The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) would soon have participants in the prestigious Senior Executive Course of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS).
This was disclosed in a statement jointly signed by the NGE President and General Secretary, Mrs. Funke Egbemode and Mary Atolagbe, respectively, in Abuja, yesterday.
The vice president reportedly said this when the newly-elected executive of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, led by Mrs. Egbemode, visited him in Abuja.
Osinbajo congratulated the NGE for its recent rancour-free election, which demonstrated that it is a professional body of men and women of integrity and exemplary character.
The vice president, who said he regarded himself as a media person, because, his first book was on media ethics in Nigeria, promised to support specialised trainings for editors and media professionals. He further promised to always support the media and explore means of an intervention fund for specific media projects.
Osinbajo said he would welcome ideas from the NGE on how best to improve government-media relations and in resolving challenges posed by social media, which is without regulation and added that slots would be assigned to members; to undertake the Course, with a view to enable them contribute their quota to nation building.
The statement said the slots would also enable NGE participants to join the forums at NIPPS, where academics of excellence, seasoned policy initiators meet to reflect and exchange ideas on the great and critical issues of developing the Nigerian society.
The vice president said that members of the Guild would be considered for the rigorous screening into the course and those who are successful would fill the discretionary slots for enrolment on the Course.
He, however, promised that his office would work out plans for editors to participate in the course from the next batch of the training and challenged the NGE to explore means of tackling fake news and finding effective means of regulating the social media.
On her part, the NGE president said the Guild is passionate about training and re-training of editors and seeks to partner with other agencies of government for capacity-building of editors.
She intimated the vice president with the current harsh economic atmosphere in which the media industry was operating.
“While most other sectors are out of recession, the media industry is not yet out of the economic quagmire,” she added.
She suggested that government should consider setting up a Media Industry Intervention Fund for media operators that are battling high cost of importing consummables, with a view to cushioning the current harsh economic operating environment.