The media has been charged to be strategic in portraying the image of the country to the outside world.
Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, who gave the charge in Ilorin on Wednesday, argued that it was time for the Nigerian media to adopt strategic national rebranding to project the good and positive aspects of the country to the international community.
Delivering a keynote address at the grand finale of this year’s press week of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Kwara State chapter, Ajakaye, said “let us be strategic about what we publish about our country even if we must hold the government accountable.
“We need to begin to rebuild the image of the country, the image we carve for Nigeria sticks as a failed nation.”
In the keynote address titled, “Role Of The Media In Nigeria’s Soft Power Conundrum”, the spokesman of the governor, asserted that all the countries now classified as developed nations have had their dark past in history.
He said while he was not asking the media to abandon its role as the watchdog, it must strike a balance between being patriotic and holding the government accountable and de-emphasizing negative publicity.
In his opening speech, chairman of the correspondents’ chapel, Abdulhakeem Garba said the media’s role as a soft power in nation building can never be overemphasized.
He noted that in the contemporary global landscape, the media has emerged as a powerful tool with the ability to shape public opinion, disseminate information and influence social, cultural and political dynamics within nations.