Dabiri-Erewa tasks media practitioners on Islamic ethics

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa has urged Muslim media practitioners in Nigeria to carry out their duties with fear of Allah and always ensure a balanced reporting.Dabiri-Erewa gave the advice during the 10th yearly Ramadan lecture of Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN) in Abuja.

The SSA decried the high rate at which most journalists publish nowadays without cross checking their facts, thus ditching out falsehood to the public.
She said the colossal damage done to the subject matter with such un-investigated stories or news items would be too much to bear when compared with retraction of such story which had been used in the media.

She said that such unverified stories were ungodly and condemnable.Dabiri-Erewa therefore advised the media, especially those of them who were Muslims, to fear Allah in their reportage of events and make judicious use of Freedom of Information Act, which she was one of the proponents while at the House of Representatives as a lawmaker.

She stressed that Islam abhors terrorism at all times, and urged Muslim to take issue of education seriously, saying ignorance of the religion was the major cause of insurgency in the country.

The Chairman, MMPN, Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Balogun said the choice of the topic was to see how Muslim media men would work for the peace, unity and prosperity of the country.

The trio of Prof Ishaq Akintola of LASU, Hajia Aisha Umar-Yusuf, Editor, Muslim Worldview and Mr Cemal Yigit from Ufuk Foundation spoke on the theme: Peace as a Catalyst for Development: The Media Challenge’’ .