Media
By Maureen Chigbo
Protocol
YOUR Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and members of my constituency, the Media, permit me to stand on existing protocol to express my delight in welcoming you all to the 11th Anniversary Lecture of Realnews Magazine Online. We appreciate your sacrifice and support, especially at this precarious time when the world is in a frenzy to round up activities for the year.
We are thrilled that our Guest Speaker, Mr. Edwin W. Harris Jr., director general, of the ECOWAS Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa, GIABA, Senegal, is here with us. We are grateful that you made time out of your very busy schedule to honour our invitation. We are doubly grateful for the effort of Dr. Baba Y. Musa, director general of WAIFEM, to ensure that you are here today. You are welcome sir.
We are also elated that Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, the Chairman of today’s occasion, Keynoter, Ahmed Kuru, Managing Director, Assets Management Corporation of Nigerian, AMCON, Aminu Maida, Managing Director, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, ably represented by Reuben Mouka, director, Public Affairs, and other distinguished guests are here. We are most grateful that you honoured us with your presence here today.
Our special warm welcome goes to Kayode Adedayo, Director of Proceeds of Crime Department, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and Felix Obiamalu, Associate Director, National Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU. We are very happy to have you here with us today.
The anniversary lecture series is one way Realnews contributes to nation-building and development by providing a forum for policy change-oriented discussions by professionals, scholars, technocrats and decision-makers on the way forward for our great nation and Africa in general. The lecture series since 2014 have focused elections, economy, security, challenges of Leadership in Africa, Africa’s political transitions oil and gas, unfolding integration of the African Market, and drug abuse among youths in Africa.
This year, we zeroed in on “Threats of Illicit funds flow to the African Economy” because of our deep concern about the nefarious effect of illicit funds flow on the economy, resulting in dwindling revenue for Africa governments. Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, executive director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC) on October 22, painted a gory picture of impact of illicit funds flow, stating that Nigeria lost $18 billion yearly to illicit financial flows (Iffs) through the banking sector despite the effort of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other regulating institution in the sector to curb it. Rafsanjani, also the head of Transparency International (TI) Nigeria, said that Nigeria is one of the 23 countries ranked as non-co-operative in the combined efforts to fight money laundering globally, since its establishment in 2003.
According to Rafsanjani, “The banking sector has been largely implicated in money laundering where they have been instrumental in the initial entry or placement phase that involves the initial movement of an amount of money earned from criminal activity into some legitimate financial network or institution. This illicit act embedded into a legal trade has pervaded both the national and international business and banking industry with unabated vigor. Rafsanjani is of the view that adequate measures is needed to sanitize the nation’s financial system by helping to prevent money laundering and illicit financial flows (IFFs) through which terrorism is largely funded, to effectively tax bank executives, and to expose illegal financial transactions by full disclosures.
Based on these facts, we began a search for the best brain to deal with the theme.
We narrowed down on our Guest Lecturer today because of his pedigree. I have no doubt that he will do justice to the topic of this lecture.
We have also a carefully selected panel of discussants with relevant expertise, knowledge and experience to shed more lights on the topic.
I would like to appeal to my journalist colleagues to ensure that the message from here today is heard in Africa and beyond. Of course, at Realnews we will ensure that we do our part by giving the widest publicity to this important lecture and the discussions. Realnews boasts 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 to building a free, fair and just society where fundamental human rights are respected and where citizens enjoy the freedom to pursue their interests without let or hindrance. Our motto at Realnews is: “For God and Humanity.”
In the past 10 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, youth and environment etc. We can proudly say that we have done and continue to do our job with a highest sense of responsibility.
However, the modest success we have recorded at Realnews has come with its share of challenges, especially in fashioning creative ways to sustain our publication in a difficult economic environment with dwindling prospects for advertisement.
Consequently, we 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.
Realnews Magazine is free but without your support, from the public or private sector alike, and civil society, it will not survive! 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.
Realnews is also into media consultancy; writing of books and biographies, and image survey for companies. Over the years, the books we have published include Federal Road Safety Commission in the Eyes of the Media Volume 1 – 4; Pathways to Political and Economic Development of Africa, and Paragon of Journalism Volume 1 and 2. We are working on several manuscripts and require sponsors for their publication. These are some of the ways we raise money for our free-source on-line publication, with investigative journalism, as our first-love.
In addition, we also welcome whistle-blowers in the world of Realnews magazine. Rest assured that all information provided would be handled with the highest sense of responsibility and confidentiality.
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 society where all will be free and happy to live and invest in.
Before I conclude, permit me to appreciate and welcome members of the Realnews Hall of Fame, here present some of them are Online. The Realnews Hall of Fame is our modest way of honouring Lecturers and Speakers at our Anniversary Lectures for their contributions to knowledge and national development. We also honour Realnews Ambassadors.
May I also crave your indulgence to thank members of the Realnews team chaperoned by Mr. Goddy Ikeh for their commitment, hard work and sacrifice; Mr. Paul Ejime for his editorial guidance, and Mrs Comfort Coleman, CEO, Nekego Resources and Sir Eze Emecheta, CEO, Elvis Group, for their encouragement and advice.
I cannot end this address without thanking government institutions and corporate organisations that made this year’s Realnews Anniversary Lecture possible with their support and advertisements. These are the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, FirstBank of Nigeria, Nigerian Natural and Liquefied Gas, NLNG, Dangote Group, Johnwood Hotel, Abuja, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Access Bank, and ECOBANK. We are most grateful to you all.
I also welcome those who are participating in this lecture via zoom and others following proceedings on the live streaming of the event on Facebook and YouTube from different countries. We appreciate you all.
Thank you for your attention and welcome one and all!
God bless Realnews! God bless Nigeria, God bless Africa.
Being the Welcome address of Maureen Chigbo, publisher of Realnews at the 11th Anniversary Lecture Series of the Magazine on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, Sheraton Hotel, Lagos.
Being the Welcome address of Maureen Chigbo, publisher of Realnews at the 11th Anniversary Lecture Series of the Magazine on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, Sheraton Hotel, Lagos.
A.
-November 07, 2023 @ 16:15 GMT |
Tags: Ahmed Kuru AMCON Aminu Maida Auwal Musa Rafsanjani Dr. Baba Y. Musa ECOWAS Felix Obiamalu Kayode Adedayo Realnews Magazine Online. Reuben Mouka
