Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II has tasked journalists to abide by ethics of the profession and desist from portraying N‎igeria negatively to the world.

According to him, contemporary journalism has resulted to yellow journalism which was very bad to the development of this country.

Sanusi saidthat journalists must desist from publishing or reporting anything that would paint the country black globally.

The Emir spoke on Thursday in Kano at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop for media practitioners organised by Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (KRPC).

The Emir, represented by Turakin Kano and the District Head of Dala, Abdullahi Lamido Sanusi, said that negative reportage would do the country no good.

He said: “We must desist from yellow journalism, which is now the trend in the country.

“Most of our reportage today is about portraying the country negatively instead ‎of positively. We are not doing the country any good.

“We are not supposed to publish everything that will portray our nation bad because whatever we publish is respected by the public.

“We should try not to cause chaos but peace in the country. We are aware that the government is trying to fix some of the crisis in the country and it’s not easy doing that particularly in the oil and gas industry which is the backbone o‎f our nation's economy.

“We should soften things. So, what is bordering me is how we are portraying the country bad which you hardly find in other part of the world.

“We must learn to report positively that is the kind of journalism we want to see in this country.”

This year’s theme of the workshop with 27 journalists in attendance is “Towards Enlightenment Reportage of the Oil and Gas Industry”.

Earlier Adewale Ladenegan, Managing Director of KRPC, had said that the role of the media in the development of this country could not be over-emphasised.

He said it was in tandem with that that KRPC management resolved to ensure that media practitioners had the required knowledge and capacity to effectively report the oil and Gas industry.

He explained further tha,t in the first half of 2017, KRPC produced and delivered to Nigerians 236.48 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

“87 million litres of household kerosene, 197.51 million litres of automotive gas oil‎ and 66.39 million litres of low pour point fuel oil.

“The crude distillation uwas streamed on December 4, 2017 and is still in operation. Likewise, the Naptha Hydro Treating unit, which was also re-streamed on the same day.

“The re-streaming of the plant could not have come at a better time considering the recent scarcity of the petroleum products in parts of the country.

“Within this shot period of operation, KRPC has been able to release 16.1 million litres of PMS which is over 480 trucks and counting) into the market thereby cushioning the effect of the scarcity in especially the northern states and Abuja,” he said.

He also added that about 8.7 million litres of kerosene and about 8 million litres of AGO has been produced since then.

The Managing Director, represented by the Executive Director Services, Abdullahi Idris said the company had cordial relationship with its host communities.

“‎We have been involved in so many community projects to support the people in the communities. Such projects included immunisation and vaccination against deadly diseases, construction of boreholes, provision of classroom furniture, security sensitisation programmes, etc.

“We have so far trained and empowered 975 youths from various communities since inception 2008 to 2017 KRPC has a robust community relations practice,” he said.

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