Minister for Information and Culture Lai Muhammed has expressed fears of the media being used as a vehicle for disintegration rather than unity.

The minister was worried that the items of disunity, disintegration and hate speeches has continued to dominate broadcast contents.

According to him, there has been a steady loss of focus in the broadcast industry, from its primary responsibility of fostering unity among citizenry and creating peaceful co-existence, to focusing on programs that promote mutual hatred among citizens.

The minister spoke yesterday at a one-day summit organised by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), themed: “Broadcast Content Development and Peaceful Coexistence”, held at Silk Suite, Rayfield Jos, the Plateau State capital.

Muhammed, who was represented by State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Bulus Dabit, said: “Broadcast content in our radios and television is like food we take daily, they are good for nourishing the body, but not all foods are good for the body and soul.

“If we must eat broadcast items like food, we must eat the healthy ones that nourish the body and soul, not the ones that put us in critical conditions of health.

“Again, Nigerians crave for information like they crave for love, and there is need to feed them with news contents that will promote love. But unfortunately, the news contents from our radios and televisions in recent times are not healthy for citizens because they are not healthy for our unity and peaceful co-existence as people of one nation and one destiny.”

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Minister: Media must avoid divisive contents