Zamfara Gov’t Bans Appointees, Civil Servants From Speaking To Journalists

The Zamfara State government has banned all political office-holders, and heads of agencies from conducting any interview, issuing statements, or airing programmes on radio, television and social media without seeking permission from the authority.

The government also warned media organisations based in the state, to desist from conducting or airing any radio or television programme without the approval of the Ministry of Information.

In a statement on Friday, the State’s Commissioner of information, Mannir Haidara, said the information ministry was highly committed to observing and monitoring all radio stations for compliance.

The statement read: “The Zamfara State government has observed with dismay the attitudes of some individuals, political groups and heads of MDAs towards conducting radio, television stations and social media platforms interviews and programmes on state government’s policies and programmes without following the right channels.

“In an effort to checkmate the unwanted behaviour, the Zamfara State Ministry of Information and Culture hereby announce that henceforth no political office holder, group or head of any agency is allowed to conduct any interview, issue statement or air a programme on radio, television stations or social media without seeking a permission from the authority.”

“Moreover, the Ministry of Information and Culture is hereby calling on the media organisations based in the state to desist from conducting or airing any radio or television programmes on government’s policies for any individuals or group of people without the approval of the supervising Ministry or the Ministry of Information.

“The information ministry is highly committed to observing and monitoring the radio stations for compliance and ensuring that all information passed to the general public on government and its policies are true and properly disseminated.”