For umpteenth time, Nigerian journalists have been challenged to rise and change the narratives of the society to sustain a lasting development.
Moffat Ekoriko, the Chief Executive Officer of Clear Point Communication Limited, threw the challenge when the 2021 Akwa Ibom NUJ Press Week Committee led by the State Chairman, Comrade Amos Etuk visited him in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.
The press week billed to hold from December 5 to 10, 2021 in Uyo intends to incorporate “NIGHT WITH THE LEGEND” as part of activities of the week-long celebration.
Ekoriko miffed by poor vision about Akwa Ibom development by many successive administrations said “To me, the interest of Akwa Ibom people at a particular point in time is to educate our population. That is what Obafemi Awolowo did and that is why today, nobody can match the Yorubas educationally. Investment in Education spills into other accomplishments.
“If we educate our people today, they will tomorrow build the biggest churches, biggest factories and our people will be able to achieve all the things we think we are trying to achieve today”.
The News Africa publisher recalled “In Eastern Nigeria, Michael Okpara went on an economic development programme. Eastern Nigeria had a great oil palm and Rubber estates, the best network of roads and best of everything.
Awolowo ignored all that, did a little bit of it but his focus was more on education of the people and at the end of the day, what Awo did has taken the Yorubas above everybody.
”All the Oil Palm plantations, roads that Eastern Nigeria built there were not sustainable as investment in people.”
Ekoriko, however, decried a situation where the state government commits N10 billion for the building of a worship centre upon all the churches in the state.
“I want Akwa Ibom NUJ to think of what N10 billion invested in re-equipping primary schools will do to the future of our children.
”I want you think of what N10 billion invested in selecting the best 10,000 Akwa Ibom sons and daughters to be trained all over abroad and they come back for our people. Awolowo trained the Yorubas and today the Yorubas have built the biggest churches.”
Ekoriko noted that Nigeria has one unfortunate problem as “Our stories of yesterday are always better than our story of today. I have never seen it anywhere else. Every Society moves, makes progress even if it is small, there is a progress but Nigeria is the only country that they say: In the 70s, we used to go to school free, our road network used to be this and that.
Talking more on Akwa-Ibom, the press fellow at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge said Obong Attah set standards of what should be done in Akwa Ibom, Akpabio came, built durable roads using Julius Berger which has been emulated by other states.
Mr Ekoriko who also spoke deeply on some gray areas of the 2022 budget of the state expressed worry over the allocation of N50 billion to service debt.
According to him, “Tomorrow, a new governor will come maybe oil might not be selling and what the government will be struggling to do is how to service debt the N50 billion. Nobody appears shocked.
”Whenever people applaud you for a job well done, please learn to ask what exactly you have done so that you will not be deceived.
”If you know you have capacity to fight 10 men, then you can go on a journey involving fighting 10 men but if you know you cannot even stand one slap, then you find way to crawl and fine your way to where you are going.
”While the people around those in power sometimes do not have those interests at heart, they have the interest of their pocket and bank account. It is only Journalists that have the interest of our people and you are the one to change the narratives,” Ekoriko added.
He said “Nigeria is a society where money has become the denominator of everything and you know Journalists are not very rich people. We tell the stories, we have influence but we do not also have money. You can write a story today that can make a governor and then he wants to appreciate and probably calls you that he has sent something to your account and will be fanning himself.
”Let that same man run into difficulty and needs a lawyer to sort out the case with the court and they will tell him to deposit five million. People talk about brown envelope. Have you ever heard about 1 billion brown envelop? It doesn’t exist,” Ekoriko said.
He said “Journalists are not rich people but we make society better and because we don’t have money, people don’t seem to recognise the contributions we made to society.
“The second reason is that Akwa Ibom state is a very political environment and any successful person in Akwa Ibom is a politician. So the whole society is focused on the politician.
”So if you are a council Chairman, you see that immediately you start acquiring followership, you even have aides. You will have SAs; …The SAs will have the PAs of the SA to the Chairman. That is one of the things that is actually destroying the Akwa Ibom society.”
According to him “We cannot have a society that the only variables you see are political players. Every society works because the medical Doctors, Journalists, Teachers and other Professionals are recognised.
The London-based journalist said, ’’I lived in England and there is something I noticed about the English society.
