By our Reporter
Delta State Commissioner for Information, Dr Ifeanyi Osuoza says that henceforth, public officers are barred from making unauthorised statements on sensitive policy issues as part of efforts to project a coordinated information management strategy for the Delta state government.
Osuoza dropped the hint when he hosted members of the Asaba Correspondents chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists NUJ in Asaba.
He made it clear that only the Commissioner for Information and the Chief Press Secretary, CPS, to the Governor, were authorized to make definitive statements concerning policy thrusts of the state government and the activities of the state governor, respectively.
The Commissioner assured the journalists of a robust partnership, but urged them to ensure balanced reportage, while ensuring a high sense of responsibility by allowing facts, rather than personal biases, to determine how they write their reports.
While frowning at the under-reporting of the successes recorded so far by the Oborevwori administration, Dr Osuoza assured that he would do everything necessary to eliminate all bottlenecks faced by journalists in the state, to enable them fully publicise the gains of the MORE agenda.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Asaba Correspondents chapel, Comrade Ifeanyi Olannye commended Governor Oborevwori for Dr. Osuoza’s appointment as Commissioner for Information, noting that the Correspondents chapel had enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the ministry in the past, and expressed the hope that the relationship would continue.
Comrade Olannye invited the Commissioner to participate in a programme put together by the chapel tagged “Know your Publics”, KYP.
Olanye explained that this would provide a platform for the Commissioner to get to know journalists and interact with them, stressing that conflicts arose in relationships due to a gap in communication.
He also expressed certain challenges faced by the journalists to include opportunities for training, electricity power at the chapel office, among others, which the commissioner promised to look into.
Photo caption: Commissioner Osuoza in handshake with Comrade Ifeanyi Olannye (left)
