Amidst mounting concerns on the unleash of violence and conflicts in some parts of Nigeria and the media coverage of same, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Nigerian scholar, diplomat and former Minister for External Affairs, will lead conversations to discuss the issues at the 10th Wole Soyinka Media Lecture Series billed to hold on Friday, 13 July 2018 at NECA House, Alausa, Lagos, by 10am with the theme, “Sheathing the drawn daggers: Conversations on investigative reporting and accountability in times of conflict.”
To join Gambari for the discourse are Joe Abah, Nigeria Country Director, DAI Global; Eugenia Abu, Brand and Multimedia Strategy Expert, Columnist and former Executive Director of Programmes, Nigeria Television Authority (NTA); Umaru Pate, Pioneer Dean, Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano; Mnguember Vicky Sylvester, Professor of Literature and Gender Studies, University of Abuja; and Juliet ‘Kego Ume-Onyido, Co-Founder of Whole WoMan Network.
A statement issued by Motunrayo Alaka, Coordinator, WSCIJ said Gambari and others would address the media’s narration of multifarious conflict issues in the country, including the recurrent crisis relating to communities, farmers and herdsmen, Boko Haram, Niger-Delta militancy and the Biafra secession agitations.
The statement said the discussion has become urgent to contribute to demands for accountability from the government to secure the lives and properties of the people and stop the violence while maintaining the highest ethics of the media.
Held first in 2008, the Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture Series is an annual event of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ). The Centre organises the lecture to raise debate on critical issues affecting Nigeria. It has since 2009 held on 13 July, to commemorate the birthday of Africa’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature and Grand Patron of the WSCIJ, Professor Wole Soyinka.
Admittance to the event is open to journalists, members of security agencies, policy makers, representatives of pressure groups and non-governmental organisations, members of the diplomatic corps, students, lawyers and other members of the public.