By Abubakar Yunusa
The director general of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, Lanre Issa-Onilu, has commended DAILY NIGERIAN for its recent undercover report, which exposed how fake degrees certificates are sold to willing buyers from mushroom universities in Benin and Togo Republics within a short period.
In a letter of commendation dated January 3 and addressed to the editor of DAILY NIGERIAN Ibrahim Ramalan, Mr Issa-Onilu described the undercover report by Umar Audu as “a shining example of first-class journalism for national development”.
The letter reads: “I write to sincerely commend your news organisation, DAILY NIGERIAN, and particularly Mr. Umar Audu, for the outstanding investigative report on fake University degrees/certificates procurement at the Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, Cotonou, Republic of Benin.
“The report published on the December 30, 2023, edition of the DAILY NIGERIAN is a shining example of first-class journalism for national development.
“We at the NOA find this very laudable, especially as this reminds the nation’s media organisations of their avowed agenda-setting roles for development rather than adversarial journalism.
“In commending your patriotic and professional efforts, we urge the media practitioners to be mindful of their roles of fairness, objectivity, and balanced reporting to strengthen national cohesion and security.
Mr Issa-Onilu, therefore, reiterated the need for journalists to be diligent and nationalistic in discharging their duties.
“This quintessential journalism of the Daily Nigerian should serve as a benchmark to the media industry as partners in nation-building.
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