By Chibuzo Ihegboro
Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Malam Jibrin Baba Ndace has frowned at the disdainful manner most Nigerians are treated abroad.
He said such poor treatment meted out to Nigerians was no longer acceptable, disclosing that his organisation was poised to positively change the narratives with its good story telling about the country.
Ndace spoke when he visited the deputy governor of Cross River State, Peter Odey in his office in Calabar.
As a person, when you travel out with a Nigerian passport, you are treated with disdain, unbefitting of your status. This unacceptable treatment is traceable to negative stories people have peddled about Nigeria.
“We may not be perfect, but we are not what is being portrayed,” he said.
The VON DG said that the official external broadcaster is now positioned to tell the true and good stories of Nigeria.
He noted that since assumption as the Director General, the focus has been to publicise the role of VON as the frontline story-telling agency in Nigeria “poised to reduce the country’s negative image by marketing its potentials.”
He requested for partnership between the state government and his organization in order to achieve this by righting distortions of Nigeria’s image.
“Let us partner to tell Nigeria’s story, especially in this era of social media distortions, outright lies, misinformation and disinformation.
Our country is not all about negative news, we have great things happening here too. We should all join hands to tell the positives that we are known for.
“VON has a unique role with a mandate to tell not only the story of Nigeria but the story of Africa as a whole, and we do this in four Nigerian languages: Hausa, Yoruba, Igbos and Fulfulde. For the international languages, we broadcast in English, French, Arabic and Swahili.
“Telling Nigeria’s story is something that all of us should be intentional and deliberate about. This is not a time for us to do good and be quiet. We must be unapologetic in telling Nigeria’s story confidently,” he stated.
Welcoming Ndace and his delegation, Odey enumerated measures taken by the state government to re-establish Cross River State as the preferred tourist destination in Nigeria.
He pledged to collaborate with VON and support initiatives that would be for the benefit of the people.
He said, “through the office of the Commissioner for Information, the Cross River State Government will partner with Voice of Nigeria. We need VON to publicise all our activities, showcase Cross River State to the world.
Henceforth, we need active participation of VON in the coverage of our flagship tourism festival, Carnival Calabar and other lofty programmes and projects of the Prince Otu-led administration because we are investing in infrastructural development,” the Deputy Governor said.
Ndace was accompanied on the visit by the Director, Training and other staff members.
