Gambari leads discussion on conflict reporting at 10th Soyinka lecture series

Amidst mounting concerns on the unchecked spate of violence in parts of Nigeria, and the media’s coverage of same, Ibrahim Gambari, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and former Nigeria’s former Minister of External Affairs, will lead discussions on the issues at the Tenth Wole Soyinka Media Lecture Series.

The event which is billed to hold Friday, 13 July 2018 at NECA House, Alausa, Lagos, by 10am is themed, “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); and Umaru Pate, Pioneer Dean, Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano. Others are Mnguember Vicky Sylvester, Professor of Literature and Gender Studies, University of Abuja; and Juliet ‘Kego Ume-Onyido, Co-Founder of Whole WoMan Network.

A press statement signed by Motunrayo Alaka, coordinator of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) said conversation at the event will centre “on 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 added that the conversation had become necessary in order to contribute to demands for accountability from the Nigerian government in terms of doing more to secure the lives and properties of the Nigerian people, by stopping the never-ending violence, as well as ensuring the media remained ethical in its reportage of the issues.

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.