is handicapped from performing his role as the chief security officer of the state.

“Realising that insurgency is a regional issue, the first thing President Buhari did was to seek partnership with the neigbouring countries and he went and visited all the neighbouring countries,” he explained.

He continued that “it is very important and at the same time, we are also concerned about the security at the borders.

Efforts have been made to ensure that we have effective relationship both at bilateral and multilateral levels to ensure that we do not breach border security..”

According to him, because of the huge gap in security architecture, the Nigeria Police as it were presently cannot effectively secure the entire areas affected.

He said the Military will continue to fill in the gap until normalcy returns in the country.

“Because of the porous borders, government was able to provide a lot of logistics to the immigration department so that it can enhance its ability to cover the borders, but that is not adequate because it is extensive. You cannot cover such extensive places.

“So, part of what we are doing now, the major aspects of it e-border. We have introduced the use of bio-metric processing, secondly, we are also using technology for monitoring our borders and also providing the capability to respond to emergencies. These are what the government is tackling.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment Okechwuku Enelamah and the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed told the gathering of journalists from around the world that Buhari deserved a second term in office since his government has achieved a lot in all areas that it promised Nigerians during the campaigns.

The four ministers who took part in the “Conversation with the Government of Nigeria” were asked to respond in one sentence why they think Nigerians should re-elect President Buhari with barely nine months to the election.

Adeosun, in response said “Nigeria is well positioned. Nigeria is on the path of sustainable growth, recovery and we have never had it so good.”

Danbazzau said “Continuity, Nigeria can’t get anybody better than President Buhari.”

On his part, Lai Mohammed said “Because we have delivered on all our promises. We promised we were going to fight insecurity, we have fought insecurity…. We promised we were going to fight corruption, …”

Enelamah said “The most important thing under the leadership of the President, is thst we have changed the conversation of Nigeria; we are now talking about the importance of security, of fighting corruption and of a good economy.”