17th NSF: LOC Pledges Synergy With Local Media

The Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 17th National Sports Festival tagged Garden City Games 2011, which kicked off on Monday, June 27, in Port Harcourt, says it is partnering with media organisations in Rivers State in a bid to ensure effective media coverage for the event.

Chairman of the LOC and Vice Chairman of the Main Organising Committee (MOC), Engr. Tele Ikuru, gave this hint yesterday during a meeting with publishers and representatives of media organisations based in the State at the premises of The Tide Newspapers.Engr. Ikuru, who is also the State Deputy Governor, noted that the input of the local media was critical to the successful hosting of the festival, urging them to give full publicity to the event as key stakeholders, assuring that their support would be reciprocated.

“This is your games, this is your festival; take and market it to the world,” he challenged them, stressing that everything had been put in place to ensure the success of the games, adding that “it will take 30 years for any other State to replicate the quality and standard we’re setting with this event”.

In his remarks, Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Rivers State Council, Mr. Opaka Dokubo, who was accompanied by his vice, Mr. Baridon Sika, thanked the LOC Chairman for the meeting, assuring that the media would give adequate support to the festival, lamenting the ordeal journalists in the State were exposed to in the course of doing their jobs.

He expressed the hope that the synergy between the government and the media would be sustained in the interest of the larger society, calling on his colleagues to discharge their duties with the highest ethical standards.

The meeting was attended by the Publisher of the Envoy Newspaper, Mr. Eddy Williams, and representatives of over 30 independent newspaper publishers currently operating in the State.