The Rivers State Governor , Chief Nyesom Wike, has said the country
is in crisis due to poor governance , nepotism and marginalisation .
Speaking on Thursday while declaring open the 13 th All Nigeria
Editors Conference holding in Port Harcourt , he said , “ We are only
pretending ; we think that all is well with our country .
“ The country is in crisis as poor governance , nepotism,
marginalisation and state - sponsored repression continue to do
violence to the nation ’ s unity and cohesion .
“ At times like this, the country needs forthright leadership and
consensus building to steer the ship of state from the wrong
direction it is headed to safer grounds .
“ Nigerians of goodwill must therefore call the Minister of Information
to stop stoking the ambers of disharmony and divisions in the polity
with his irresponsible utterances and wild allegations against
members of opposition political parties . ”
The governor noted that the clamour for political restructuring, fiscal
federalism , state police and guarantee for free and fair elections had
never been so determined across the country .
“ It is becoming clearer by the day that to ignore this call is
pretentiously dangerous to the unity and peaceful co- existence of
this country .
“ For some of us, therefore , there is nothing nobler than being
counted on this path and as long as God gives us breath , we shall
remain in the trenches fighting for our democratic rights and
freedom until victory is ultimately achieved .
“ But we also believe that this is a fight that should and must be led
by the media for full effect and agenda setting . This calls for greater
vigilance and courage in giving effective voice to the contending
issues and taking personal responsibility for factuality . It can ’ t be
otherwise , ” he said .
In her address , the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors , Mrs.
Funke Egbemode , said that this year , the editors would focus on
how to reinvent the journalism profession and make it profitable for
practitioners and society .
The Chairman of the conference , Mallam Ismaila Funtua , urged
editors to promote professionalism for the good of the country .
The Publisher of ThisDay Newspaper, Mr . Nduka Obaigbena , called
on media managers to develop strong brands to overcome the
challenge posed by the existence of the social media .
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