By ‘Wale Sadeeq
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) is fine-tuning a partnership arrangement with a Russia-based media organisation, TV BRICS International Media Network,
on news, cultural exchange and manpower training and development.
The arrangement followed a zoom meeting between the Managing Director of NAN, Malam Ali M. Ali and a delegation of TV BRICS, led by Evguniya Tolstoguzova, the Head of East Asia and Africa Development, International Cooperation Division on Tuesday.
NAN reports that TV BRICS International Media Network was established in 2017 on the initiative of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, arising from the BRICS summit held in Xiamen, China.
The media organisation serves as practical realisation of the initiative endorsed by leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), highlighting the importance of media cooperation and exploring the potential for a joint BRICS channel to disseminate objective information about the group’s activities.
It is saddled with the responsibility of strengthening cooperation among member countries and disseminating objective information on humanitarian and economic activities of member-states and partners.
The NAN managing director, therefore, told the TV BRICS team during the zoom meeting, that the partnership had become imperative in view of recent admission of Nigeria as partner country of the BRICS of developing economies.
NAN reports that the admission has made Nigeria the ninth partner country of the group, joining Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan.
Ali, who welcomed the partnership idea, added that “NAN has the size, the reach and the necessary manpower for a mutually-beneficial relationship with the Russia-based media organisation.
“NAN is the biggest news content provider on the continent of Africa, with offices in New York, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Addis Ababa and Ethiopia.
“We used to have an office in Moscow, which was established in 1976 when the News Agency of Nigeria was created, while we are working on the possibility of opening offices in Mexico and Brazil, if government approves.
“We also have more than 400 reporters reporting Nigeria to Nigerians and reporting Nigeria to Africans and to the rest of the world.
“We have our news contents on virtually all social media platforms such as YouTube, Tik-Tok, Instagram and X, while people subscribe to us to get the news which they cannot ordinarily get because we have offices in all the states in Nigeria.”
The managing director also said that NAN had already started a Hausa language service, noting that “Hausa is spoken by no fewer than 250 million people across Africa”, adding that other local languages like Yoruba and Igbo would soon follow.
Ali, who was joined in the zoom meeting by the Head of NAN Newsroom, Hajiya Hadiza Aliyu, and the Head of Politics Desk, Dr ‘Wale Sadeeq, said that with the partnership arrangement, the world would definitely be a better place to live.
In her own submission, Tolstoguzova said TV BRICS was excited to go into partnership with NAN, adding that the arrangement would cover areas like health, environment and cultural issues.
The BRICS head of East Asia and Africa Development also said there would be opportunities for manpower training and development and other technical supports, while news contents and documentaries would also be shared between the two media organisations.
NAN reports that the two organisations agreed to fashion out a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will spell out specific areas of partnership and mutual benefits. (NAN)
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