This year’s annual conference of the Nigerian Guild of Editors will be held from November 7 to 9 in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State with the challenges confronting the nation’s economy and the media as the focal points.
In a statement issued on Monday and signed by its President, Mr Eze Anaba and the General Secretary, Dr Iyobosa Uwugiaren, the professional body of the editors/media executives in Nigeria, said that the All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC), to be chaired by the Chairman/Editor-In-Chief of THISDAY/Arise Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, will be declared open by the Vice-President, Alhaji Kashim Shettima.
Bayelsa Governor, Douye Diri is the Chief Host, while the former governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba and the Founder/Publisher of Vanguard Media Group, Uncle Sam Amuka, will be the Fathers of the Day.
Giving background to the conference, the editors said that since the present government came on board, in May 2023, its agents had consistently insisted that the Federal Government had been pursuing audacious reforms to reconstruct macroeconomic situations, it met on the ground, for stability and development.
‘’They argue that the petrol fiscal subsidy was moderately jettisoned, and Foreign Exchange, FX, reforms had led to the unification of the markets and a market-reflective exchange rate.
‘’To assuage the inflationary effects of these reforms on the most vulnerable, the government said that it had been implementing temporary cash transfers to reach 15 million households, with efforts also being made to tighten monetary policy and refocus the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on its core mandate of maintaining price stability.
‘’However, despite these efforts by the federal government and having the largest economy and population in Africa, experts say that Nigeria offers limited opportunities to most of its citizens, especially as Nigeria is ranked the 7th lowest human capital index in the world, and weak job creation. Meanwhile, many workers and professionals are increasingly choosing to emigrate in search of better opportunities’’, the NGE added.
The professional body argued that while the poverty rate in the country is put at about 40 per cent -with an estimated 88 million Nigerians living below the poverty line, the exchange rate, inflation and spiralling energy prices, remain huge concerns to many Nigerians.
According to the NGE, “To address these economic challenges and achieve development, there is a near consensus among all stakeholders that the country needs to push for a wide-ranging and comprehensible set of policies and strategies that will address both the short-term and long-term issues.
‘’On the media sustainability, there is a growing view that media stakeholders should come out with mechanisms to support sustainability in the media industry – for individual publishers and the sector as a whole, by ensuring they receive fair compensation for the use of their intellectual property and content.
‘’The argument is that mechanisms should adjust to evolving market conditions and boost the likelihood that publishers can build diverse revenue streams.’’
The editors explained further that it is within this context that this year’s ANEC will focus on strategies and policies aimed at addressing the challenges of the nation’s economy and the media space.
The NGE said that key experts, actors and players from different sectors: energy, security, money/capital market, regulatory agencies, Big Tech, media and others have been invited to start a conversation on the best possible way out of the challenges.