”The tax man is chasing you for tax as if the money is entering his pocket. This is because the tax man knows that without the tax you pay, there is nothing to run the system.”
He further said “The Hospital cleaner cleans the toilet and the Hospital as if his life depends on it because he knows that if he does not do so, the disease might spread and that disease might wipe out the entire population. So everybody plays his parts and his own contributions.
“Just like we do in Nigeria but that when it comes to recognition there, we have what they call the Queen’s New Year Honours.
”So the Queen will honour David Beckham for services to Football; Honours the Professor of Medicine for services to medicine; Honours the Cleaner for services to humanity. So you see a cleaner who is Sir Moffat Ekoriko, what does he do? He cleans the hospital. So that is how society grows.”
“For anybody to move from Uyo to Port Harcourt that thing must be important to that person and to make that journey shows a kind of respect because even if you sent the letter, I would have responded and assured that I will be there. I want to tell you straight away that I will be at the press Week, not only to attend the Night of the legend but all activities,” Ekoriko assured.
He congratulated the NUJ Akwa Ibom State Council for appreciating and celebrating excellence its among members.
According to him, Akwa Ibom State has been lucky to produce some of the best journalists in the country.
Ekoriko, who was awarded by London-based Nuffield Foundation as one of the best four journalists in the Commonwealth, explained that he was recommended by another great journalist of Akwa Ibom, Mr Ray Ekpu after he had finished his tenure as the President of the Commonwealth Journalists Association which comprises journalists from over 50 countries in the world.
The legend with more than three decades of experience with Nigerian and International publications shared his experience when he worked with the Nigerian Tide, Port Harcourt; Newswatch, Lagos; Financial Times, London as well as when he was the Lagos correspondent of the Times, London and a contributor to the Observer, London.
“I went to Newswatch and by the time I got there, Anietie Usen had already left but you could hear the tales of his exploits.
”I was posted to work with Utibe Ukim. When you take a story to him and fan yourself, by the time he tightened up your script, you will see that you were writing a business story. Writing a business story is different from writing a political story though all stories deal with fact. You don’t embellish business report it is either company A has made the profit of N1.2 billion or it did not.”
Ekoriko explained, ”If the company made the profit N1.2 billion, you need to say what economic factors are variables, what led to that performance.
The recipient of Nigeria’s highest Media Honour, the Cecil king Memorial Prize for Journalist of the Year (1995) by the Nigerian Media Merit Award pointed out that when we went to the FINANCIAL TIMES London, what he did there was quite business stories the way Utibe Ukim taught him.
He said he brought the illustrations to show that Akwa Ibom people have done so well though for a long time, those achievements and accomplishments have not been appreciated.
Ekoriko, who holds a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom identified two reasons why achievements by journalists are not celebrated in Nigeria.
He opined that it is the role of journalists to change the narratives only as they have the capacity to detect the narrative of any society.
Earlier, Comrade Etuk had described Ekoriko as a well respected legend, pointing out ‘’I thank God for journey mercies from Uyo to Port Harcourt. On the way, I told my Colleagues: THIS IS HOW THE JOURNEY TO LOOK FOR A LEGEND MUST BE. It shows the Commitment and Sincerity of the state Council in charting the direction to look for you.
Etuk informed him that the union will honour him as NUJ Ambassador during the event.
The press week on the theme, Politics, National Unity and the Quest for Credible Elections in 2023: The Role of Journalism, Comrade Etuk announced that 13 categories of awards have been mapped out for contest.
Describing Ekoriko as priceless pearl, the Akwa Ibom NUJ boss noted that “It is always the biggest night for us because it gives us as a family, the opportunity for the younger generation to sit down and listen to our forebears, men who lit the path to the success story of NUJ in the state who have stories to tell and lessons to learn so that the younger generation will have a feel of what journalism profession is all about and also look forward to such exploits to enable them set agenda for the development of society.
”Therefore, we are here to formally invite you to be part of the event and that you will be among the legends to be honoured as Ambassador of Akwa Ibom State Council of the NUJ.”
Reaffirming the commitment of NUJ under his leadership to enhance excellence and standards in all activities, Etuk assured to continue to uphold the ethics of the profession, eradicate quackery and promote the welfare of members.
Reports by Etieno Ibanga
