Lawmaker Wants Revival Of Town Criers

Chairman, Committee on Information, Enugu State House of Assembly, Paul Nnajiofor,has called for the revival of town criers in rural areas to educate the people on the activities of government.
He made the call last Tuesday in Enugu 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.
Nnajiofor 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 of Information, Mr Ogbuagu Anikwe, promised to do his best to reposition the ministry.
He said that Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi had pledged to support the ministry’s programmes for effective service delivery.
Anikwe said that last week, the ministry 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 is preserved.
He expressed regret that the government printing press which is 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 is revived, it would save the government funds spent on printing.
Anikwe 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.