Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Ahmed Kuru has said that the quest to deepen financial inclusion in the country may not materialize if financial journalists are not properly trained to understand the concept.
Kuru who was speaking at the Financial Journalists’ and Banks’ Communications Managers’ Parley, organized by Centre for Financial Journalism (CFJ) in Lagos at the weekend, said while it is pertinent to call on financial journalists to be at the forefront of the campaign for financial inclusion the journalist needs the requisite knowledge to enlighten the public.
Represented at the event by Prisca Ndu, a senior management staff at AMCON, the AMCON boss said: “It means that the ideal Financial Journalist must have full grasp of Financial Inclusion in its entirety to be able to explain it to the public. Therefore media houses and media owners must as a matter of priority send their financial reporters on training and retraining programmes to equip them to deliver on their jobs.
“For me, I think that Journalists should be among some of the highest paid professionals because of the importance of the media in nation building. In developed countries, journalists are well paid and well respected but what do we have in Nigeria – we have a situation where media houses owe salaries, which jeopardizes the standards of media profession.
“The society expects a lot from the Financial Journalist that is grappling with all sorts of challenges including simple things like the inability to receive his salary at the end of the month. That is absurd to say the least.”
He said financial journalists and banks’ communications managers must lead the pack in creating the awareness for Financial Inclusion and sustaining same.