As the Committee proceedings of the on-going National Conference entered
\nthe second day, the Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications,
\nAkpandem James on Wednesday cleared the air on reports that journalists
\nwere barred from covering committee proceedings.<\/p>\n
A cross section of the media reported that the Conference barred
\njournalists from covering Committee proceedings.<\/p>\n
But Mr. James, who addressed journalists at the National Judicial
\nInstitute (NJI) venue, said the leadership at no time gave any order for
\nthe media to be restricted from covering any aspect of the Conference.<\/p>\n
Out of the 20 Standing Committees, Mr. James said only the Committee on
\nDevolution of Power initially barred journalists from covering its
\ndeliberations.<\/p>\n
He explained that the leadership of the Committee thought committee
\nsessions were restricted and therefore were not open to direct media
\ncoverage.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cYou cannot say that journalists were barred from covering
\nactivities of Conference Committees if only one out of the 20 Committees
\nmisunderstood the fact that the sittings were supposed to be open to the
\nmedia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have just gone in to inform the one of the Co-chairmen of the
\nCommittee, that reporters should be allowed to cover every aspects of the
\nCommittee\u2019s work and he immediately agreed that they should come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
While enjoining Journalists covering the Conference to always refer issues
\nthey have to his office for prompt attention, Mr James noted that it was
\nhasty of some reporters to conclude that journalists were being barred
\nfrom covering Committee proceedings, when the matter only involved a
\nsingle committee.<\/p>\n
When journalists were allowed to access the Committee, its Co-Chairman,
\nObong Victor Attah advise them to be fair and objective in reporting
\nactivites of the Conference; pointing to a particular report in one of the
\nnewspapers that morning that there was a disagreement between him and the
\nCo-Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Ibrahim Commassie.<\/p>\n
He admonished: \u201cPlease let us act with absolute responsibility. Record
\nwhat you want to record, but please do it with absolute sense of
\nresponsibility and with the understanding that what you do will engender
\nunity and peace in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The Committee which started its sitting on Tuesday has started debate on
\nresource control.<\/p>\n
Many of the delegates were in agreement on the need for resource control
\nbut wished that its implementation be delayed to enable all parts of the
\ncountry to be ready to embrace it.<\/p>\n
Having attended three subsequent Conferences, Senator Jack Tilley Gyado,
\nsaid every time the issue of resource control comes on the table, people
\nbecome apprehensive.<\/p>\n
He said \u201ca lot of marriages breakdown due to lack of money and how it is
\nspent.\u00a0 I must align myself with the contributions of Ibrahim Mantu.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith 13 per cent being given the South-South, with the NDDC, Ministry of
\nNiger Delta, the SURE-P, the Amnesty and normal allocations to the states,
\nI advise we make haste slowly in asking for more to be given. I believe
\nthat the timing of the request is wrong although the request is good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chief Ayo Adebanjo said he is privileged to be part of those who started
\nthe agitation for resource control in the country during which Western
\nRegion used 50 per cent of its resources to carry our massive development
\nof the region. He said that it was the military that decided on the 50 per
\ncent and 13 per cent derivation formulae, adding that the nation has a new
\nopportunity to right the wrongs of the past.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cit was after the military coup of 1966 that the military imposed
\nthis system on us and it has been causing trouble ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Committee on Environment has set up four sub committees. These include
\nClimate Change; Pollution and Gas Flaring; Deforestation, Drought and Bush
\nBurning; and Waste Management\/Mining. The sub-Committees have since
\nresumed work and will submit their various reports to the Committee based
\non the dateline set by the Conference Secretariat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the Committee proceedings of the on-going National Conference entered the second day, the Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications, Akpandem James on Wednesday cleared the air on reports that journalists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n