Dabiri-Erewa Rejects Call For Apology, Urges Veterans To Restore Journalism Standards
ABUJA — The Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has firmly rejected a demand for an apology from a writer, Mr. Livinus Chibuike Victor, describing the call as “totally misplaced and utterly irrelevant.”
Instead, the NIDCOM boss urged Victor and other industry veterans to redirect their energy toward addressing the glaring erosion of professional and ethical standards plaguing Nigerian journalism today.
In an official statement released on Thursday by NIDCOM’s Director of Media, Public Relations and Protocols, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Dabiri-Erewa acknowledged the writer’s concerns regarding the structural challenges facing the media.
However, she made it clear that “seeking for an apology that he will never get” would not solve the root problem.
Recalling her legislative tenure between 2003 and 2015 as Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media, Dabiri-Erewa noted that she had anticipated these challenges over a decade ago.
In 2010, she championed the Journalism Enhancement Bill, which sought to establish mandatory training and certification standards for journalists—similar to the regulations governing medicine, law, and accountancy.
According to the statement, that legislative effort was fiercely resisted by the very individuals who should have supported it, a failure she believes paved the way for the open-door practice where untrained individuals can easily lay claim to the profession.
Expressing her deep personal ties to the media, Dabiri-Erewa credited the Mass Communication Department at the University of Lagos for her professional upbringing, stating she would gladly collaborate with veterans willing to confront the industry’s current issues.
She concluded with a strong appeal to key media regulatory and professional bodies—including the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)—urging them to step up and prevent the esteemed profession from being further denigrated.
