President Muhammadu Buhari; Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and state governors are among those confirmed to attend the 2018 World Congress of the International Press Institute scheduled for June.
The 2018 IPI congress will hold in June at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. About 350 journalists from across the world are expected at the congress, which is being hosted in Nigeria for the first time.
Revealing the confirmation of attendance of high profile individuals at a meeting of the 2018 IPI congress Local Organising Committee at the corporate headquarters of The Sun on Thursday, the Chairman of the Nigerian chapter of the global media body, Mallam Kabiru Yusuf, said President Buhari would declare the congress open, while Prof. Soyinka will deliver a keynote address.
Malam Yusuf, who is also the Chairman of Media Trust Limited, publisher of the Daily Trust titles, also revealed that efforts were being made to have international dignitaries, including some African leaders, in attendance at the world congress.
Outlining the programme of activities for the congress, Yusuf said there will be a welcome dinner on the first day of the congress on June 21 and a gala night on June 22, 2018.
He said discussants at the congress would talk on topics relating to the challenges journalists are facing and proffering solutions to them.
He urged Nigerian journalists to be part of the programme, which he said would go a long way in exposing the country positively to the world.
Meanwhile, the publicity sub-committee of the 2018 IPI congress has pledged to continue the sensitisation of journalists and Nigerians in general on the forthcoming congress.
Briefing the meeting, its Chairman, Dr. Tonnie Iredia, said members of the committee had travelled to Kwara and Rivers States to meet with stakeholders.
He revealed that the committee was making efforts to get the buy-in of governors so that they would sponsor journalists in their states to attend the congress.
Iredia, who was the Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority, said the committee, in the coming weeks, will step up visitation to media houses to sensitise journalists.
He also revealed that the committee would come up with programmes and jingles to mobilise Nigerians for the coming world congress.
The Spokesman of the 2018 IPI congress, Eric Osagie, who is the Managing Director/Editor-in Chief of The Sun Publishing Limited, said the congress was a rare opportunity for Nigeria to showcase its best.
Osagie said: “It is also an opportunity to re-brand the country, by proving to the world that Nigeria is not as bad as it is painted. It is one of the biggest tools to draw attention to not just the potentials and greatness of Africa’s most populous nation, but to also demonstrate that Nigeria remains the leader in Africa.”
Present at the meeting were members of the IPI and media executives, including Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria, Bayo Onanuga; Chairman, Channels TV, John Momoh (represented by Ambrose Okoh, Manager News); Chairman/CEO, Blueprint newspaper, Alhaji Mohammed Idris; Editor-in-Chief of Vanguard, Gbenga Adefaye; Osagie; Vveteran journalist, Mike Awoyinfa; Secretary of the IPI, Raheem Adedoyin; Executive Secretary of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, Feyi Smith; Communication Practitioner and Newspaper columnist, Kenneth Adewale; Yemi Ajayi, Online Publisher and Secretary of the Congress Media and Publicity committee; and Yomi Adeboye, Editor of The Herald Newspapers
Others were senior editors from major newspapers and broadcast media.
The IPI is a global network of editors, journalists and media executives.
The organisation promotes conditions that allow the media to operate free from interference and without fear of retaliation.
The IPI defends media freedom and the free flow of news.
The IPI director, Barbara Trionfi, visited Nigeria in February to know how the LOC was preparing for the coming congress.
Trionfi, during the visit attended a meeting with IPI members/media stakeholders, following which she and and Mallam Yusuf addressed a press conference in Abuja.
The IPI director also paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and NTA.
The visiting director also visited the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
During the visit, the Senate president called for closer collaboration between the press and the parliament in the overall interest of democracy and better dividends for the people.
Saraki said he was excited that Nigeria is hosting this year’s edition of the world congress of the IPI and described the upcoming event as a great opportunity not only for the global press to have a better understanding of the country “but to give us an opportunity to be able to interact more in the interest not only of understanding issues here in Nigeria, Africa and the global world because to some of us we really believe that the growth and stability of the world today depends on what happens in Africa and in Nigeria.”
He said when the world starts “getting accurate information about what happens in Nigeria, I think the world will be a better place for it.
“I must appreciate your remarks. Apart from the issue of the freedom of the press, there is a point you kept on hammering about which is the issue of quality reporting and accurate reports.”