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.