President Muhammadu Buhari has appreciated the confidence reposed in him by Nigerians from different walks of life, vowing “I won’t disappoint”.

The President spoke on Thursday at State House, Abuja, as he was decorated Grand Patron of the Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA) by the Board of Trustees of the prime media awards organisation in the country.

He described the investiture as “a timely honour”, adding that he had known a good number of the members of the NMMA board “since the time I didn’t even know I would be here”.

Former Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority, Mr Vincent Maduka, who led the delegation, said Buhari was qualified to be grand patron “because you respect the rights of the media to practice, without any hindrance”.

He noted that under Buhari, no media house had been shut, and the first ever campus television license was awarded to the University of Lagos, under the chairmanship of veteran Mass Communication teacher, Prof. Ralph Akinfeleye.

Maduka explained that the NMMA was established in 1990, to promote excellence in Nigerian media, and has hosted 26 grand award presentations, with the latest that held just a week ago.

He added that part of the goals of NMMA was the promotion of professionalism, patriotism and unity of the country.