At the sixth anniversary lecture of Realnews magazine, Maureen Chigbo, the publisher, harps of the need for credible elections as the panacea for peace and development in Africa

By Maureen Chigbo

GOOD morning dear honoured guests, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, and members of my constituency, the Media. Please permit me to stand on existing protocol.

I am truly delighted and privileged to welcome you all to the Sixth Anniversary lecture of Realnews Magazine. We acknowledge and appreciate your sacrifice to be here at a time when you should be preparing for the end-of-year activities. Thank you for all for your support.

I am elated that Dr. Haroun Adamu, our chairman for this occasion, and other distinguished invited guests are here.

It is an understatement to say I am overjoyed that our Guest Lecturer, the man of the moment, is also here. Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and President, Governing Board of ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions, ECONEC, made time out of his very busy schedule to be here today.  I owe a debt of thanks to Mr. Paul Ejime, veteran journalist and international communications and media consultant and Mr. Haruna Mohammed, INEC commissioner, for their interfacing job and making sure that our guest lecturer is here to deliver Realnews Sixth Anniversary lecture.

We appreciate the honour you have all done to us by accepting our invitation and for supporting Realnews. We have no doubt that our Guest Lecturer will do justice to the topic of our Sixth anniversary: “Political Transitions and Africa’s Economic Development”.

My special welcome also goes to Dr. Charles Okeke, Dean, School of Education, Behavioural & Social Sciences & 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 for accepting to serve as discussants at this event.

Allow me to appreciate and welcome members of the Realnews Hall of Fame Dr. Ibn Mohamed Chambas, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative and Head, UN Office in West Africa and Sahel, UNOWAS,  Mallam Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, Founder/CEO, Alpine Investment Limited and Dr. Ngozi Anyaegbunam, President, Media World and Waheed Olagunju, Executive Director, Bank of Industry, BOI.

The Realnews Hall of Fame is our own modest way of honouring Lecturers and Speakers at our Anniversary Lectures for their contributions to knowledge and national development and also for recognising Realnews Ambassadors. We cannot thank them enough.

There are many of you who have cancelled other engagements to be here.  Many have also travelled from far and wide to be here. We owe you all a debt of gratitude.

I wish to thank members of the Realnews team for their sacrifice; Mr. Ejime for always providing editorial guidance and Mr. Adama Gaye, CEO of NewForce Africa and Sir Eze Emecheta for their encouragement and advice.

This anniversary lecture is one of the ways Realnews is contributing to the development of our nation by providing a forum for frank discussion by professionals, scholars, technocrats and influential personalities on the way forward for our great nation as the hope for Africa. In 2014, we focused on general elections; in 2015 the theme was on the economy, in 2016 the discussion was on security, while in 2017 we focused on the challenges of Leadership in Africa. This year we are deliberately exploring Africa’s political transitions and the economy.

Our choice of topic for the 2018 lecture has been informed by contemporary political, economic, security, socio-cultural challenges facing Africa, albeit Nigeria regarded as the “Giant of Africa” as it prepares for the 2019 polls where Nigerians are expected to elect leaders they hope will move the country to the next level. Credible political transitions will yield the kind of leadership that will come out with the right economic policies to jump start the economy and provide the right business environment that will enable all sectors of the economy to thrive especially the oil and gas sector which currently provides more than 80 percent of the country’s revenue.  You will agree with me that given Prof. Mahmood Yakubu’s world class experience, academic antecedents and his current position as chairman of INEC and president of the Governing Board of ECONEC, he is in a better position to do justice to this topic. We have also carefully selected all the discussants with expertise in various fields ranging from the economy, human rights to oil and gas to discuss the implication of credible political transitions on the economic development of Nigeria albeit Africa and to fashion a way forward.

I wish to appeal to my journalist colleagues to ensure that the message from here today is heard across the nation and beyond. Of course, at Realnews we will ensure that we do our part by giving the widest publicity to this important lecture. Our objective is to use our investigative skills to dig out information in the sectors we focus on, produce an unbiased report that will influence the government and decision makers to take actions that will make the society better.

Realnews boasts of a crop of seasoned journalists who believe strongly in the tenets and ethics of the profession. We are convinced that journalism as the Fourth Estate of the Realm can contribute towards building a free, fair and just society where fundamental human rights are respected and citizens have the freedom to pursue their interests without let or hindrance. Our motto is: “For God and Humanity.”

Our Vision is to build a reputable and world class media institution with professionalism and integrity as the bedrock of the four cardinal points of our Mission. The first is to ensure that Realnews becomes the cornerstone of investigative journalism in Nigeria and Africa. The second is to publish a credible and influential online magazine that will galvanize the public, and spur government and decision makers into taking actions that will change the political, socio-economic landscape and society in general for the better. Third is to focus on oil and gas, environment, vulnerable groups – youth, women and children, and give voice to the silent majority and minority groups. Our fourth mission is to use Realnews magazine to fight any form of injustice and ensure that no section of the Nigerian society is neglected, discriminated against or left behind in the quest to build a better and just world where basic human rights are respected and cherished.

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.

In 2013, 2016 and 2017, Realnews provided special coverage of the African Development Bank, AfDB’s, annual meetings in Morocco, Zambia, and India, with support from the Bank, and the Bank of Industry, Nigeria, respectively.  In 2015, we also provided special coverage to the African Economic Summit in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. We have covered the Tana High Level Security Forum in Ethiopia since 2015 with support from the organizers and Pan African University Conference in Ethiopia with support from the Ethiopian government. We were also in Cameroon this year for the African Capacity Building Foundation, ACBF, annual meetings.

The success we have recorded at Realnews has come with its share of challenges, especially in fashioning creative ways for sustainable publication in a difficult economic environment with dwindling prospects for advertisement.

I would like to invite everyone here especially those who are not already on our mail list to visit our website and subscribe to our e-Newsletter to enjoy investigative reports on topical development issues rendered in professional style. We have made Realnews more user friendly by redesigning our website and also developed Realnews App which you can download from the Google Play Store.

The big question! If Realnews magazine, which we work so hard to produce, is free, how then, do we make money to remain in business? Our special appeal therefore, goes to everyone in the public or private sector alike, and civil society, to support Realnews to remain in business! The support can be in form of advertisement, special supplement and special features on your company/organization for publication on our website. We also welcome capacity building programmes for our staff to serve our clients better. In this regard, I wish to thank Chevron Nigeria, for providing professional training to our staff in 2018.

Realnews is also into media consultancy and writing of books and biographies. We have several manuscripts we are working on and we need sponsors to get them published. These are some of the ways we raise money for our free-source on-line publication, with investigative journalism, as our first-love.

As we have previously stated, we also welcome whistle-blowers in the world of Realnews magazine. Rest assured that when you give us sensitive information we will handle it with all sense of responsibility and confidentiality.

Always keep in mind that Realnews magazine is all about investigative, robust and excellent journalism. We are your partners in development and together we will build a strong and virile nation where all will be free and happy to live and invest in.

Our sincere gratitude goes to ExxonMobil, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Chevron, Fidelity Bank and advertisers for supporting the organization of this lecture.

Once again, I wish to welcome you all very warmly and thank you for your attention.

God bless you all. God bless Realnews. God bless our dear country Nigeria, and our mother continent Africa!

*Being the text of the Welcome Address by Maureen Chigbo, Publisher, Realnews Magazine and Publications Limited, Publishers of Realnews Magazine Online, at the Sixth Anniversary Lecture of the Magazine, held on Thursday, 15 November, 2018, at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos 

– Nov. 28, 2018 @ 14:20 GMT |