A member of the House of Representatives, Hon Victor Ogene, has been presented with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Distinguished Professional Service Award.
The Lawmaker who represents Ogbaru federal constituency of Anambra was presented the award at a one-day summit of the NUJ, South East Zone with the theme: “South East: Towards A Robust Economic Blueprint For Sustainable Development” which was held in Awka, Anambra State capital on Wednesday.
Ogene, chairman of the House Committee on Renewable Energy, and Labour Party (LP) Caucus leader, tasked media professionals with ensuring that public office-holders give account of their offices.
The lawmaker’s lecture was delivered on his behalf by the Dean of Social Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Prof. Collins Okafor. He said the current hardship in the country and the consequent mass unrest was because of bad governance and the inability of leadership to enthrone a new order.
He, however, enumerated so many challenges limiting the performances of media practitioners ranging from poor remuneration, lack of access to information, and intimidation among others.
Despite the challenges, Ogene stated that media practitioners have recorded milestones in advancing governance, stating how the media exposed mishandling of petroleum subsidy payments, issues relating to poor electricity supply, corruption in governance, and failures in campaign promises.
Keynote speaker, president, and chairman of, the Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Ike Neliaku, lamented that Nigeria was designed for the citizens to continue to fight each other.
He also decried corruption in the country and urged that unless there was a deliberate effort to redesign the country on a path of sustainable development to stop it from wobbling it would never see progress.
The national president of NUJ, Chris Isiguzor, represented by the national secretary, Achike Chude, and vice-president of NUJ, South-East zone, Emma Ifesinachi, agreed that the country is currently at a crossroads.
Isiguzo stated that Ogene as a professional journalist has made sterling contributions towards improving the country. He added that the award presented to him was to showcase him to the youths for emulation and to challenge him to do more.
Ifesinachi said the summit was planned to produce an action plan to improve governance in the country and urged governments in the South-East zone to co-opt journalists to be part of governance in the zone.
