Idris Ahmed, Lokoja.

Kogi State Governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello has described the fourth estate of the realm as more powerful than the combined powers of the arms of government, if a truly free environment is allowed for a vibrant press.

Governor Bello expressed his feeling while delivering his welcome address at the opening session of the Nigerian Media Merit Awards (NMMA) 2021 holding in Lokoja, Kogi State.

While reminding Journalism practitioners of their enviable position as the conscience of the society, the Governor therefore described the media as the ” big heart ” at the Centre of the Nation.

While acknowledging the importance of the three arms of Government, however noted that the ‘fourth estate’ is equally powerful, in view of the fact that modern society cannot do without journalists.

He said the world would be a scary and dark place without the Journalism profession, pointing out that aside dispelling falsehood, eliminating dangerous assumptions, they provide societies with the basic premises upon which governance and other decisions can be made.

Also read more NMMA 2021: Bello Advocates Free, Vibrant Press, Calls For Regulation of Social Media.

The governor disclosed that while journalist help to bring order to society and engender human cooperation, but however lamented that lives and whole societies have been ruined by the irresponsible practice of journalism by media practitioners, or quacks who impersonate them.

“The problem is so endemic that in Q3 2020 alone, statistics show there were 1.8 billion engagements with fake news on Facebook alone! Nigeria, like many countries, has fallen victim to it many times, sometimes with devastating loss of lives or properties.

” The Press is therefore one of the inescapable hallmarks of modern society and in particular, the custodian of public perception. What a divine responsibility”.

The Governor called on the Media to regulate itself with the help of the Law to avoid malfunction, insisting that Practitioners must recognise that due to the incredible powers which society has entrusted to them, there is a corresponding demand for responsibility, ethics and professionalism in the exercise of those powers by journalists.

The Governor called on journalists to strive hard to take back their profession from the quacks and the hacks, specifically the myriad of unregulated persons armed with Internet-enabled devices who haunt the media space, especially on social media must be curtailed.

The Governor described the Nigerian Media Merit Awards (NMMA) Trust as perhaps one of the most important institutions which could exist right now, said by rewarding merit in the way individuals and media houses practice journalism, the NMMAs provide critical motivation for the real journalists to do their work professionally.

He noted that by so doing the NMMA would help promote sanity in the industry and simultaneously function as an accountability partner for most professional journalists.