The minister of sports development, Senator John Owan Eno, has appealed to the members of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) to report him objectively instead of sensational reportage.
He made the appeal when the SWAN president, Mr. Isaiah Kemje Benjamin, along with some members of his national executive committee and others paid him a courtesy visit in his office at the Moshood Abiola National stadium Abuja, yesterday.
The minister said sports is one of the few sectors that has dedicated journalists concerned about its development and urged the members of the association against being sensational in their reportage.
The former lawmaker admitted that for any minister in charge of the Sports Ministry to succeed, he or she must engage the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria.
“The sports sector is one of the sectors that has dedicated journalists concerned about its development.
“The beginning step of anyone who would be minister is this kind of engagement with SWAN and I thank you for that.
“I thank you for your commitment to work together with us, it matters a lot to me, especially given what I came to hear about this ministry and what the media can do to anyone sitting in this chair, it shows the importance of SWAN.
“Your request that you want to be part of what I am doing, not to be told what I have done, I’ll take that seriously because I used to be a good student and I do listen very well. I’ll take that as gospel and I’d do all I can to make sure that I didn’t go wrong.
“But sometimes, the problem may come from you because some of you are very sensational in your reports. It was for the sake of sensationalism that the first report about me was about the appointment of a farmer as sports minister. In that same profile, whoever saw it, you also saw a politician and philanthropist. If he wanted to be kind to me, he would have said a philanthropist was appointed as minister of sports.
“I would like to urge you to urge your members to report me positively. Be objective as you can, not causing a crisis by being sensational. Thank you,” Enoh warned.
Senator Enoh added that he won’t deliberately do anything wrong in the course of discharging his duty. “But I am just human like every other being. I am not the Pope who doesn’t do wrong. I will be mindful about doing the right things.”
Earlier. SWAN President, Mr. Isaiah Kemje Benjamin, said that the visit was targeted at pleading support to the minister in his quest to take sports to greater heights.
“As partners in progress, we are available to ensure you succeed. It’s our job to promote both the athletes and administrators.
“Sports is a media event, if your achievements are not showcased to the world, not much will be achieved. We will tell the story better to the outside world, because that is our commitment,” he said.
