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By Ukandi Christopher
Publishers and journalists in the Niger Delta region have been called upon to bring to the fore development issue confronting the region in their reportage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Dr. Monday Ashibogwu, speaking on ‘Media Intervention and Engagement and Strategies,’ during a parley held for media executives and publishers at the Ibom Hotel and Resort, Uran, Akwa Ibom State, Thursday, said it is their responsibility to shape public opinion, particularly as it concerns the Petroleum Industry Bill.
Ashibogwu argued that media executives and publishers should endeavor to send a clear message to the people when they set agenda on issues in the region.
Speaking on ‘Host Community Provisions in PIB 2020,’ Joe Nwakwue of Zera Advisory Consulting, called on host communities and oil bearing communities to remove the cloak of “victim mentality to avoid losing at the negotiation table.”
He argued that development initiatives in the Niger Delta should be project-oriented, rather than focusing on making payments and giving handouts to the people of the region.
Executive director of OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, convener of the event, Oke Epia, noted that the parley was convened to enable senior media personnel take the message of the Petroleum Industry Bill to the people in the creeks and towns of the region.
Dr. Michael Uzoigwe, lead of the Facility for Oil Sector Transformation (FOSTER), pointed out that the role of the media in setting agenda, as well as social media influencers, goes a long way to shape policy formulations and social response to issues.
He noted that “among the stakeholders (to the bill), we feel that the host communities have not been adequately consulted.”
Delivering a paper on ‘developmental issues in the Niger Delta,’ Jesse-Martin Aunufor listed environmental degradation, infrastructural deficit and poverty as evils bedeviling the Niger Delta, noting that a proper assessment of the peculiar nature of the region and the development challenges it presents is of utmost importance if any lasting development to be achieved in the area.
Mrs Florence Pere, publisher of Port Harcourt-based Verite Newspaper, applauded the initiative of the organizers and pledged to take the message to the people.
While Hon. Lawson Hayford, general manager, Peoples 93.1 FM, Yenagoa, said the bill is a positive step towards developing the industry, but advised members of the National Assembly from the Niger Delta region to liaise with fellow lawmakers from other zones to have the bill passed.
The general expectation of the senior media personnel of the Niger Delta region was that Petroleum Industry Bill PIB has been too long in the making and the time was now ripe to accelerate the passage of the bill.
