The Nation Newspaper

Tag: National issues

  • ‘Stop politicising national issues’

    ‘Stop politicising national issues’

    A cleric, Prophet Albert Samson Arojah, has urged Nigerians to stop politicising serious national issues and dividing the country along religious lines.

    Arojah, who is a leader of St. Peter’s Cherubim and Seraphim Band, spoke at his 50th birthday anniversary and 30 years on the pulpit.

    The cleric, who was also honoured at the event with Exemplary Leadership Award by the Justice and Equity Forum, said political and religious sentiments portend great dangers to the nation’s unity.

    Accepting the awards in the company of his wife, Arojah thanked the forum for recognising his input in the society.

    The cleric said his major passion had always been to put smiles on the faces of families.

  • Ambode to Editors: Ensure objective reportage of national issues

    Ambode to Editors: Ensure objective reportage of national issues

    …Commissions Editors House in Ikeja

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday urged the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) to continue to ensure fair and objective reportage of national issues that would promote socio-economic development and national cohesion.

    The Governor who spoke at the commissioning of Editors House, located at 24 Mojidi Street, Ikeja, said the NGE just like other professional and trade union bodies hold strategic stakes in the healthy development of the nation.

    To this end, Governor Ambode tasked the Guild to ensure that more attention is devoted to issues that would assist government to ease the current hardship being experienced by the people and protection of lives and property.

    “It is no longer news that out nation’s economy is in recession amidst other challenges that demand the patriotism and nationalistic spirit of all of us. Specifically for members of the Guild, as gatekeepers and moulders of opinion in our nation, you owe it as a national duty to ensure fair and objective reportage of issues with eyes on the promotion of socio-economic development and national cohesion.

    “The practice of journalism and mass communication in this present time should be anchored on the best global journalistic ethos and must be moderated by local realities and national interest,” Governor Ambode said.

    The Governor, who was represented at the event by his Deputy, Dr. Mrs. Oluranti Adebule, however assured that his administration would continue to partner with the Guild in line with its determination to make positive difference in the lives of all Lagosians.

    “We would appreciate your continued reportage of our activities accurately and objectively for the education, enlightenment and mobilization of support of our people especially as they relate to our policies and programmes in the years ahead,” he said.

    Describing the Editors House as a new chapter that would ultimately earn the Guild respect and due recognition in the comity of professional bodies in the nation, Governor Ambode urged members to make good use of the facility to protect and promote national unity.

    Earlier, President of the NGE, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, in her welcome address paid tribute to the founding fathers and past presidents of the Guild who contributed largely to the realization of the project, saying that a dream of 55 years had become a reality.

    She also thanked the Federal Government, State Governments and other institutions that contributed immensely to see the project to reality, saying that the House would serve as not only a secretariat for the Guild, but a rallying point for its members.

    Dignitaries present at the event include, former Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Deputy Governor of Adamawa, Mr. Martins Babale, Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Bayo Onanuga who represented the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, representatives of Governors of Delta, Osun and Akwa Ibom, distinguished editors and chief executives of various media organisations, among others.

  • Firm to conduct polling on national issues

    Peach communications, a leading media and public relations firm in Abuja, also conducts opinion polling for clients, its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Julius Ogunro, has said.

       He told reporters that the company had been conducting polls for clients, and did during the general election.

    “We are actually not new to polling and have conducted polls and surveys, but because most clients sought strict confidentiality, the results of those polls were not for public consumption.

    ‘’We were active during the general election, as a lot of our clients, who were active in the political process, made use of our confidential polling services,” he said, adding: “We are now open to anyone interested in conducting a scientific survey in a professional manner.”

    Ogunro said the company would conduct polls on issues of national importance and publish the results.

    “It would be our way of giving back and contributing to a healthy public discourse. Issues as whether Nigerians want state police are important, and I think it is essential we know the level of support such issues have.’’

  • Writers tackle touchy National issues

    Let against the background of the ongoing National Conference, it was more than a coincidence that the last edition of the Guest Writer Session, of the Abuja Writers’ Forum (AWF), took on touchy national issues.

    Zainab Sule got proceedings going with one of her new singles,  Fire Down Below. It was a good teaser to set the mood for an encounter with fun and excitement and it was evident her performance was enthralling as the audience sat transfixed, gazes locked at her like the future depended on their picking out every word of her lines and guitar strumming.  A situation that would repeat itself when she came back in between the writers to run through a couple of her songs.

    The sobering highpoint of the evening came when multiple award-winning journalist, read from his book, Home Away From Home. He described the book in a recent interview as “my offering to making Nigeria a great nation as some of the ones I have visited.” Though the book is solely about the history of the Ogbomoso people in Jos, the scope turns out to be far beyond that. It actually tells the sorry story of the collapse of the inter-ethnic harmony that existed among Nigerians who had lived together in peace for so many years. The book chronicles the arrival of Ogbomoso people in Jos, their settlement there over the centuries, the peace, love and unity they enjoyed as they lived, did business and mingled with the indigenes other settler-tribes.

    However, tribal and religious differences suddenly crept into the picture and turned erstwhile friends, neighbours and brothers into sworn enemies. He recalled that in his days as a little child in Jos, his family, a Christian family bonded so well with their Muslim neighbours that they’d sometimes follow them to the mosque and the friends would also follow them to church. Oyegbile decried that such a scenario is impossible in the city today, with the incessant religious and tribal fights that have erupted over the years, claiming thousands of lives and reducing the city into a theatre of violence.

    According to him, his father got to Jos before the amalgamation in 1914 that gave birth to Nigeria. At the time he left Ogbomoso, the father, he said, was too young to pay tax. He settled in Jos, worked there for decades and paid his taxes to the Plateau State government. By the time he returned to Ogbomoso, he was too old to pay any taxes. In spite of his father’s loyalty and long sojourn in Plateau State,  however, Oyegbile said if he needed a scholarship, he’d have to go and apply for it in Oyo State! This, he said, often makes him wonder if indeed we are ready to live as one nation.

    He did not only paint a picture of the grim situation, he also proffered solutions to the strained relations between Nigeria’s ethnic and religious groups. He advised that citizens be educated on the gains of peaceful co-existence; recommended the prosecution of criminals who are caught in the act of sectional aggression and the development of the right political will by our leaders, towards mending the broken relations among the various divides of the Nigerian people.

    The audience had earlier savoured poems from Iruesiri Samson Kukogho’s debut collection What Can Words Do? Samson said of the title of his collection, that he derived it from the importance that words play in our daily lives as humans. “I have seen words start and also end wars; words have broken marriages and mended broken hearts,” he said. The question of what words can do, he said, is to bring to the consciousness of the reader, the importance of the words we speak and is one that everyone should ask themselves often so as to guard their choice of words when they speak to others as they have the potential to hurt and heal, give life and also kill.

    From the themes Samson explores in the poems in his collection, it is obvious that he is  motivated by true-life experiences and is also driven to add his voice to issues of social justice and the general enhancement of society. His voice rails against rape, violence against women and social disorders. His passion for the family institution is also clearly depicted. “Society is being torn apart because families are collapsing,” he lamented. The poet emphasized that the more we lose the family, the more we lose our society and called for a show of concern by all citizens and especially