The Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed says the legislature and executive arm of government are working in cordiality and shares the same aspiration.





He further stated that the rumoured feud between the two important arms of government was just the figment of the imagination of some people.

He cited the issues of insecurity, economy and good governance as the three main ingredients that unite them and which they are all working towards achieving.

The Minister disclosed this when he received the senate committee on Media and Public Affairs paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja on Wednesday.

Reeling out his communication strategy and workings so far, Mr. Mohammed told the senators that his Ministry recognised the importance of information in deepening and sustaining democracy and as a result, devised a means to ensure effective communication between government and the people.

The Minister stressed that, “We have deliberately made people the centre piece of our events. We believe that once communication gap exists, it would create misconception, suspicion and downright falsehood.

It is against this backdrop that beside the main stream media, we have embarked on town hall meetings in a bid to get across to the people directly.

The town hall meeting is not just meant to tell people about government policies but to also hear from them and take the message back to government with a view to reflecting some of their thoughts and ideas on government programmes.”

Action plan
He mentioned some of the Ministry’s activities such as meeting with critical stakeholders in the information sector, the planned reorientation campaign and the awareness on corruption and insecurity.

Meanwhile, the Chairman Senate Committee on media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi said the senate was fully committed to continue representing the various collective interest and aspirations of Nigerians.

“We understand the challenges facing the country at the moment but to make things better there is the urgent need to address the economy and security which are the two biggest issues of our time.

The 8th senate is anchored on three cardinal objectives of improving livelihood, improving business and good governance,” Senator Abdullahi said.

Senator Abdullahi also called for value orientation that are indeed difficult and neglected or taken for granted.

He said the government must work deliberately to address hidden discontent and pull everybody in the same direction.

“As information managers, we need to work and canvass for the urgent need to ensure genuine and sincere actions anchored on the rule of law, due diligent and process. In doing this, we must promote confidence building through genuine co-creation, co-action, cooperation, collaboration and co-ordination,” he insisted.

The Ministry of Information and Culture had embarked on series of town hall meeting across the country’s geo-political zones.

It held in Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Akwa Ibom States so far, with more to follow.

Source: http://www.barbaric.com.ng/nigerian-lawmakers-work-agreement/