The Gombe monarch gave the charge while receiving the Chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), Mallam Abubakar Jijiwa, who paid him a courtesy visit in his palace. According to the monarch, people rely so much on radio and television for information , therefore the two media channels cannot afford to disappoint.
Praising BON for harmonising the activities of radio and television stations in the country, the Emir asked the BON chairman to air more enlightenment programmes on the digitisation deadline before the switch over in order not to take anyone unawares.
The BON chairman who was in Gombe to commiserate with the Emir over the death of his father, commended the Emir for maintaining peace in his domain.
“We decided at our last meeting that we must meet in the North-East sub region. We decided also that the best place that will give everybody comfort in the region is Gombe and we have just achieved that. Therefore, I want to congratulate your majesty for maintaining peace, for keeping your state and your emirate very peaceful for us to come and have our meeting in such a very peaceful atmosphere,” he said.
He also expressed gratitude to the Gombe State Government for successfully hosting the meeting of heads of broadcast stations from across Nigeria, as he unfolded the gains of the meeting.
“The meeting was very successful because of the very good environment provided by the state government. We just issued our communiqué; BON wants to see how we can use radio and television to improve unity, understanding, peaceful coexistence and tolerance among the people of Nigeria.
“We as well want to use radio and television to encourage healthy competition among political parties in the next general elections. Furthermore, we want to use that to encourage and promote good healthy practices among the people, to stop the spread of the Ebola virus. We are all going back to our various stations with an action plan on all these.” Jijiwa stated
He also praised the Gombe State Government for doing so well in piloting the affairs of the state especially in the area of human development.
