Embrace development reporting—NTDC DG tasks journalists

The Director – General, Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mr Folorunsho Folarin Coker, has called on media practitioners in Nigeria to embrace development reporting as against negativity reportage.

Mr Coker who made this appeal during the unveiling of the logo of Tour Nigeria said “No nation can experience accelerated development in any sector of its economy without the active participation and collaborative efforts from the media. The media is not only the mirror of the country’s internal components, but also the reflective apparatus with which foreigners predicate their perception of the country”

He pointed out  “The media, though, part of the society is a major and integral part of the tripod which makes a country’s stand point – the government , the people and the media” Thus, for any national project, the media should not only be taken into cognisance but must be fully involved”.

Mr Coker commended the Nigeria media for its ‘doggedness at ensuring the institutionalization of democracy   and its stride at maintaining the balance of societal ethos in the polity”.

He however called on the media to embrace development journalism which “strives to maintain the balance between functional reportage and development issues. A situation where by the positivity in every bad news is highlighted without much prejudice to the negative.”

Mr Folarin said “The penchant of some of us, I mean our media practitioners at embellishing or making juicy a rather bad news without considering the developmental effect of such and its impacts on the country have dealt and still wreaking great havoc on the image of the country. And you will agree with me that image has a lot to do with any stride of advancement being made by the country”.

He revealed “when the positive report of a country is skewed against the negative report, it will lead to a dysfunction in the global perspective of the country’s image and causes distrust of faith in the citizens and the country at large. This is why I am soliciting for the cooperation and support of the media in this onerous task of advancing the cause of tourism in Nigeria”.

The NTDC boss disclosed “Tourism promotion is the canoe of every journalist in his country. Tourism activities and acts are not limited to a section of the media. It is a food for all. The misconception and negative reports which have steered off tourists away from Nigeria were not the handiwork of tourism journalists alone, but of other sectors. Hence , my door is widely opened to all media practitioners in this country who are willing and ready to be contributors and supporters of the Tour Nigeria brand”.

He remarked “Gone were the days when tourism reporting was restricted to an association or limited to a few unit of the media circle.  Promotion of tourism in Nigeria is a collective effort of every patriotic journalist in Nigeria no matter the beats or section. You will agree with me that a reckless report from an undiscerning health reporter can scare millions of tourists away from Nigeria. This section of the media is very important to tourism development. Even, political reporters have to exercise altruistic consideration in their reportage or else we paint the story of instability”

Mr  Folarin Coker said “Thus all hands of all patriotic journalists must be on the deck at ensuring   dissemination of news  aimed at shoring up the positive image of the country.”

He pointed out “Honestly, the media has a lot to do in our strides at ensuring the promotion of the tourism potentialities in Nigeria. A section of the media cannot do it alone. There should be a change in the paradigm of tourism reporting.  We cannot afford to do things in the same way all through. It should be about the potentialities not personalities. It should be about our heritage, our culture, and our natural and unnatural assets.  It is about those tangible and intangible tourism properties that make us unique. It is about, why they must leave their countries to visit us. It is about our unity in diversity. It is about how to enhance these for the benefits of our nation, our people and community. For tourism is the gold of fortune for Nigeria and we will and shall tap it “And in this stride, the media is a key factor and must  key in.”