The Federal Government on Monday said it is concerned about Nigeria’s security challenges and doing all it can to restore peace in every part of the country.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stated this on Monday when received the President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations NIPR, Muktar Sirajo, and other members of the Governing Council of the body in Abuja.
He called on the institute, as a stakeholder on national issues, to speak out against those fanning the embers of disunity and discord in Nigeria.
“Each of us in our respective positions has a role to play to tone down the rhetoric and reduce the tension (in the polity), and I am glad that NIPR is lending its platform to work with the government to ensure that we have a country, which is peaceful and which is secured,” the minister was quoted as saying in a statement by his aide, Segun Adeyemi.
He added, “Without security, there can be no development and that’s why this administration is doing everything possible to return peace and security across the country.
“This is where I think you can come in as a body of NIPR that we must put the nation first.”
Mohammed welcomed the NIPR’s offer to make available its platform for a national engagement on national unity, peace and security, saying it falls into the template of the town hall meetings on topical issues which have been institutionalised by the Federal Government.
He also urged the institution to join the government in the fight against fake news, saying the NIPR needed to rein in members fond of throwing professional ethics to the wind for pecuniary gains.
“You have a powerful platform to actually ensure that the menace of fake news is confronted squarely.
“Regrettably, however, members of the Institute have been found waiting. They most times place pecuniary interests and motives above professional ethics and patriotism,” the minister said.
In his remarks, Sirajo decried the politicisation of the security situation in the country by politicians, saying the issue of security was beyond politics.
He said the NIPR was ready to provide a platform for a national dialogue on peace and security in order to secure a consensus on the unity of the country.
