The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), held its Standing Committee
meeting between June 18-20, 2009 in Awka, Anambra state. The meeting
provided opportunity for Editors to review the state of media practice
in Nigeria, as wel

l as the state of the nation.

It also featured a resentation on  “The Media, Labour and Democracy” by the Deputy
President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Issa Aremu,
which dwelt mostly on the roles required by organized labour and the
media to strengthen democracy in Nigeria.
At the end of the meeting, the NGE resolved as follows:
1.      To support the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN)
in setting up of an ombudsman in order to promote responsible
journalism.
2.      To set up an Ethics Committee made up of three Senior Editors and
two members of the Standing Committee to handle cases of misconduct by
practitioners.
3.      The committee reviewed the 5th All Nigerian Editors Conference
(ANEC) held between April 2-5th in Kaduna, and noted with satisfaction
the large turn-out of participants from all over the country.
4.      Adopted the draft proposal for the 6th All Nigerian Editors
Conference tentatively billed for Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, in April 2010
with the theme: “Oil and Gas: The Nigerian Editor and Imperative for
Sustainable Peace.”
5.      The Guild noted with dismay the harsh business environment for
journalism practice in the country, leading to staff rationalization
in many media organizations, and urged the federal government to, as a
matter of national emergency, take proactive steps to bolster the
nation’s economy.
6.      Reaffirming its support and encouragement of professionalism
through specialization, the NGE Standing Committee reiterated its
opposition to Beat Associations which often constitute themselves into
miniature newsrooms and "cult like", deciding what news items and
sources would be given attention, thereby denying the profession of
its all-embracing role as an open market place of ideas. It enjoined
media organizations to discourage its staffers from joining such
associations.
7.      The NGE Standing Committee noted, with satisfaction, the
transparent conduct of the last general election of the Nigerian Union
of Journalists (NUJ), and expressed the hope that the new leadership
of the NUJ will work with other stakeholders to bring respectability
and professionalism to journalism practice.
8.      The Committee encourages members of the NGE to attend this year’s
World Editors Forum (WEF) billed for Hydrabad, India, in November,
2009, noting that interaction with counterparts from other parts of
the world helps in fostering viable partnerships that broaden the
horizon of media practioners worldwide.
9.      The Committee lamented the reluctance of members of the Guild to
avail themselves of the opportunity offered by its website,
nigerianguildofeditors.com to stimulate discourse and urged all
Editors to hook up to the site.
10.     The NGE frowns at the attempt to rewrite Nigerian history by
insinuating that its democracy began only 10 years ago, when in actual
fact, the country has a rich tapestry of democratic principles and
practices dating back to Nigeria's independence in 1960.
11.     That the media and organized labour must partner to deepen
democratic ideals through increased focus on wealth creation, rather
than tokenism called poverty alleviation measures which promote
corruption rather than development agenda.
12.     The Committee thanked the Governor Peter Obi, the government and
people of Anambra state, for their support towards the successful
hosting of the Standing Committee meeting of the NGE.


Gbenga Adefaye                                          John Ndukauba
President                                               General Secretary

 BEING A COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE MEETING OF
THE NIGERIAN GUILD OF EDITORS (NGE), HELD AT AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE,
BETWEEN JUNE 18-20, 2009.