By Simon Ebegbulem
BENIN- As the seventh edition of the Guild of Editors conference kicks-off today in Benin City, Edo State, the Benin monarch, Oba Erediauwa, who received members of the Guild led by its President, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, at his palace, appealed to the Federal Government to find lasting solution to the problem of insecurity in the country.
This comes as Governor Adams Oshiomhole descri-bed the media as one of the strongest infrastructure of the nation’s democracy and stressed the need to consoli-date on the achievements made so far.
The Benin monarch, who expressed concern over the security situation in the country, commended mem-bers of the Guild for choosing the state for their conference. He urged them to use the opportunity to bring the attention of government to the country’s security problems.
Governor Oshiomhole, who also spoke when members of the Guild paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, said the media had played a crucial role in the stabilisation of democracy in the country.
On the theme of the conference, Deepening Democracy with the Nigerian Editor, Oshiomhole said: “It will provide us with the platform to reflect and analytically evaluate all that is going on in the country. The real challenge of democracy goes beyond the day of election. In the actions we take and in our judgment, all of these constitute to what democracy is all about.
“Citizens are entitled to interrogate their leaders and even insist on answers. This where the media come in to provide the platform for that healthy interrogation between the leaders and the led. The Guild had provided competent leadership for the fourth estate of the realm.”
Earlier, Mr. Adefaye, who also is the Editor-in-Chief of Vanguard Newspapers, said about 350 editors were expected for the conference. He added that the event would afford them the opportunity to discuss on how to deepen the nation’s democracy with the power of the media.
He said: “The primary objective for us is to help refocus the media on matters of democracy. To teach our people how to engage power in a way that will benefit the media, the people and the industry. That is our focus for Edo 2011. We are happy to be here because this is Edo where we can point at democracy.
“There had been power shift. There is a change of baton and people can say indeed votes will count. So we do hope that we will extend the frontiers of discourse to make our democracy work.”
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