Gbenga Adefaye, Editor, Vanguard Newspapers and Tony Akiotu, Executive Director, DAAR Communications, who has served as the deputy president, Nigeria Guild of Editors, for two terms, both aspiring for the presidency of the Guild, in these seperate interviews with Sulaimon Olanrewaju, share their plans on how to improve the profile of the body and the fortune of its members if they win the election slated for July 28. Excerpts:
Why do you intend to become the president of Nigeria Guild of Editors?
I see it as a call to service. Having served the guild creditably and efficiently as Deputy President for two terms and having also served as chairman of the organizing committee of All Nigerian Editors Conference for four consecutive years, the entire editors as at the last conference held in Bauchi in December 2007, pleaded with me to continue the good work I had done in the two capacities that I had served by mounting the saddle as the president of the NGE.
If you emerge as the president what do you plan to accomplish?
My plans are legendary. The plans are going to be driven by the tag I have given to my campaign, which is ‘Change 08’. Change is going to come in various ways. It is going to come by way of reforms; it is going to come by way of transformation of the Guild. The Guild has been in existence for over 40 years. There are quite a number of things that we have done and there are many things that we can still do. I have outlined some of the things we can do in my manifesto and have dedicated myself and my executive to executing these plans. One of them is the issue of mobilization. At the moment, we have a little over 200 people as members of the Guild. But having toured all the six geo-political zones in the country, I am convinced that there is no reason why the guild should not have a membership strength that is close to at least 500. The enthusiasm, the willingness to belong has never been lacking. What has been lacking is the administrative savvy and the political will to bring all these people under one umbrella.
During my tour, myself and my campaign team, we discovered that though the Guild is almost as old as Nigeria, very little information and awareness exist about it. I have always said to people that as an umbrella body that houses editors of television, radio, newspapers, wire services and online services, we need to work harder to get all of them belong. I am happy that I have succeeded in creating this awareness during my campaign tours. This awareness has led to scores of people wanting to belong. I am glad that the executive set a deadline of July 7 for all those who intend to belong to the Guild to complete all the formalities. I think this is a sign of good things to come in the guild. Now, having created that awareness and the much desired mobilization, I think there will be a need for us to determine who are those that should be regarded as members of the Guild and what should be their benefits. In the light of this, my executive and I will take a look at the constitution. We have a constitution that I think is overdue for review to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the NGE.
The document we have today, which is just a 5 page thing, is insufficient to meet the needs of a body like the Guild which has been in existence for over 43 years. Two attempts have been made to review the constitution. We had a committee that was led by the publisher of Media Review, Mr. Lanre Idowu, and another one by former Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello. My executive will take a look at these documents and see how we can harmonise them and get something that will be more acceptable to the Guild. Having gone through this process, we will then begin to implement the laudable programmes that we have for the Guild. One of them is the need for us to have a befitting national secretariat. I am really embarrassed, having put over three decades into this profession and having served over 15 years as a gate keeper in both radio and television, that we don’t have a place to behold, a place that I can invite my friends in other professions to come and say, “Come and join me in a workshop or conference or a social gathering.”
So, we have taken a look at having a secretariat that will serve as a resource centre in Abuja. Also of top concern to me is the matter of capacity building. Nigerian editors can be better exposed to training locally and internationally. We will partner with a number of non-governmental organizations and the civil society to organize workshops that will equip us with modern trend in our business. Internationally, there are organizations like the World Editors’ Forum, African Editors’ Forum and West African Editors’ Forum. These are bodies that have existed for years. The World Editors’ Forum has existed for 20 years; it was not until Cape Town last year that Nigerian editors started to avail themselves of opportunities to belong to these bodies. These are bodies that offer innumerable opportunities to our members by way of training, exposure and networking. But we do not belong to them. And because we do not belong to them, we have not been able to benefit from some of the far- reaching benefits that people get by belonging to these bodies. Also, on top of my priority will be the need for the Guild not to be aloof in matters of national issues and politics.
Under my watch, I will make the Guild more relevant in not only articulating positions on issues that affect the welfare of the practitioners but also to be a prominent voice in issues or matters that affect the Nigerian state. We will set agenda on national issues. We will also work with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to implement these, especially for young editors and journalists. Ethics has been an issue that has actually bothered me as a person. In over 30 years that I have been in active journalism, I have really been worried that politicians often try to hold the press liable for their failings. And they do this because they have an alibi.
There are some people, who by their training and calling are not journalists but have strayed into the profession. We have had problems with people like this because it is very easy for you, when you have had problems in other professions, to say because you have acquired communication skills, and able to write, to say you are a journalist. But people like that have given us a bad name. We are going to define not only who deserves to be called an editor but also who deserves to be a journalist. We will make sure that this process of accreditation becomes a continuous thing. People should carry the identity card of NUJ and the Guild.
But the issue of ethics which I consider as the heart of our profession, which keeps our practice going will be the very cardinal point of my executive. We are going to institute an award for ethical practice, and we are looking at constituting a panel to determine, over a period of time, organizations that have observed the ethic and ethos of our profession and our practice. At the yearly awards that we will have for past presidents and veterans and fellows of the Guild, the organizations will be honoured. We will do this to stimulate interest and to engender an atmosphere of healthy rivalry among editors as gatekeepers. We shall also institute an annual award for students and scholars of mass communication and journalism in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. These awards are to challenge the students.
