Zamfara stops appointees, civil servants from granting media interviews without approval

The Zamfara government has asked political officeholders and civil servants in the state to stop granting media interviews without seeking approval from the appropriate authorities.

In a statement on Friday, Munir Haidara, commissioner for information and culture in Zamfara, said some political appointees and civil servants have been engaging the media without following the right procedures.

“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 interview and programmes on state government policies and programmes without following the right channels,” the statement reads.

“In an effort to checkmate the unwanted behaviour, the Zamfara state ministry of information and culture is hereby announce that, henceforth no political office holders, groups or heads of any agencies is allowed to conduct any interview, issues statement or air a programme on radio, television stations or social media without seeking a permission from the authority.”

The commissioner asked all media organisations operating in the state to stop featuring civil servants in their programmes without approval from the ministry of information.

“Moreover, the ministry of information and culture therefore is hereby calling on the media organisations based in the state to desist from conducting or airing any radio or television programmes on government policies for any individuals or group of people without the approval of the supervising ministry or the ministry of Information who is the custodian of all information monitoring and activities in the state,” he added.

“This is for general public information and concerned organisations as the information ministry is highly committed to observing  the radio station for compliance and ensuring that all Information passed to the general public on government and its policies are true and properly disseminated.”

Reacting to the reports claiming the government has banned all forms of media interviews for civil servants, the commissioner said “it was not a ban”.

He said the need to seek government approval before media interviews are conducted for politicians and civil servants is for security reasons.

“It’s not banning, what we said is that before anybody either politicians or civil servants grant an interview, they have to seek permission from the ministry of information,” he told TheCable.

“Also, it is to advise them on the rules and regulations for security purposes.”