Posted by By AZUH AMATUS on
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), was among eminent Nigerians that hailed and poured encomiums on the nation's vibrant and fearless media for their untiring efforts in helping to sustain democracy and good governance.
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), was among eminent Nigerians that hailed and poured encomiums on the nation's vibrant and fearless media for their untiring efforts in helping to sustain democracy and good governance.
Fashola, who delivered the keynote address at the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) biennial congress 2008, which held at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos on Monday, also thanked and praised the leadership of the guIld, for being focussed and dedicated .
In his thought provoking address, entitled: 'Business is the business of the media," Fashola, who was swathed in a black Safari suit, argued that government must recognize the importance of the media, in order to achieve a sustainable national development.
He also called on the media, especially owners and their gate keepers to be more cautioUs in their reportage of core national issues, adding that the outside world judges Nigeria based on what the media report.
'The Nigerian media must continue to give hope and not to diminish hope in the populace," he admonished
The governor, while speaking on the dangers of unwholesome media reports and its effects on the nation's nascent democracy, gave a graphic and detailed examples with a compilation of headlines from different media houses.
He, however, ended his speech, with an urgent call on media practitioners and owners to help re-brand the image of Nigeria with their patriotic and constructive reports.
Fashola, who got a standing ovation for his incisive address, was also presented with two plaques by the duo of Mallam Aliyu Dantiye and Sam Amuka-Pemu, the guild's outgoing president and Vanguard Newspaper publisher, respectively.
Also speaking, Mr Onyema Ugochukwu, chairman of the occasion, who described Fashola, as a dynamic leader, further called on the guild to continue with its wonderful gate-keeping duties for the nation's media organizations, stressing that the leadership and its members had done very well in the last two decades.
Ugochukwu, a former chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), also described the event, which was aimed at midwifing a new executive, as a landmark congress.
The veteran journalist called for an urgent review of the guild's operating standards.
In his remarks, Mr Godwin Omale, the representative of Mr John Odey, the minister of Information and Communication, congratulated the NGE for a job well done and also regretted Odey's unavoidable absence which he said was because of an urgent national assignment.
Mr Dantiye, while delivering his opening speech thanked his executives, fellows, members and distinguished guests for coming. He also thanked Fashola and the good people of Lagos State for allowing them host the convention in a peaceful atmosphere.