Anambra Information Comm. Adinuba Tasks Media Practitioners On Professionalism As 2019 Information Management Conference Ends In Awka

Journalists and media professionals have been charged to use their profession in solving problems bedeviling the society.

Speaking at the 2019 Information Management Conference held at the Jerome Udorji Secretariat, Awka, the State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. C. Don Adinuba said journalists, as information managers have a great role to play in upholding the sanctity of human life.

The conference with the theme: “Professional approach in the reportage of suicide incidents in Nigeria” was organized by the Ministry of Information And Public Enlightenment Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists.

Mr. Adinuba, who noted that the conference was timely in view of growing statistics on suicide cases, called on journalists to be alive to their responsibilities to the society, describing suicide as abomination in Igbo land.

While calling for in-depth reportage of policies and programs of the state government for public understanding, the Commissioner expressed worry over politically-motivated discourse, the fifty years strategic development plan of the Obiano administration has generated in a section of the media.

In her keynote address, the state Commissioner for Basic Education, Professor Kate Omenugha, who noted that reporting suicide incidents comes with challenges, enjoined journalists to always strike a balance between accurate and unnecessary information that leads to “glamourization” of suicide incidents.
A guest speaker at the event, Associate Professor Chinenye Nwabueze, who expressed dismay over alarming cases of suicide across the world and Nigeria in particular, called on journalists to use their reports in saving lives, describing suicide as a mental issue that requires collective actions.
Participants at the event, including Mr Michael Ezenwata and Miss Charity Uzoagba, said the conference has enriched their knowledge in carrying out their professional assignments.
The conference featured presentation of awards to few individuals, including the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. Adinuba, his Basic Education counterpart, Professor Omenugha, as well as the Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Wealth Creation, Sir Uchenna Okafor.