While speaking at the recent 80th birthday ceremony in honour of accomplished media scholar and professional, Professor Olatunji Dare by the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) and Vintage Press Limited, Publishers of The Nation Newspaper, veteran journalist and former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba commended the NGE for the initiative.
He also recalled the annual Alhaji Lateef Jakande Lecture launched last year by NGE in honour of the Late former Lagos state governor who as an accomplished journalist himself, played various major roles in the development of the profession in the country.
The second edition of the Jakande lecture would be held on July 30 with the theme: “Rapidly Changing Media Landscape: Media Survival Strategies”
Chief Osoba noted that it is gladdening that media groups like NGE are paying more attention to honouring journalists instead of the usual practice of honouring public officeholders and others at the detriment of our profession.
We join in commending NGE for organizing the birthday in honour of distinguished columnist, Professor Dare and the lecture for Late Alhaji Jakande, founding President of NGE who also facilitated the establishment of the Nigeria Institute of Journalism (NIJ).
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Dare and Jakande are among the veteran top media professionals our profession can boast of who deserve to be honoured and celebrated for their contributions to the profession which should not be forgotten.
We are aware that the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and other media groups have in the past honoured some senior and retired journalists.
We urge NGE and other media groups to honour more outstanding journalists in acknowledgement of their excellent performance on the job and the development of the industry.
The growing culture of appreciation for our profession, craft, and its leading lights which the Executive Director of Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME), Mr Lanre Idowu noted in his tribute to Dare should be sustained.
We need to keep highlighting the accomplishments of our members for the public to appreciate our profession better for the invaluable contributions of individual journalists and media organisations to the overall development of the country.
We agree with DAME Executive Director that “When we celebrate the best amongst us, we are actually celebrating ourselves and saying to the world that we are not defined by the shenanigans of the tiny few who blight the image of our country and our profession. We are also saying that our country can grow in a welcome direction when we deepen the culture of appreciation in the media, in the arts, the sciences, and other spheres of national life.”