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04.08.2018 Education

GIJ Appeals For Infrastructural Development

By GNA
GIJ Appeals For Infrastructural Development
04.08.2018 LISTEN

The Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) has held its 12th congregation with a call on government and corporate bodies to assist in the completion of its new site and furnish it with a modern library facility.

The congregation, which was the first of its kind at the Institute's new site, saw 870 fresh communications professionals graduating from the Institute of which 602 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Communications and 268 graduated with Diploma in Communications.

Professor Kwesi Ansu-Kyeremeh, the Chairman of the Institute's Governing Council, who made the call noted that although GIJ attained a University status two years ago, 'no institution can call itself a University if it did not have a well-equipped library'.

He asked the government and corporate bodies to as a matter of urgency, assist in securing a modern well-furnished library and an administration block to complement the uncompleted structure at the Institute's new site.

He said, 'It may interest you to know that, our dear nation stands at a risky point in time to lose a huge chunk of history and heritage because there is no reliable comprehensive newspaper collection point'.

He said the Institute's research indicated that that there was no such facility in the country, not even in any of the news organisations who produce newspapers, that has a collection of newspaper overtime adding that 'we are actually ready with the design of the comprehensive national newspaper collection project for implementation'.

He called on the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who was guest speaker at the occasion, to assist the Institute to expedite action towards the completion of the facility at the new site.

The President Akufo-Addo in a response said the government had allocated GHC 5 million in the 2018 budget to assist the Institute towards infrastructural development at the new site adding that he was going to put in more effort to ensure that the funds were made available for the project.

While speaking on the theme: 'Strengthening Media Literacy and Communication Excellence in Ghana,' the President urged the fresh communication professionals to adhere to the ethics of the profession to ensure the country's development.

He congratulated the graduates for going through the courses saying, 'You deserve full credit for your perseverance and success,' urging them to guard against the risk of the journalism profession thus deliberate misinformation campaign and the risk of inadvertent misinformation.

The President urged the media fraternity to take a critical look at the power they wielded and the responsibility they owed society to ensure that they did not sacrifice integrity and the future of society for selfish gains.

Dr Modestus Fosu, the Acting Rector of the Institute urged the graduates to be the light of the world as mentioned in Matthew 5:14-16 of the scripture saying, 'go out there, shine and be a worthy ambassador of GIJ'.

He said in the era of fake news, it was important to access relevant, objective, constructive and trustworthy news for the good of society adding that, this type of information should come from professionals.

The Acting Rector noted that GIJ and other analogues institutions had the herculean task of equipping prospective journalists and communicators with requisite knowledge and skills of information gathering, production and dissemination.

He added that the above was why corporate bodies and government must team up with the Institute to provide infrastructure and faculty to facilitate the training of excellent professionals to address the existing challenges in the communication landscape.

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