NAN seeks cooperation with Egyptian news agency to foster good governance

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The Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Buki Ponle, has sought a partnership with the Middle East News Agency (MENA) for news exchange to foster good governance.

Ponle who spoke while receiving the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Assem Elseify said that through such exchanges, good governance can be enshrined and challenges like poverty and terrorism could be surmounted.

He said that Africa had come of age and that the time was ripe for the continent to speak with one voice through her news agencies.

He noted that Nigeria and Egypt shared many things in common and as such could explore many more areas of collaboration beyond trade.

“We share many things in common, in terms of population, culture and even terrorism which I could feel when I was in Cairo in 1994. Africa has come of age and we have to speak with one voice.

“One area is to have synergy among our news agencies. We want to reach out to news agencies across the world especially the one in Egypt, to be a voice not an echo.

“We have to speak with a collective voice because nobody will do it for us if we do not do it for ourselves.

“Even if you are going, you would still facilitate our partnership with news agencies in Egypt in terms of news exchange, so that we can promote the good values of our countries.

“We have many things to share in common and we can do it perfectly well with informed dissemination.

“We can thus promote good governance that can enhance the living standards of our people, that will move us out of poverty,” he said.

Speaking about the operations of the agency, he recalled that NAN had an office in Cairo which had to be shut due to paucity of funds.

He however noted that the agency was already considering the reopening of some of these foreign offices.

In his remarks, the Ambassador said that he totally concurred with the position of Ponle, saying that he will start off the process of partnership.

He said he was ready for any ideas and to facilitate exchanges with news agencies in Cairo.

He added that the challenges faced by both countries could actually be surmounted with such collaborations. (NAN)

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