Nation
NGE Confab: Nigerians Insist On Proactive Media
As the Nigerian Guild of Editors Conference opens Wednesday at the Convention Centre, Okpanam Road, Asaba, the Delta State capital, a cross section of Nigerians has criticized the Nigerian media for abandoning its watchdog function.
Those who spoke to The Tide in an interview yesterday, blamed the media for being part of the crisis in the country.
A Port Harcourt-based social commentator, Pius Dukor, said that the Nigerian media has abandoned its social responsibility role in pursuit of self interest.
“As far as I am concerned, the media is no more an agenda setter. They only tell the story of those who always invite and pay them. They are no longer interested in the affairs of the masses”, he said.
Dukor also stressed the need for Editors to use the forthcoming conference to re-examine the role of the media and what it has done so far in nurturing the nation’s emerging democracy.
A community leader and politician, Chief Sunnie Chukumele, described Editors as vital elements in the society but stressed that they can only be relevant in the face of the current challenges in the country, if they are politically neutral.
Chukumele said that Editors must be people who live above board by refusing to be influenced by anyone in the society.
“The media is a critical segment of the society. Those who are in this sector must be people of integrity, not allowing every little thing to sway them from the truth”, he said.
Another respondent, Prince Fyneface Amaechi, however, blamed the alleged rot in the media on the society.
He said that a society where materialism is the order of the day is bound to be influenced by the media, stressing that every sector of the Nigerian society must be completely re-examined to give way to new value systems.
Prince Amaechi, who is a factional president of the Rivers Youth Movement (RYM), however, commended the Nigerian media for their relentless effort to change the society, and called for improvement in the condition of service for journalists in the country.
Prince William Chinwo, in his view, commended the media for its consistency in the reportage of events despite the challenges, and also charged Editors to use the opportunity provided by the forum to canvass for constitutional recognition of the media as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, and should be so recognized by the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary as equal stakeholders in the society.
Meanwhile, economic experts, ministers, governors and top businessmen are billed to come up with viable suggestions on how the nation can be weaned from its age-long dependence on crude oil as the major source of its income when editors storm Asaba from August 21 to 24 for their 9th All Nigerian Editors Conference.
The theme of the four-day conference, which will be chaired by renowned veteran journalist and former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Segun Osoba, is, “Nigeria Beyond Oil: Role of the Editor’’.
Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is expected to set the tone of the conference in a keynote address.
Ministers listed to speak on key issues that are germane to the diversification of the economy are those of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, who will speak on “The Value Chain Roadmap’’; and Edem Duke,Tourism, “Oil Exhaustible, Tourism Inexhaustible”.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer,Access Bank; Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and Special Adviser to the President on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Sylvester Monye, will deliver papers on “Financial Institutions In a Non-Oil Economy’’, and‘’Opportunities in Non-Oil Nigeria’’, respectively.
Moderators at the high-wire event include top-notch Nigerians, such as the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Eugene Juwah; and a former Editor of the DailyTimes, NDDC chief and former governorship candidate on the ticket of the PDP in
Abia State, Mr. Onyema Ugochukwu.
Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, will be in his elements when he mounts the rostrum to speak as the Special Guest while the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, who is special guest of honour, is expected to provide some food for thought in his remarks.
Apart from the host Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who will deliver the welcome address, other state governors from the northern and southern parts of the country will be on hand to offer their views on the path the nation should tread in order to shed its prolonged dependence on oil.
Cognisant of the fact that retirement is inevitable after a successful career as a journalist/editor, the guild set aside the last day of the conference for the expected 300 editors to brainstorm on “Life After
The Chair: The Editors’ Colloquium’’, a session to be facilitated by Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Daily Trust, Kabiru Yusuf, and chaired by Mr Ted Iwere, another notable journalist.
There will also be an investiture of new fellows and induction of new members of the Guild at a Gala Night to be organized by the Delta State Government to round off the event.
The Chairman of Malumfashi Local Government Council of Katsina State, Maharazu Dayi, has been impeached.
Maharazu Dayi was impeached yesterday by 11 out of 12 councillors, barely two days before the local government elections in the State.
The councillors reportedly took action following allegations of misconduct and poor governance against the chairman after a dispute over the distribution of the council’s Paris Club funds.
The development has sent shock waves across the local government area, especially as the impeached chairman is among those who failed to secure the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest in the forthcoming election.
The Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association, Mile 1, Port Harcourt, has urged the state government to utilise the available spaces within the area to build phase 3 of the Rumuwoji Market in order to solve the ever increasing needs of traders.
The association, which said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, also described as a welcomed development the decision by the state Governor to open the phase 2 of the market for business.
According to the association, “We consider it as an answer to the various cries of the people, because he is a man on a mission who is out to place the interest of Rivers people first. It is a dream come true for the first time for the market to be dully allocated and open for business”
Chairman of the association, Hon Godspower Wobo, who briefed the press shortly after a meeting of the association in Port Harcourt, also urged the public to disregard the activities of some persons whose stock in trade is to cause disaffection in the market.
He said the attention of the association was drawn to the activities of some strange fellows who went about misforming the people about situation in the market, stressing that apart from his association, no other group exists in the market except subdiary unions.
Wobo also tasked the reallocation committee to tread with caution so as to avoid being deceived by any group.
According to him, time has come for the state government to engage in robust discussion with aggrieved shop owners who went to court and those who paid monies to the state coffers and issued with allocation certificates for the overall interest of peace.
He also advised the public to deal directly with his association, stressing that the meeting was to review activities for the last year as well as unveil their new Constitution.
Also speaking, former Chairman of the association, Deacon Kenneth Eze urged the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara to open the phase 2 of the market, as it is long overdue.
Eze who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association also urged the public to do business with only the Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association as it is the only union recognised by the traders.
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has debunked reports linking him with the race for Nigeria’s presidency in 2027.
Reacting to the report on his X handle yesterday, following a recent interview with Arise TV, the AfDB boss said his quotes were misrepresented and misinterpreted in several Nigerian media reports.
However, the AfDB president denied the media reports, stating that he never said that he wanted to contest for President.
“A segment of my recent interview on @Arise TV has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets. What I said was, “I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.”
“A listen to the substantive and robust interview, which is available online, will show this to be the case. For clarity and for the record, I did not say that I am running for the office of President of Nigeria,” Adesina said.