There is excitement in the air as Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) has received significant partnership from the Presidency, Delta, Lagos State Governments and many others in hosting its 6th Annual Conference, scheduled for October 6.
Chairman of the 2022 Conference Committee, Ken Ugbechie in Monday, September 26, listed others in the partnership for the confab as the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Chevron Nigeria Limited, and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
They also include the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Access Bank Plc, Unity Bank plc and Globacom, the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc.), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCDMB), and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the First Bank Plc, Nigeria Liquefied National Gas (NLNG) Limited, Wema Bank, and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).
A statement by GOCOP Publicity Secretary, Remmy Nweke, quoted Ugbechie to have said that this year’s conference theme would focus on “2023 Elections: Managing the Process for Credible Outcome,” with the keynote speaker being the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
Chairman of the day would be the founder, Centre for Alternative Policy Perspectives and Strategy (CAPPS) Dr Umar Ardo, while the panelists would include lawyer-activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, former Inspector General of Police, Dr Solomon E. Arase and Dr Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye of Ford Foundation.
Ugbechie said that this year’s conference, slated to hold barely five months to the 2023 general elections, would provide a roadmap for political actors and the various publics on the need to play by the rules and conform to acceptable electoral behavior.
Highlight expected at this year’s conference, he said, was a business luncheon with GOCOP partners on Wednesday, October 5, at the same venue.
Speakers at the previous GOCOP conferences include Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto who took podium in 2019 to lecture on “Economy, Security and National Development: The Way Forward.”
In 2021, Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation keynoted the Conference in his capacity as Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19.
He spoke on: “Post Covid-19 Pandemic: Recovery and Reconstruction in Nigeria.”
The Guild was established to ensure that online publishers uphold the tenets of journalism in doing their jobs and membership is a constellation of Editors and senior journalists who, having distinguished themselves in their various stations, ventured into online publishing which is both the present and future of journalism globally. Ugbechie said that the conference is a fitting platform for the distillation and sharing of ideas from a carefully chosen array of resource persons cutting across the entire socio-political ecosystem.
He said that GOCOP would use the opportunity of the conference to moderate the already tense political climate as well as to proffer solutions to current and anticipated challenges arising from the elections.
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