By Raphael Ekpang
The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Public Affairs, Honourable Benjamin Kalu, has said that the National Assembly needs credible information from credible media organization to build citizens’ confidence on the vital role the legislators play in the nation building.
Kalu who played hosts to the leadership and members of the National Assembly New Media Forum on Tuesday. in Abuja, said the leadership of the House and by implication the national assembly is interested in unveiling the cloud that has enveloped its image over the years.
According to him, “ The Speaker has shown interest that we need to do a diversification of media platform so that we can achieve our aim of dissolving the opaque view of the National Assembly, this cloud, the veil that have enveloped the activity of the National Assembly.
“The more we crack it, unveil it the more transparent we become before the people we are representing, and the more they understand through platforms of transparency, the more they understand what we do, the more we are accountable to them, the more the credibility of this institution will rise and more the confidence of the citizens in this institution,” he said.
He stated further that, “The more confident the citizens have in this institution which remains the fulcrum of democracy, the more they believe in the principles of the rule of law because this is the backbone of democracy.
The spokesperson, who expressed confident on the ability of the online media platform to present the national assembly to the public the way it is advised that only professional journalists who know their worth and have been duly accredited by the management of the national assembly would be accorded due recognition.
However, he noted that the public don’t seem to understand what is happening at the national assembly that is why they have been attacking them, hence the speaker Rt Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has shown interest in the diversification of media platform to enable them tell their story the way it is so that the public will see and assess them the way they are.
Therefore, he said the leadership of the House came out with the Green Chamber magazine which is out there educating the public on the activities of the House of Representatives from the horses’ mouth.
“The magazine is out there telling our stories, not for the purpose of self-praise, but to change the narratives with the truth and not commercialized facts, or views. And it is working, whether that is enough, the answer is no.
“And that is why we seek strategic partnership with people like you, the online media who control the bulk of social media participants. I know most of you are social media influencers, so strategic partnership with you means that the stake that you are holding, the New Media industry automatically becomes our mouthpiece, so we can speak through you” Kalu said.
Earlier, chairman of the forum, Yemi Itodo, commended the lawmaker for hosting the forum and pledged further credible reportage of the 9th National Assembly, without bias.
