C’River To Host 42nd NCI Meeting, NAFEST

Cross River will host the 42nd meeting of the National Council on Information (NCI), the Chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC), Mr Patrick Ugbe said.

The meeting is the highest decision making organ on matters relating to information in the country and it is held once a year.

This year’s meeting, tagged “CROSS RIVER 2011” which was earlier postponed, opened yesterday  at the Transcorp Metropolitan Hotel,  Calabar.

Ugbe stated this in a statement made available to newsmen last  Saturday in Calabar.

He said members of the various sub-committees had been mandated to ensure a successful hosting of the event.

He said Mr Labaran Maku, the Minister of Information and Alhaji Shamsudeen Usman his counterpart in National Planning, as well as Commissioners for Information in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would attend the meeting.

Ugbe said Chief Executive Officers of media outfits in the country are also expected to be in Calabar for the three-day council meeting.

He said the meeting would be preceded by a two-day retreat to be organised by the National Planning Commission for information managers in the country.

The LOC chairman said the retreat with the theme, “Vision 20:2020: Sharing in the Experience’’ would be held at the state Library Complex, Calabar.

Ugbe, who is the Cross River  State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, said the programme of events released by the Federal Ministry of Information, Abuja, showed October 25 as date for arrival of delegates.

“Wednesday, October 26 is the first technical session for Permanent Secretaries, State Directors of Information, Heads of Parastatals under the information sector and Chief Executives of private media organisations, October 27th  and October  28th are set aside for the retreat.

‘The meeting will be rounded off with a Banquet/Dinner to be hosted by the Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke at the Kolanut Conference Centre, Barracks Road, Calabar on October 29,’’ the statement added.

The commissioner said the state would also next week host the 2011 National Festival of Arts and Culture.

“We will also host the Nigerian Air force Games that is bringing in over 1,000 participants drawn from the five Air force Commands in the country,’’ Ugbe said.