Imported User:
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and the German Press Agency(dpa) on Wednesday in Abuja signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost the capacity of both agencies.
Mrs Oluremi Oyo, the Managing Director of NAN, said at the signing ceremony, that the MoU would enhance the capacity of NAN to meet the yearnings of its more than 240 subscribers.
According to Oyo, the Nigerian nation deserves to know what is happening in the Republic of Germany and wherever dpa correspondents are.
She said that NAN had wide reach and guaranteed fair coverage of all events without bias to nationality or race.
``We also respect and propagate all that is good in humanity; it doesn’t matter whether you are a Nigerian or an Africa or European; it interests us as a people and as the News Agency of Nigeria.
``We believe that signing of this agreement will also help to boost our capacity because you have a longer history in news agency journalism than we do.
``We believe that we will be learning from this; we as a management are always interested in capacity building for our people and it is in this light that we see today’s small but important ceremony as a way of assuring that our people will continue to be trained.
``I want you to see us as your partner; and I hope that this agreement will help in a small way to building a stronger relationship between our two countries. ’’
Responding, Mr Laszlo Trankovits, the Bureau Chief of dpa, said the agency had not given Africa adequate coverage, a situation it intended to correct.
He said that Nigeria was a strategic partner based on its huge population, adding that the agreement would boost cooperation between Nigeria and Germany.
``We did not pay enough attention to Africa especially to Nigeria and this we want to correct; we are aware of the importance of Nigeria as the most populous country in Africa.
``We want to intensify the cooperation and coverage of this country; we boost our cooperation and relationship with Nigeria.
``This is a good step and I hope there will be better steps ahead; we are taking it seriously. ’’
The event was witnessed by Mr Dipo Ogbede, Executive Director, Editorial Operation of NAN, and Dr Burkard Weth and Mr Matthias Veltin of the German embassy. (NAN)
