Realnews magazine inducts Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Haroun Adamu, former chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund and five others into its Hall of Fame

 By Emeka Ejere                            

The atmosphere of Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, was electrified Thursday, November 15, when Nigerians from all walks of life assembled at the Realnews sixth anniversary lecture and investiture into the Realnews Hall of Fame.

It was a gathering of technocrats, academics, captains of industries, bankers, politicians, civil society groups and media practitioners who had converged to exchange ideas on how to move Nigeria and Africa forward.

With Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the guest speaker and other renowned scholars as discussants, the hall was filled to the brim with guests who had anxiously come to hear from the horses’ mouth barely three months to the 2019 general elections in Nigeria.

The anniversary lecture is one of the ways the magazine is contributing to the development of the nation by providing a forum for frank discussion by technocrats and  influential personalities on the way forward for Nigeria as the hope for Africa.

According to the management, the topic of the lecture, “Political Transitions and Africa’s Economic Development,” was informed by contemporary political, economic, security and other challenges facing Africa, especially Nigeria, the giant of Africa, as it prepares for the 2019 elections.

In his opening remarks, Haroun Adamu, chairman of the occasion, urged Realnews to continue its fight against injustice and human right abuses in the country.

Adamu, former chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund, said playing the role creates a larger moral burden of responsibility on theRealnews team as its creditability and authenticity will determine how traffic is attracted to its site.

He observed that online publishing is now in the ascendancy and is being propelled by the growth of social media and its various platforms. According to him, there is no stronger evidence of this than in evaluating the impact of social media in teleguiding the minds, hearts and ultimately the fingers of voters in achieving a desired outcome.

He said, “Having been a part of a generation of journalists that are now considered dinosaurs, or analogue, in today’s digital world, what Maureen and her colleagues are doing with Realnews is completely alien to me and my ilk.

“I find the amalgamation of technology and news to be completely fascinating and consider myself lucky to be a witness to this disruption if I may borrow a well-known term used to describe the revolution and tremor caused by Realnews and their colleagues.”

Delivering the lecture, Yakubu warned that the electorate should be allowed to make their choices without hindrance, assuring that INEC would not fail the nation in the conduct of the 2019 elections.

The INEC chairman harped on the need to ensure that Nigerians are able to make their periodic choices through credible elections so that there would be growth and development in the country.

“If votes do not count, then of course, the consequential benefits derivable to the electorate would not be possible because elected office holders would not be accountable.”

Besides, he noted that political stability is a major pre-requisite for economic growth and development. Hence, he said in a situation whereby the result of an election is unacceptable to the general public, it would lead to instability in the country.

He said, “We have seen nations and cities destroyed by unacceptable electoral outcomes. We have equally once happy, contended and thriving people becoming homeless and hopeless in internally displaced persons, IDP camps and forced migration to other countries on account of failed elections.

“Under such circumstances, no meaningful development can occur. Democratic transition through periodic and credible elections is the best way to ensure certainty that will guarantee and sustain political stability.”

According to him, when elections fail to be free, fair and credible, as largely being experienced in many African countries, such governments are not accountable.

Yakubu recalled that Nigeria passed through a similar teething period in its political history until 2011, when the recommendations of the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee were adopted for implementation.

In his goodwill message, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the special representative of the United Nations secretary general, for West Africa and the Sahel, urged Nigerians to shun hate speech, inflammatory languages and all acts capable of truncating the forthcoming general elections.

He noted that elections in Africa’s most populated country and largest economy has implications for the entire continent and beyond.

He said with so much at stake, emotions and tension will be high but elections would only serve the constitutional purpose if they are free, fair, credible and peaceful.

Chambas cautioned that the conduct of the media could make or mar the elections, pointing out that accurate and dispassionate reporting of electoral events will help to educate the electorate and contribute towards informed choice from among competing candidates.

“Accurate and dispassionate reporting of electoral events would help to educate the electorate and contribute towards informed choice from among competing candidates,” he said.

Charles Okeke, dean, School of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences and Professor of Economics, The College of Southern  Nevada, Nevada System of Higher Education, Charleston Campus, Las Vegas, USA, Professor Adebayo Olukoshi, director, Africa and West Asia Regional Programme and Liasion Office to the African Union, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Engr. Simbi Wabote, executive secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board took turns to make their contributions as discussants.

The event also featured the investiture of new members into the Realnews Hall of Fame. The new inductees are Adamu, Yakubu, Okeke, Prof Olukoshi, Wabote, Paul Ejime, veteran journalist and international media and communications consultant and Eze Emecheta, managing director, Zevis Group.

The Realnews Hall of Fame is a modest way of honouring lecturers and speakers at its anniversary lectures for their contributions to knowledge and national development and also for recognizing Realnews ambassadors.

Earlier, in her welcome address, Maureen Chigbo, publisher of Realnews, described the guest lecturer as the best person to do justice to the topic given his world class experience, academic antecedents and current position as chairman of INEC, and president, Governing Board of ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions, ECONEC.

She explained that the discussants were also carefully selected based on their expertise in various fields to discuss the implication of credible political transitions on the economic development of Nigeria, Africa and to proffer solutions.

She said, “In the past six years we have kept faith with our vision and mission statements. We have investigated and published exclusive stories that cover all sectors of our focus including politics, oil and gas, business and economy, women and youth etc. We can proudly say that we have done our job with a high sense of responsibility.”

Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor and vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was among several other dignitaries at the lecture while Chris Ngige, minister for labour and employment, sent Nnamoh S. Enuah, controller Lagos State office, to represent him.

The entire executive directors of the defunct Newswatch family including Ray Ekpo, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed, Soji Akirade, were on ground to support one of Chigbo, their former staff.

Other dignitaries who attended the event include, Nkechi Nwankwo, former Sunday Editor, Champion newspaper Tola Adeniyi, former managing director, Daily Times, Ngozi Anyaegbunam, Gbenga Adefaye, general manager and the editor-in-chief, Vanguard newspapers, Eze Anaba, Editor, Vanguard, Isaac Akporowho,  who represented Boboye Oyeyemi, Corps Marshal,  Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Prof Innocent Okoye, Isaac Ihwure, former editor-in-chief, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Adedeji Ebo, director, United Nations Office for West Africa and Sahel, UNOWAS, Dakar, Senegal and Dotun Oladipo, president, Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, GOCOP, Father Chidube Ubili, administrator, Dominican College, Lagos, Prof. Innocent Okoye of Kwara State University, Rear Admiral K.A Lawal who represented Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, chief of Naval Staff, Babatunde Lasaki, head, Media and External Relations, Marketing and Corporate Communications, First bank, who represented Folake Ani-Mumuney, group head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, First Bank, Qasim Akinreti, Lagos State chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalist and Ikechukwu Obiaya, dean, School of Media and Communications, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos,Nigeria among others.

– Nov. 16, 2018 @ 4:25 GMT |