Providing more alternative sources of funding to the media Industry and development of Curriculum in Mass Communication in Nigerian Universities has been described as a major tool for ensuring editorial independence in media outfits across the nation.
Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Kashere Professor Umar Pate who is the convener of a two day roundtable conference on media development and sustainable funding in Nigeria, stated during the opening ceremony of the meeting held at Bayero University Kano.
He said the conference was aimed at addressing two critical issues which were very relevant to the media industry, which according to him includes the issue of funding and curriculum development.
Professor Umar Pate explained that professionals from both the academia and the media industry were brought together to brainstorm on finding alternative funding models in the media ,saying the forum would come up with viable recommendations that would provide ideas of how to finance the media industry.
In a remark the Senior Special Adviser to the Pesident on Media and Publicity Malam Garba Shehu ,represented by Malam Abubakar Jijiwa said the conference was very timely , aimed at enhancing media operations in the country.
In his address, the keynote speaker Dr John Momoh said proving alternative sources of the media industry was very paramount, especially with the negative effect of covid 19 pandemic in the industry.
He noted that social media platforms was seriously affecting the traditional media , hence more alternatives of financing the industry needed to be formulated.
The Director General of Radio Nigeria Dr Mansur Liman represented by the Director News Malam Sani Suleiman described the meeting as apt.
Declaring the conference open, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State called on federal government to strengthen the ongoing digitization of the broadcast media aimed at uplifting the industry.
The meeting was graced by veteran journalists from all over the federation, professors of mass communication from different universities and managers from both the private and public media stations.
Abdullahi Jalaluddeen