2020 Press Week: Amos Etuk-led NUJ has reenacted the Midas-touch – Moses Ekpo
I am highly honoured to be invited to join our colleagues for the 2020 Akwa Ibom NUJ Press Week; which is always a worthwhile engagement.
We are three days into the week, and my reading of the proceedings is that the present state council of the Union has done it again- reenacting the Midas-touch which has become it’s unique tarde-mark since coming on board.
Permit me to welcome our guests, resource person, lecturers and other personalities who have either been with us since the beginning of this event, or are yet to join our closing activities.
Particularly, let me acknowledge Their Excellencies, Mr Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State and Chairman of our Dinner and Award Night; and Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former governor of Anambra State and keynote speaker for the Night.
I welcome Mrs Eugenia Abu, out guest lecturer, and the National President of the NUJ, Mr Chris Isiguzo, as well as our own brothers, the durable Ray Ekpu, Rt Hon Eseme Eyibo and Dr Godwin Abraham of Topfaith fame, who are all here to add colour to this Press Week; and some who have already made presentations. I thank them for coming.
About a month ago, I had the unique opportunity of benefiting from the inventiveness of this state council when its Biometric Capturing Committee visited me for my bio data in order to bring me within the loop of what I consider a phenomenal step in house-cleaning.
I understand that by this exercise we can, in real time, and by the simple click of a computer button, separate the wheat from the chaff; the genuine from the quack Journalist, and that way, position the Akwa Ibom State Council the NUJ as the first in the country to have finally knelt it on finding a cure to the disease called quackery, which has brought so much disrepute to our profession.
I commend the leadership of Akwa Ibom State Council of the NUJ for this bold and decisive step, and enjoined other councils in the country to emulate this worthy example.
Both the theme of this 2020 Press Week: “Media, Capacity Development and Nation Building in a COVID-19 Era”, as well as the idea of “An Evening with the Legends”, assigned for this ongoing session, are a follow-up which is very appropriate to the current house-cleaning exercise.
COVID-19 has been described as a “viral reset” on many fronts, including media practice; and new kind of focus, directed at media capacity development for nation building, would be the minimum requirement for media if it hopes to remain relevant within the context of the “reset” brought about by COVID-19.
For a sneak-peak into what this “reset” constitutes got Journalists, permit me to the insight provided by a recent UNESCO online publication, an extract of which is as follows:
“On the heels of the novel Corona virus, there has also been a mass circulation of falsehood spreading as fast as the virus itself. The lies have helped pave the path for the infection, and sown mayhem in how societies are responding to the pandemic. Our enemy is also the growing surge of misinformation- a “second disease,” an ‘infodemic’ which is an over-spending abundance of information that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it”
As gloom as a picture appears to be, the same publication asserted that “journalism is key to supplying credible information within this wide ‘infodemic’ and to combating the myths and rumours. Without it, false content can run rampant.”
There is a Crux! The age-old gold-, standard distinguishing Journalism from quackery or ‘infodemic’ is the sacredness of fact, and the unwavering commitment lof journalism to it. Whatever else the media would need to do in order to develop capacity for nation building even in this or after COVID-19 era, topping the list would be an increased capacity in the gathering of facts as well the passion to ensure that nothing else is served the public but facts.
I was invited here as a member of the community of journalism veterans, whom you have designated as “legends” obviously in keeping with today’s segment of the programe, “An Evening with the Legends”. I agree with the designation only if is your way of referring to the legendary commitment to the truth which constitutes the lodestar for my generation of media practitioners.
As you can see from the UNESCO quote, that lodestar has stood the test of time – not only continuing to be in hot demand today, but is a sine-qua-non to a dependable and constructive media practice in this COVID-19 era. My word, therefore, for the current generation of practitioners seeking to keep the flag of ethical and responsible Journalism flying at full mast, is that the content of reportage must be the truth, and nothing but the truth.
In addition to a content governed by truth, you will need to three very important things on the side of quality. The first is that you will seek knowledge, the second is that you will seek knowledge, and the third also is that you will seek knowledge. The journalist should seek as much knowledge as possible. This way, you will be able to deliver a performance which is intellectually accountable, dependable for nation building and, therefore, respectable.
I wish to also let you know how the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel has responded to the multi-faceted challenge posed by the pandemic. A major strand of that response is the Post-COVID-19 Reconstruction Committee set up by government with the responsibility to evolve a Marshall Plan, as it were, for the revival and sustenance of our Post-COVID-19 economy.
For a scourge as foreign and devastating as COVID-19, our thinking is that the bulwark should be home-made and state-of-the-art. In view of this, government’s strategy has been to firm-up and exploit the state’s rich endowment in commercial agriculture, while at the same time, build the necessary skilled manpower and position same as a standby pool of competitive workforce waiting to service our envisaged industrialization boom.
Accordingly, the state government’s various programmes in agriculture , including our coconut, cocoa, etc, re-activation schemes; taken side-by-side the Akwa Ibom State Education Summit and the setting up of the Akwa Ibom Education Think Tank, are strong elements in our anti-COVID-19 Marshall Plan.
I have only scratched the surface of what I consider the prerequisites for an impactful Journalism practice, drawing from my experience as a veteran, in addition to what we have done as government. Given the star-strudded array of resource persons Marshalled for various stages of this week-long programme, I am convinced that we will all round off this Press Week steeped in more modern and sophisticated insight and knowledge about the practice of Journalism and how the profession can best serve as a tool for national building in this COVID-19 era.
I congratulate those to be honoured with special awards at the end of this Press Week. The present leadership of the NUJ in the state has raised the performance bar in all areas, and I am sure that also include the nomination process for the awards. I am therefore confident that the awardees are men and women of steering quality and achievements..
Going forward, I enjoin them to steer the course as worthy ambassadors of Akwa Ibom and Nigeria, drawing from the encouragement that the awards would bring.
Again, I thank the NUJ for this opportunity, which for me is a home-coming. I also thank our visitors for sparing time to Grace this accasion. I am hopeful that the memory of their stay in Akwa Ibom will one to relish for a long time.
I hope that the 2020 Akwa Ibom NUJ Press Week will continue to the end, retaining the excitement
