Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has enjoined media organisations in the country to project the positive components of the country to the world.
Governor Sanwo-Olu gave the charge on Tuesday through the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, who received on his behalf the Executive Delegation of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), stressing that positive public commentaries were very important for the development of any country.
The governor posited that dissemination of well-vetted and truthful information would project the country positively, attract foreign investors and aid economic development rather than spreading negative and false news which are detrimental to the growth of the country.
He commended BON for their professionalism in information dissemination and management and further charged them to ensure that their programmes were seen to promote the positive component of the state and country.
Sanwo-Olu, while promising that the state government would support the organisation in its hosting of the Culture, Art and Creative Summit, said such support would be a good way to further project the state positively to the world as key players in the creative and entertainment industry of the country and making the nation proud across the world.
“On the Creative and Entertainment Industry, five Nigerian musicians were recently nominated for the Grammy Award, which means that we are doing something right and great,” the governor said.
Speaking further, Governor Sanwo-Olu recalled that the state government recently did the groundbreaking of the Film City Project in Ejirin, Epe, saying such was part of the commitment of the state government to the growth and development of the creative industry.
The Executive Secretary of the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON), Dr. Yemisi Bamgbose, earlier in his remarks, stated that the team was in Lagos to solicit the support of the Lagos State Government towards the hosting of the Culture, Art and Creative Summit which would involve all radio and television stations in the country.
Bamgbose stated that the idea of holding a summit on Culture Art and Entertainment in the country was to bring critical stakeholders in the entertainment together to rub minds, discuss and see how they can further project the image of Nigeria through the entertainment industry and contribute something positive to the growth of the country.
The BON executive secretary asserted that Nigeria is not a country that can just be pushed aside when it comes to entertainment, noting that the entertainment industry remained one of the areas that is giving the country a good image today across the world.
Bamgbose, while commending the state government for the tremendous development and service delivery, described Lagos State as the hub of any good things, ranging from entertainment to education, among others.
“Therefore, we realize the importance of Lagos in everything as it is the hub of any good thing. Some people have thought nothing good can come out of Nigeria but here something good has come out of our Nazareth and our Nazareth this time around is Lagos State where a lot of things have been done, like the Blue Rail Line, Quality Education, Long Crossing Bridges, among other projects, embarked on,” he said.