The Enugu State House of Assembly Committee Chairman, on Information, Mr. Geoffrey Mba, has called for the revival of town criers in rural areas to educate the people on the activities of government.
Mba made the call in Enugu on Wednesday when he visited the Ministry of Information on oversight function.
He said that people in rural areas were unaware of some policies and programmes of government beneficial to them.
“It is unfortunate that many rural dwellers are not aware of government programmes that benefit them; they rely on second hand information which are most times not favourable to them,’’ he said.
Mba advised the ministry to make it a priority to educate the 474 communities in the state on government’s activities and programmes.
He said that the visit was to rob minds with officials on the challenges facing the ministry and the way forward.
Responding, the new Commissioner for Information, Mr Chidi Aroh, promised to do his best to reposition the ministry.
Aroh said that Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi had pledged to support the ministry’s programmes for effective service delivery.
The commissioner said that the ministry had raised executive memo to the government for the establishment of Enugu State Archive.
He said that a state like Enugu should have an archive where its history commencing from the period of colonial rule till date was preserved.
He expressed regret that the government printing press which was expected to generate revenue for the state had only 42 staff receiving salaries without doing anything.
The commissioner said the government spent over N300 million in printing various documents annually.
He insisted that if the printing press was revived, it would save the government funds spent on printing.
Aroh vowed to make Enugu State Broadcasting Service a television of choice and stressed the need to introduce Igbo programmes on the station to inform and educate the masses. (NAN)