The Chairman of the occasion,
The NUJ chairman and NUJ executives,
I want to thank the NUJ leadership for considering me worthy of this award. I feel honoured, but more importantly, I feel humbled by this award. Thank you.
To me this award is not for self aggrandisement but rather, it is a challenge. I honestly and sincerely regard this award as a motivation to put in more efforts to whatever I am doing (or have done in the past) to make me a contender for this recognition. I couldn’t have done it alone, so allow me to thank my heartthrob and my wonderful children for their unflinching support. To me, my “home front is my pillar of support”. Let me also quickly thank my retinue of friends for their belief and confidence in me. Thank you all for being there for me at all times.
To be so honoured by the press speak volume. Members of the press are considered to be objective, rational and sincere in picking recipients for recognition. They are not known to be vain or self serving but rather, they work for the common good of the society. Their prime (if you like) core value is to act as the society watchdog. This is a very important, noble and laudable role albeit a difficult one. To tackle the rot in any society, the press need to be allowed to operate unrestrained, ungagged, in other words, the press must enjoy a reasonable level of freedom devoid of harassment, intimidation and of selfish motive.
In an emerging democracy such as ours, the press need all the encouragement it could get by the provision of resources; physical, material and financial. A conducive atmosphere must be created to allow for optimal performance. Modern communication gadgets and staff training to bring our journalists to be at par with their counterparts anywhere in the world must be ensured and provision of adequate and commensurate welfare package will go along way in getting rid of “Junk journalism”. It is sad today that some journalists don’t bother to research a story very well before going to press, some don’t have their facts correct.
There are some fundamental rights that the citizenry should enjoy. One of such inalienable rights is a right to information; right information at the right time. Since the inception of this democracy, there have been a lot of hues and cries over the freedom of information bill in the Federal house of assembly with the press playing a prominent role in the agitation for the passage of the bill. But as we speak here tonight, the bill is yet to see the light of the day. You may wonder why?
Tonight my humble opinion (without sounding patronising) is that a freedom of information bill which will allow the press to discharge its duty of providing facts to the populace unhindered is long overdue in Nigeria. The freedom of information bill will not only guarantee Nigerians the right to information as enshrined in the United Nations declaration of human rights; but it will also ensure accountability that leads to development. In the UK such bill was passed n the 60s, in France it was passed in the 70s while over the years such bill was passed in the United States. Let me quickly assuage the fears of those that are afraid that it will compromise our democracy that rather than compromise the democracies of those countries that have similar bills passed; the bill has helped to strengthen it and also has brought the government closer to its people. The press must be freed from its shackles and allowed to fly!
Tonight is not for a lecture in freedom of information bill, so let me anchor my ship here.
Allow me once again to thank you for this great honour. Thank you!.