UN commends NAN for operational standards, resilience
By Fortune Abang
The United Nations Organisation (UNO) has lauded the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for its resilience and operational standards among its peers in Africa.
Mr Ronald Kayanja, Director of the UN Information Centre (UNIC) Nigeria, gave the commendation during his official visit to the Managing Director of the agency, Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, on Tuesday in Abuja.
Kayanja expressed his deep regards for the agency’s factual and credible reportage of news.
“I have a lot of respect for NAN because not many news agencies have survived modern operations.
“As you know, we have even been battling to have the Pan-African news agency with a bit of difficulty but NAN has survived.
“Talking about the multimedia, I am so happy about the way you have now added the element of video, photography and your online presence as that is really the way to go.
“As you know, the newspaper is having problems, we have to adapt.
“One of my first priorities in the morning is to know what’s going on in the country, so I read papers.
“I always see stories from NAN and this shows you are really doing a great job, including our own (UN) coverage.
“I see a lot of UN, NAN (stories) and I am just told that you have correspondents even at the UN headquarters,” he said.
The UNIC Director congratulated the agency for its feats and the great work it is doing in sustaining factual and credible reportage in the era of digital media operations amidst inadequate technological work tools and other equipment.
“The evolution of journalism with the coming of the digital media and the challenges therein are not new; but for you to still be working, really, I commend you.
“I commend the adaptability that you have in the work you do and the quality.
“You have an idea of what is going on in Nigeria, on issues that are going on; NAN usually is our source.
“You tend to have many things, many aspects of life. That, really, is useful, that is why I am here.
“I am here to show our gratitude for the kind of work that you do, to try and see that we work a bit more closely together.
“The UNIC is part of the UN Secretariat’s Department of Global Communications and so our work, as you can hear, is information.
“Therefore, you are people that we should work with; we have been working with you and so I am grateful that you are here.
“I want us to work even more closely together.
“There is an initiative; there are a number of initiatives, but there is one initiative I want to introduce to you and that is the one on SDGs,” Kayanja said.
Responding, the NAN MD, attributed the agency’s success to its ability to evolve and calibre of personnel.
Ali noted that the agency was established by an Act in 1976 and, thereafter, commenced full operations in 1978.
“NAN was conceived to be the biggest news content provider on the continent of Africa at the onset of its operations.
“We had 11 foreign offices, we still have an office in New York; we are the only resident news agency for the West Coast in the UN right now.
“So we have an office in New York, we have in South Africa – in Johannesburg, Abidjan, Ethiopia, Moscow and the UK; out of all the 11 foreign offices, some are still operational.
“We thank you for your very kind words about the resilience of the news agency which has stood the test of time.
“The Pan-African News Agency is now in the graveyard of history.
“We’ve demonstrated this amazing staying-power because we tried to evolve over time, we repositioned; as contemporary challenges face us, we also reposition.
“Only last week, we returned from a week-long editorial management retreat to see how we are going to confront the impending challenges of the dawn of AI; how social media has given rise to the integrity of news sources and stories.”
Ali expressed the willingness to work closely with notable global agencies to achieve more meaningful results.
“We have a reporter stationed to cover your office, to cover the UN; so we will like to have further conversations around some of these things, especially on sustainable development.
“In NAN, we are concerned, we are focused largely on developmental and solution journalism.
“By law, we are not allowed to report subjectively or inequitably; these are luxuries we cannot afford.
“Over the years, we have come to be trusted. We rely on that believability associated with us and it has become our selling point.
“We want you to actually know, unless you see it in NAN, it cannot be true.
“This is why, over time with pressure posed by social media to break the news, we do it the good old ways cross-check, cross-reference – before we publish.
“We may be slow but we are factual as opposed to the social media’s free-for-all.
“Our reporters are highly trained, our gatekeepers are equally experienced.
“Something we do periodically is to subject our gatekeepers, news points, editors, etc to refresh their courses, equip them with contemporary knowledge and technological skills.” (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Auwalu Birnin Kudu/Idris Abdulrahman
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