The Nigeria Union of Journalists on Thursday rejected the appointment of Prof. Dora Akunyili as the Minister of Information and Communication.
It said that such an appointment smacked of ill-advice and disdain for the mass media.
In a press statement signed by the National Secretary of the union, Mr. Shu’aibu Usman Leman, in Abuja, the NUJ said that Akunyili’s appointment to the information portfolio was not right.
It said that with Akunyili’s zeal, honesty and commitment to work, she would have been more suitable for the Ministry of Health.
“The NUJ national secretariat, frowns at the recent appointment of Prof. Dora Akunyili as Minister for Information and Communication by President Umaru Yar’Adua.
“The appointment is ill-advised and smacks of the usual disdain with which politicians perceive the media.
“It is noteworthy, the zeal, honesty and commitment “Akunyili brought to bear in the discharge of her assignment as the Director-General of National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, and we thus assumed that a personality like her would be assigned the portfolio of Minister of Health.
“That would have been putting a round peg in a round hole rather than the present situation which is a misnomer.”
The NUJ said that all over the world, governments constituted their cabinets “with a clear vision of what they intend to achieve and assigned portfolios to their appointees based on their fields of specialisation.”
The union added that it was apparent that the Yar’Adua administration did not know how it intended to achieve its goal through the appointments.
Meanwhile, Akunyili has declared that her new assignment was a new beginning in her public service.
At a brief handover ceremony at the ministry‘s Radio House Headquarters, Akunyili said telling lies to the public damaged the reputation of any government.
She promised not to lie in the course of her assignment.
The Minister of Police Affairs, Dr. Ibrahim Lame, said elsewhere internal security remained a crucial agenda for the administration.
Akunyili‘s predecessor, who has been redeployed to the Ministry of Environment, Mr. John Odey, also said though he was not a slave driver, he got some good results.
Akunyili said, “I have enjoyed serving Nigerians through the NAFDAC where I worked with my wonderful and indefatigable team to safeguard the health of the ordinary Nigerian.
“Today is, therefore, a special day for us. It is indeed a new beginning in my public service life. Today, I find myself stirring the ship of this very important ministry as the chief image maker of Nigeria.
“This ministry represents the image and the soul of the nation. Piloting the affairs of this ministry which will be jointly done by the Minister of State and I cannot be successfully carried out without your support.
“My vision is to work assiduously to shore up the good image of Nigeria through responsible communication which entails proper information management. Responsible information management does not mean telling lies. In fact, one thing we must avoid is telling lies to the public.
“When we lie to the public about any situation, they will surely find out and lose confidence in us as the information mouthpiece of the nation and if this happens, no matter how well-intentioned we eventually become, the public would have lost confidence in us, that they will reject whatever programme or policy we introduce, no matter how credible.”
The new Minister of Police Affairs promised to revitalise the force to be more focused in addressing the nation‘s internal security.
He said, “In actual fact, this government sees security as the basis upon which all the other items will have to be built on and without security, there is no way that we can have an environment to operate.”
Also, the new Minister of Labour and Productivity, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN), has said that his ministry is strategic to the realisation of the seven-point agenda of President Umaru Yar’Adua as well as Vision 2020.
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