About eight entities have pledged their supports for the sixth annual conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) scheduled to hold on October 6, 2022 at Sheraton Hotel in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State.
The chairman, 2022 Conference Committee, Ken Ugbechie, recently revealed the partners to include Delta and Lagos States including the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Chevron Nigeria Limited, and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
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Ugbechie, in a press signed by GOCOP Publicity Secretary, Remmy Nweke, listed other partners such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Access Bank Plc, Unity Bank plc and Globacom.
The conference themed ‘2023 Elections: Managing the Process for Credible Outcome’ will have in attendance the presence of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, as the keynote speaker.
In addition, Dr Umar Ardo, the founder of the Centre for Alternative Policy Perspectives and Strategy (CAPPS), would chair the day.
Among the panellists, include a human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, former Inspector General of Police, Dr Solomon E. Arase, and Dr Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye, Regional Director, Ford Foundation (West Africa).
The GOCOP 2022 conference as earlier announced had partnerships with 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), as well as the First Bank Plc, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, the Presidency, Wema Bank, Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), among others.
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Further, Ugbechie said the conference will provide a roadmap for political actors and the various public on the need to play by the rules and conform to acceptable electoral behaviour in the forthcoming election.
THE PREVIOUS EVENTS
In 2019, Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto spoke to the theme ‘Economy, Security and National Development: The Way Forward.’
Two years after, Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation who also doubled as the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 delivered a keynote address on ‘Post Covid-19 Pandemic: Recovery and Reconstruction in Nigeria.’
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“The Guild was established to ensure that online publishers uphold the tenets of journalism in doing their jobs and our 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.
He stressed that the conference is therefore 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.
“GOCOP intends to 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,” Ugbechie added.
