All Set for First News 4th Anniversary Public Lecture

*Fubara, Diri, Dickson, Ogbuku, others to grace event

All is now set for the much anticipated First News 4th Anniversary Public Lecture scheduled to hold on Friday, October 4, 2024, at the Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Confirmed as Special Guests are the governors of Rivers and Bayelsa States, Sir Siminialayi Fubara and Senator Douye Diri, while former Bayelsa State Governor and serving senator, Henry Seriake Dickson, will chair the event billed for 10am.

Renowned political economist and management expert, Prof. Pat Utomi will deliver the keynote address with the theme “Building The Niger Delta of Our Dream: With or Without Oil”.

Panelists at the event will include; Prof. G.G. Darah, Liborous Oshoma, Frank Tietie, Lancelot Anyanya, and Donu Kogbara.

A statement by the publisher of First News, Dr Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the managing director and chief executive officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Samuel Ogbuku and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack will also be among the dignitaries in the star studded event.

Ijaw leader and elder statesman, Pa Edwin Clark, will deliver a special goodwill message according to the statement released on Wednesday.

The statement added that special awards will be conferred on Fubara for promoting peace and prioritizing the welfare of civil servants in Rivers State while similar award will also he bestowed on Diri for sustaining peace and stability in Bayelsa.

Senator Dickson will receive the distinguished public servant and ijaw icon award just as Ogbuku will be honoured for reintroducing the NDDC free medical outreach program which has impacted on the lives of millions of people in the Niger Delta region.

Others to be conferred with awards are; Tantita Security Services for providing excellent pipeline security services that has resulted in increased output for Nigeria’s crude oil production quota as well as music icon, Damini Ogulu popularly known as Burna Boy for his charity works and humanitarian interventions.

The statement noted that the choice of the theme was carefully selected because of the reality the Niger Delta faces as a result of the inability of its leaders to use the resources to transform the region.

It said: “Reflection on the squandered opportunity to develop the region and the imperative to do something about it rather than indulge in lamentation and hand-wringing informed our decision to mark the fourth anniversary of our online newspaper, FIRST NEWS, by organizing a public lecture.

“The various speakers and crack team of experts at the panel sessions will engage our audience in meaningful conversation and dialogue that will stimulate new ideas and solutions on the way forward to fast track the development of the Niger Delta.

“It bears restating: there can be no better time than now for us to rethink the future of the region, casting our minds back to the time when we were a thriving economy, long before the discovery of oil in Oloibiri in 1956. That was when the white man came with his oily business. Then, our people were bemused by his preoccupation with the oil and allowed him to exploit our land rather mercilessly. Now he has sucked out the black gold and has left our land badly degraded and despoiled, leaving whatever is left to their local interlopers.

“Why couldn’t the Niger Delta be developed like Dubai, which in the space of two decades, and before our very eyes, grew from an unremarkable fishing town to the Middle East’s business, tourism and culture epicentre?”

It further said: “To build the Niger Delta of our dream will require a similar single-minded deliberation and effort. The first place to start is to identify and be deliberate about the choice of leaders we put in positions of leadership for if the truth be told bad and corrupt leadership is at the heart of our region’s underdevelopment.

“If the Niger Delta must develop, then it is imperative that we elect the right set of leaders and buck the national predilection to enthrone mediocrity. For too long, it appeared as if only the worst amongst us found their way to power by hook or by crook.