DRAFT COMMUNIQUE OF THE ALL NIGERIA EDITORS’ CONFERENCE, ANEC, 2017
Press Releases September 25, 2017 Dianabasi Effiong
The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), held its 13th All Nigeria Editors’ Conference (ANEC) and Extraordinary Convention 2017 at the Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, from September 20-24, 2017.
The theme of the Conference which was declared open by the Governor of Rivers State, Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, CON, was: “Balancing Professionalism, Advocacy and Business.”
Chairman of the opening ceremony was Malam Ismaila Isa Funtua, while the Chairman of the Conference was Aremo Segun Osoba, former Governor of Ogun State.
Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene, the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Interview, delivered the Keynote address while the Senate President and sister associations and unions like the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), and the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) gave goodwill messages.
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai; Surveyor General of the Federation, Surv. Ebisintei Awudu; Governors of Bayelsa, Bauchi and Oyo States; the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister; the JAMB Registrar; Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), all made presentations at the Executive Session of the Conference.
A high point of the programme was the Extraordinary Convention which amended the Constitution of the Guild.
At the end of exhaustive deliberations on the theme of the Conference, the Nigeria Guild of Editors, NGE, resolved as follows:
1. That the media industry has been, and is still, experiencing a crisis of recession proportions and that government should do more to ensure a conducive environment for the media to flourish
2. That there is need for Editors, while remaining professionally excellent, to also explore other revenue yielding ventures or business prospects to ensure that life after their editorial assignments is not nightmarish.
3. That Editors should, in addition to their editorial functions, concern themselves with the business side of the media industry to ensure that their establishments thrive, and that their venture into business upon retirement will be based on informed knowledge gained while in service.
4. That Mass Communication Departments and Journalism training institutions should include business courses in their curricula so as to prepare future editors for the business side of the media industry.
5. That the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and other media stakeholders should collaborate to ensure the setting up of newsprint production companies and resuscitation of the moribund one in Oku Iboku, Akwa Ibom State, to address the crisis of high cost of imported newsprints.
6. Appealed to the Federal and state governments to pay outstanding gratuities and pensions of retired Editors and other classes of retirees to make life after retirement less stressful.
7. The Guild commended the Nigerian Army and other security agencies for their efforts aimed at curtailing the activities of insurgents, militants and other groups threatening peace and security of the country.
8. The Guild regretted the encroachment on the its land in Guzape, Abuja and appreciated the promise by the FCT Minister to redress the situation.
9. Members were commended for their cooperation and support which led to the successful amendment of its constitution.
10. The Guild expressed gratitude to the Rivers State Governor, Barr Nyesom Wike, for his magnanimity in hosting ANEC back to back successfully, and applauded the significant level of infrastructural development recorded in the state under his watch.
Funke Egbemode Victoria Ibanga
President General Secretary
Dianabasi Effiong
