NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA
Bello Matawalle, governor of Zamfara state has banned all State officials from speaking to journalists exempting only two persons.
Specifically, Mr Matawalle barred ministries, departments, and agencies from providing the media with information on government policies and programmes.
The Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Dosara, disclosed this while addressing members of the Correspondents Chapel in Gusau on Thursday.
“This is in view of the security situation in the state and the mismanagement of information where everybody takes his own opinion and chips in on behalf of the government. This further aggravates the issues of security challenges in the state, and the executive council, in one of its resolutions during its last meeting decided to centralise information,” the commissioner explained.
Mr Dosara said the Zamfara government centralised information management to the ministry to curtail the spread of fake news and misinformation to people in Zamfara.
The Zamfara government appealed to journalists to take the development “as a working tool that is making easier for you to have access to the information you are looking for to write your reports.”
He further stated that the government took the decision to avert misinformation that can aggravate insecurity in the state.
“Henceforth, it’s only the ministry of information or the commissioner for information that is allowed to speak on behalf of the government, while the special adviser on media to the governor is the only person allowed to speak on behalf of the governor,” he pointed out. “These two people are the custodians of information of the government of Zamfara state as far as the present predicament is concerned.”
Mr Dosara added, “Anybody that speaks to you on behalf of the government if it is not the commissioner for information or the SA to the governor on media, that information is invalid as far as Zamfara state government is concerned.”
Meanwhile, Mr Matawalle has approved the appointment of Musa Mailafiya as the new director-general of Public Enlightenment, Media, and Communications, Government House.
Mr Matawalle, in a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Kabiru Balarabe, said the appointment was with immediate effect.
Mr Mailafiya replaced Yusuf Idris Gusau, now the All Progressives Congress (APC) publicity secretary in Zamfara.
(NAN)
