The Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Malam Ali M. Ali, says the agency has done well in the last eight months under his leadership.
Ali made this known during an interactive session with members of staff of the agency on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to him, there is need to look back and see how far the agency has gone under his eight-months-old leadership.
“AI has taken over journalism and NAN Management is not resting on its onus. It is conscious of technology driven strategies. That is why we always preach about working smart.
“Also, that is why we organised an editorial management retreat in Kaduna early this year. The retreat opened the eyes to issues like secondment, leave of absence and study leave.
“When we took charge eight months ago, we decided to take actions on the issue of secondment, because, it was negatively affecting the staff strength of editorial department,” he said.
Ali added: “We have also taken steps to expand the scope of the agency in form of restructure, so that members of staff can advance and reach the zenith of their career and become directors.
“Also, there has been a remarkable improvement in the editorial department. We now published good and quality stories.
“We are utilizing the scarce resources optimally. We have brought in work tools, furniture, paid data allowance to editors and controllers, and those that wrote features stories”.
The NAN boss further explained that working smarts requires data and the agency would continue to provide that within the limited resources.
“I can see efforts of rededication by staff members, including those in the multimedia unit. We took a small step, but a giant lift’’.
Ali said the agency has protected its sites and portal to ensure security in the cyber space.
He encouraged all reporters in the agencies to be innovative and bring in businesses into the agency to boost its revenue generation.
He also said some NAN offices were undergoing renovation and more would follow suit.
Regarding the social media, Ali said before the last eight months, NAN did not have a tiktok account, adding, “but today, the Agency’s social media handles are striving in the right direction.
“We have decided to bring back some policies to help staff members that are bereaved or getting married. We are trying to restructure the agency; it’s workin progress.
“We have also channeled our resources to green energy and that is why the newsroom has power 24/7. We have also entered into several partnerships for the good of the agency,” he said
Ali said that a power generating set, meant for the office of the MD, was deployed to service the Lagos office, adding that it was regrettable that the Lagos office lost over N20 million worth of cables to vandals.
He stressed that the agency is facing some challenges, adding that management will look into them.
He tasked the Lagos Directorate to leverage on the private capital in Lagos to rake in more revenue for the agency.
On capacity building, Ali said the agency is waiting for funds to ensure that it carries out series of trainings to build the capacity of members of staff.
“The last eight months has been an amazing job. I love this family. All of us have been supportive. We should give leadership. Our roles should not be personal, but rather, the job.
“Let us work together; I have seen great harmony, in spite of communication gap, let’s try to bridge the gap,’’ he added.
Meanwhile, the Director of Special Duties, Mr Mufutau Ojo called on Zonal Controllers to live up to their responsibility to improve productivity.
Also, the Head of Admin and Human Resource of the Agency, Malam Abdulhadi Kaliel, said he was confident that before the end of 2024, NAN would get the approval to restructure the agency.
Members of staff across the country commended Ali for the good initiative he has brought to the agency in the last eight months. (NAN)