Federal
Government allocates N300m to oppose what they described as “negative
publicity” on Nigeria in foreign media, as the country is currently
facing the peak of the insecurity crisis in the three troubled
North-Eastern states.
This
has been confirmed by the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on
March 4, 2014, Tuesday. The minister noted that the high allocation for
external publicity was to allow FG “respond to some negative publicity
about the country in foreign media”.
Maku
lamented his ministry’s inability to secure sufficient funding from
government in 2013, but said he had worked hard regardless to
successfully implement three programmes, namely, Ministerial Platform,
Good Governance Tour and educating Nigerians on the insurgency by Boko
Haram.
He
further noted that the total budget proposal of the ministry and its
various parastatal agencies in 2014 is N26.57 billion. He said while
N5.2 billion was proposed in 2013, only N2.9 billion was actually
released for expenditure.
According to the 2014 national budget, the sum of N300m will be spent on “External
publicity /media insertions in foreign media: print media, electronic
media, media forum in selected cities abroad, engagement with foreign
news agencies, production of specialized publicity materials for
external audience”.
Nigeria
is facing one of its most damaging international news coverage
currently with a harsh media spotlight on the massacre by the extremist
Boko Haram sec
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