As MD harps on protection of national interests/values

Hadiza Bala Usman, MD, Nigeria Ports Authority

The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has urged journalists to put the interest of the country first in the course of their constitutional duty of keeping the people informed and educated on happenings and developments in country.

Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, made this plea at a three day training program organized for maritime journalists and media officers of NPA to hone their reportorial capacities and update their knowledge especially on the effective deployment of technological tools in modern day journalism.

With the theme “Challenges and Opportunities for Maritime News Reportage in an Increasing Digital Mobile and Social Media Environment”, the training centered on the effective use of Social Media tools in information dissemination and stakeholders engagement.

Represented at the training by Mr. Akosile Olusola Kayode, head, Production/Graphics, Media and Strategic Communications department of NPA,   Hadiza stated that NPA believes in the continuous development of the human capital which is very vital in achieving optimal success in sea port operations.

Participants at the training

In her words “NPA as a dynamic organization is always seeking ways and means to enhance its operations. Aware of the importance of effective communication between NPA and it numerous stakeholders, the need to train and retrain our media officers and the journalists who cover our events and programmes regularly cannot be down played”

The training, conducted at the Nigerian Army School of Public Relation and Information, NASPRI, at the Bonny Military Cantonment, Victoria Island, Lagos, had the Commandant of the school, Col. Mustapha Abubakar Ankah in attendance.

L/R: Mr. Eddie Iroha, Col. Abubakar Anka, Mr. Kelvin Kagbare and Mr. Marce Anyanwu at the training.

The Commandant who refers to himself as the head teacher at NASPRI while welcoming participants to the training said, learning never ends.

“Learning is an everyday thing. I have travelled and worked across the length and breadth of Nigeria. I have been in the ports of Lagos, Warri, Port-Harcourt and Calabar. Because of the enormous business activities carried out daily in these ports, we deemed it necessary to work with NPA not just in the area of security but to ensure that all those involved in port operations get trained and made aware of the need to work together.

“We are delighted that NPA bought our idea and all the trainings we have carried out so far have been very fulfilling”

Apart from participating very actively all through, the Commandant was quite ebullient and resourceful in his presentations and interventions.

Major Olabisi Olalekan Ayeni, Principal lecturer at NASPRI, was on ground throughout to share his experiences with insights on how to ensure a cordial relationship between organizations and the media.

“Nobody needs a crystal ball to see the massive changes the internet has wrought on media relations. This changes are massive and the earlier organizations, their PROs and in-house reporters key into this the better”.​ Major Ayeni said.

The widely travelled military officers in conjunction with Mr. Marce Anyanwu, a public relations consultant and member, Nigeria Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, prepared and delivered well researched papers that held all participants captive in active participation.

Other resource persons such as Dr. Suraj Olunifesi Adekunle of Mass Communication department, University of Lagos, UNILAG and Mr. Lawal Ahmed of the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, conclusively covered modern trends/developments in ensuring healthy mutual relationship between organizations such as NPA and its stakeholders.

The need to be clear and precise in communications between the media and agencies of the federal government was stressed and dwelt on extensively in the course of interactions between the journalists and media officers of NPA.

The trainers emphasized that as a developing economy, negative reports which could adversely affect developmental efforts leading to flight by prospective investors/Foreign Direct Investments, FDI, were frowned at even as factors leading to such reports were analyzed and dissected to the satisfaction of all participants at the training.

According to Mr. Anyanwu, “National Security is the primary role of every citizen. Journalists and indeed all media practitioners must be constantly reminded of this responsibility which must not be compromised no matter how aggrieved a stakeholder is”

Anyanwu identified national security as the overriding prerequisite for growth and development of any nation.

In his presentation he said “Preservation of national security has often been taken to merely connote the preservation of sovereignty, territorial integrity and internal stability with the focus on the coercive power of the state. In today’s complex and interdependent world faced with many nontraditional threats, like pandemics, climate change, unfair reportage, etc, it must be seen in a more holistic manner”.​

​​“A reporter as an important member of the press is a principal player in the arena of national security. The traditional role of the media in any society is to inform, educate, entertain, publish and perhaps most importantly is to identify through research the excesses of the government in power and correct it”.​

​He therefore called for greater synergy and understanding between NPA media team and maritime journalists for the overall economic development of Nigeria.

While the training was adjudged as a step in the right direction by the Hadiza led management team of NPA, the need to close identified gaps between government agencies and media professionals within and beyond the maritime sector was emphasized as tonic for greater economic advancement of Nigeria.