NIGERIAN Journalists have pointed at the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) as public institutions whose spokespersons they have had the worst experiences with .
This indication emerged in a poll conducted in October by The ICIR,in which journalists from various newsrooms were asked to disclose the government Public Relations Officers (PROs) with whom they have had their best and worst experiences.
They were also asked to rate their overall experience with the spokespersons and state what common problems they encounter in interacting with them.
The newspaper received a total of 32 responses from journalists across 12 media organisations including BBC Igbo Service, Business Day, Daily Post, Daily Trust, Legit, Nigeria Info, Premium Times, Punch, Sahara Reporters, TheCable, and The Nation. Two freelance journalists also filled the survey.
Their roles range from reporters to content producers, photo-journalists, data analysts, senior investigative reporters, and editors.
Police, Army ranked worst by most
While some spokespersons and MDAs were mentioned only once in the “worst experience” field, there are those whose names came up multiple times. Topping the list is the Nigeria Police with nine mentions.
Two of the nine journalists specifically wrote the name of Jimoh Moshood, former Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) and another two submitted the name of Frank Mba, the current PPRO.
Two other respondents included Bala Elkana, PPRO of the Lagos Police Command, while the names of Anjuguri Manzah, the FCT PPRO, and Olugbenga Fadeyi, Police PRO of Oyo State Command appeared once.
Following closely is the Nigerian Army with five mentions. Two of the five journalists wrote Sagir Usman, the Director of Army Public Relations appointed in February 2019 and a third journalist said he has had an awful experience both with Usman and his predecessor, Sani Usman.
“I could write their names a million times,” the respondent stated for emphasis.
Then there is NAFDAC, a Federal Government regulatory agency, having the third-highest number of mentions, three. Two respondents mentioned the agency’s national PRO (Jimoh Abubakar) while a third respondent filled in the name of the Lagos office’s spokesperson, “Christians Obiazikor”.
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