Senate spokesman Ajibola Basiru has warned politicians not to turn their media aides into attack dogs against their perceived political enemies, saying that they have better services to offer than unleashing them on other people.
He said this on Monday while declaring open a 2021 two-day Capacity Building Workshop for Media Aides to Principal Officers and Information Personnel of the National Assembly.
In his address, Senator Ajibola Basiru stated that the role of media aides is rooted in journalism and a fact that cannot be denied is that the country needs viable and well-informed media personnel as intermediaries between the government and the governed.
He also reiterated that media aides are, by the very nature of their job schedule, the repository of the “secrets” of their principals and that their job schedule cuts across policy making and projection of their principals’ images, according to him, their roles are more sensitive than those of other aides because they are the mirror through which their principals are assessed by the public.
The Senate spokesperson admonished the participants at the workshop to be very wary of “journalists” performing their duties and always allow caution to be their watchword when they are fielding questions from journalists, particularly on issues that may likely involve their principals.
He however sounded a note of warning to the political class not to reduce their media aides to tools to further their political interests.
He further harped on the important role of media assistants in his address thus; “Undoubtedly, media aides are stabilising factors in the polity, they have the onerous task of mitigating tension in the society through their releases on behalf of their principals. The political class must accept the fact that media aides have so much contribution in the area of mitigation of societal tensions in all ramifications if allowed and given the necessary support.”
He thanked and praised the organisers of the workshop on the bold initiative and also praised the media aides, in his words; “On this note, I must appreciate our Media Aides for being the catalyst for the relative peace, integration and cooperation being currently witnessed by the Ninth Assembly and the Executive. This is because of the professionalism and astuteness of purpose of the media aides here seated. I implore you to please not rest on your oars.
“I commend the convener of this Workshop, This Workshop is very apposite currently when the Nation is facing challenges largely due to misinformation. I also implore the participants to key in on the benefits of this Workshop as it would increase their knowledge, enhance quality of job and broaden your exposure to new areas and best practices in journalism.”
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