Malam Habib Jato, the Chief Executive Officer and Director, National Library of Nigeria, has urged media practitioners to sustain professional ethics, to engender societal reform.
A statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by Mr Musa Saleh, the spokesman of the organisation, said that Jato gave the advice at the 7th Northern Zonal Book Fair held recently in Kano.
He said that the media could be used to destroy a nation, if the opposition got the opportunity to use it as a propaganda weapon.
Conversely, he said It could also be used to develop a nation, if the media applied professional ethics.
“The media can be used to destroy or develop a nation; it all depends on how it is being utilised.”
He said that without a vibrant media, no nation could attain the desired level of development.
Jato, therefore, advised media practitioners to also enlighten the public on the importance of reading and research.
He urged authors and publishers to intensify efforts at publishing and distributing books to the general public, adding that such books should be made affordable and accessible.
In his remarks, the Coordinator, Northern Zonal Book Fair Trust, Malam Sanusi Nasarawa, blamed under development in societies to the lack of a reading culture.
Nasarawa said that Nigerians must be enlightened and encouraged to imbibe the reading culture, in order to bring about development to the nation.
The theme of the fair held at the North West University City Campus, Kano, was “The Role of Media in Book Development.’’
