University Don To Okowa’s Media Aides: Stop Trying To Correct Confusion

An academic researcher and development consultant, Engr. Hilary Ijeoma Owamah, on Tuesday says Governor Ifeanyi Okowa media aides do more of damage control instead of fielding the public with right information about government policies and programmes.

He spoke as a guest lecturer at the Nigerian Union of Journalists Delta state Council Press Week held at Labour House in Asaba, the state capital.

According to him, the media managers of the governor are not pro-active, hence they fail to prevent crisis of information, noting that they only give information when confusion is already building up in the state.

“Taking the delay in the payment of November salaries to workers as a case at hand, he said, “there is crisis in the state as many civil servants are blaming the governor over the delay in the payment of November salaries to the state workers.

“Feelers from civil servants around the state are indicative that some civil servants are saying the governor has seized their salaries while others are saying the governor is playing pranks at them”.

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The University lecturer however noted that with the foreknowledge that November salaries would be delayed owing to the delay in the release of allocation from the federal government, “state media managers were expected to inform civil servants and the entire people of Delta state of the development to prevent confusion and douse tension that is building up in the minds of Delta civil servants”.

According to him, “The policies of the state government are not fully articulated. Teachers are complaining, everybody is complaining. It is a serious issue. They can make official statement and give it to journalists and you spread it.

“They are not doing it properly, we should know and the masses should also know because the teachers are already complaining,” adding: “As far as 2019 is concern, you must carry the workers along. If you don’t carry the workers along, nothing good can come out, that is the truth.

“Let the aides liaise with you people, once there is anything that will confuse the public, the information should come first before the public is confused. Stop trying to correct confusion.”

Speaking on the topic; “Managing the lessons from the recession for a wealthier Delta state, Engr. Owamah, said that recession actually taught Nigerians some lessons, insisting that the Nigerian media has been very instrumental in bringing changes to the politics of Nigeria.

He commended journalists for keeping Nigerians abreast of developments and happenings around the nation, noting that the media have brought positive changes to the nation and held government accountable to the people.

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Specifically, he told the large crowd of journalists cutting across print, electronic and online media that journalists have helped elevate him to a situation where he was invited by the minister of education to deliver a lecture following the stories written on lectures he delivered in Oleh, Isoko south, Delta state.

Owamah said the media are the engine room of nations’ development, saying the media being the fourth estate of the realm implies that the media is the fourth organ that decides what happens in a state or country.

The academician said that the media wields enormous power in a country, adding that without the media, no country or government could survive.

Despite the laudable role the media play in the development of a nation, he said, it is the most blamed profession in the country.

According to him, no matter the amount of investigation carried out, media practitioners, government and other Nigerians still level accusations against journalists.

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