Why Okonjo-Iweala Lost -Bobo Brown

Former National President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR),Amaopu Senibo Bobo Sofiri Brown has blamed the lost of the World Bank presidency by Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Nigeria’s weak international asset base.

Speaking at the 5th Triennial Delegate Conference of the Rivers State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), yesterday in Port Harcourt, Brown said that Nigeria has nothing or little to offer in the international area in terms of its asset based.

Dissecting the Nigerian economy further, the veteran journalist who spoke on the topic ‘New Journalism in a market Democracy” said that the last ten years has witnessed the highest level of poverty in the country, despite the fact that Nigeria generated more than N34 trillion within the period.

He also said that market democracy is the modern concept the world over as the global community is desirous of seeing improvement in the quality of lives of people especially in the developing countries including Nigeria.

Brown, a former chairman of Rivers NUJ, also stressed the need for journalists to consistently remind those in authority of their promise while at the same time serving as the corporate memory of the society.

“We must serve as the collection point of a view that will serve as an alternative process”, he said.

He harped on the need for states in the Niger Delta to work together to build their own refineries.

Meanwhile, a former gubernatorial candidate on the platform of the  Action Congress in the 2007 election, Prince Tonye Princewill has charged journalists to show an exemplary behaviour in the conduct of their duties.

In his presentation at the Triennial Delegate Conference, Princewill who was represented by Barrister Solabo West said that journalists must adhere to due process in the conduct of the affairs.

He announced a N2.5million donation to the new Rivers NUJ Executive and N500,000 for the procurement of equipment to assist the business centre of the correspondents’ chapel.