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A rights group, Coalition of Civil Society Groups on Transparency and Accountability has said the compulsory ministerial briefings recently kick-started by the federal government, would provide information on how the government is working to alleviate the hardship been faced in the country.
The coalition is also optimistic that ministerial briefing will help keep public officers accountable and transparent in their operations.
The group comprising of over six different CSOs led by Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative, noted that with the rising national tension arising from high food inflation and a general high cost of living, one way of stemming all forms of undue anxiety and tension was by making information available to navigate the period, keep hopes alive.
Coalition Programme Director of the group, Comrade Igwe Ude-umanta who addressed newsmen on Thursday in Abuja, alongside the convener, Comrade Danesi Momoh and convener, Rising Up for a United Nigeria, Solomon Adodo on Thursday in Abuja, lauded the initiative piloted by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi to keep Nigerians informed in the most honest and decent way at a time when Nigerians were undergoing silent crisis.
They said: ” Nigerians need information to navigate this period; even if it is just to keep their hopes alive. And indeed, this is what the Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation has achieved by inaugurating this Ministerial Press Briefing.
“Yesterday therefore marked an important epoch in critical engagement and information dissemination as far as the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration is concerned. And that importance was underscored by the sheer number of global media organizations and personalities present, including editors, Bureau Chiefs and Senior reporters.
“The strategic importance of the programme is well understood by the government itself.
The inaugural briefing which featured the Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, CON was scintillating and very engaging as programmes, policies and ideas met with media scrutiny.
“One thing very remarkable is that the Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, apart from giving out very important interrogatable information, also received very important feedbacks which will in no mean measures reshape the strategies of the Ministry as it works out its plans out of the food security crisis.
“The good thing is that no Minister will offer any excuse why they will not face the media and Nigerians to give account of their activities. If they like, let them come and lie, we will follow them up on those lies. We know that there are Ministries that have nothing new to show, and those ones constitute a clog in the wheels of our national development. We shall call them out at the appropriate time.
“There should be no space for ineptitude and unproductivity, especially at a time Nigerians need all they can get from the government.
No doubt, the outcomes of this Ministerial Press Briefings will form talking points and subjects of policy reviews and analysis. The feedbacks will certainly reveal the reality of programmes, policies and projects, and citizens’ perceptions about them.
“The Ministerial Press Briefing which has now commenced in earnest is commendable, laudable and most handy. In order not to misrepresent any issue, it is important that the Minister directly involved takes the platform and engage directly with the public through the media.”
