The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; the Bayelsa State
Governor, Seriake Dickson; and Chairman, Channels Television,
Mr. John Momoh, have urged media practitioners to be
objective in their reportage of events and happenings in the
society.

They spoke on Thursday during the 11th Annual National
Editors Conference of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, entitled, ‘The
Change We Need: Role of the Editor’ in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa
State capital.”

Osinbajo, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal
Ministry of Information, Mrs. Folashade Yemi-Esho, said the
media remained the most viable platform in promoting societal
development.

The Vice President said the theme of the conference was apt,
saying the role of editors and media practitioners as change
agents could not be downplayed.

Speaking on change, Osinbajo said, “Change occurs when you
decide to take control of what you should have, instead of
yearning for control in what you do not have.

“The media has the potency of arousing positive and negative
influences. They have moral obligation of ensuring that
information and messages dished out to the public are indeed in
the best interest of Nigerians and Nigeria. It is most important
that editors be mindful of these roles for the well-being and
development of the country.

“Editors and reporters should always be objective and mindful in
the ways they write articles, stories and news.”

In his remarks, Dickson, who declared the conference open, said
the editors had the greater responsibility to air the views of the
people and mirror their opinions.

He said journalists were the only group given the constitutional
mandate to hold leaders of the country accountable.

He appealed to newsmen to rise up in order to fashion out a
new national value that would birth a Nigeria where ethnicity,
nepotism and tribalism, among others, would become things of
the past.

He, however, urged the editors and managements of the media
to look inward and do some self appraisal of journalists with a
view to maintaining the ethos and ethics of the profession.
In his comment, Momoh, who was the chairman of the occasion,
advised the media on citizenship journalism, saying they should
work harder at reporting the pulse of the communities.

He said, “There is the need for us to make conscious efforts to
go into the community. This development will engender
partnership between the citizens and the press.
“The press has a lot of job on their hands. The editors must
imbibe new ways of doing things. Change is the watchword and
the editors must take the lead.”

In his address, Acting President, NGE, Garba Muhammad, said
the world had come to accept that the only permanent incidence
in life was the constant changes people went through all the
time.

He said, “Our physical and social environments are
continuously changing or evolving, as is our spiritual
perspectives on the very essence of life itself.
“But whereas it is easy to assume that the changes Nigerians
hope to see are obvious, it is critical that we examine these
expectations beyond the casual understanding of them and to
even go further to deliberate on the vehicle that will be deployed
to actualise these expectations.”

He said that Nigerians desired a country where the basic
ingredients of development, such as stable power supply,
reliable and safe transportation system and an independent
judiciary, among others, were not taken for granted.

He added, “But more than anything else, we want a country that
is free from threats; whether internal or external. We want to see
convincing performance from our armed forces and
corresponding security agencies that they are up to the task of
protecting the country at all times.

“The insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria is no doubt one of the
biggest sources of concern for every Nigerian, especially those
who are directly affected by its brutal consequences. We want
to be persuaded that our government can guaranty our security,
in line with its cardinal obligation which is to ensure the
protection of lives and property of every citizen.”

He said beyond the insurgency, murder and armed robbery,
kidnapping and other acts of violent crimes were on the rise,
especially in the southern part of the country.