Business Hilights founder, Okenwa inducted into Guilds of Nigerian publishers’
…As Kukah, others link dearth of investors’ to insecurity, policy rascality
Veteran journalist and founder, Business Hilights Group, Prince Stan Iheanyi Okenwa has been inducted into the membership of the leading Nigerian prestigious Guilds of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP).
The induction ceremony which was part of the 3rd Annual Conference of the group was laced with presentations and thought provoking discussions by Nigerian opinion leaders and technocrats at the Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja on Friday, October 4, 2019.
In his lead Keynote speech, His Lordship, Dr Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese averred that “Sound economies guarantee sound security of lives and property which clearly guarantee sound development.”
Elaborating more on the theme; ‘Economy, Security and National Development: The Way Forward,’ Kukah averred that “Systematic disruption of strategic development policies of successive governments over the years, account for Nigeria’s inability to have a history of sustainable development in any sector of the economy.”
He said due to policy rascality tendencies, “the recent border closure is now causing scenes of empty shelves across several shopping malls and it will soon get to a level that mega malls will begin to close down some shelves permanently because there is yet, no local substitute even before the border closure.
On the rush for Chinese ‘cheap’ loans, the lettered cleric argued that “Chinese loans are now getting similar to World Bank and IMF loan in terms of conditions and the debt buildup is becoming fearful.”
According to him, “there had not been any head of government in the country that leaves without huge hatred, but if you come very close to any of the past leaders, you will find out that he has no bad-wish for Nigeria and his policies.”
He argued that “The real issue is that some unelected people who are close to or are on corridors of power hijack governance and drive it to their selfish choice direction with or without the original intension of the number one citizen”.
Corroborating Bishop Kukah’s stand, security expert and former DG of DSS, Barr Mike Ejiofor revealed that “There is hardly no national issue of danger that did not receive intelligence report ahead of time during his time, but majority of security reports end up in Ghana-Must-Go bags due to lack of political will to do the needful.”
Evaluating security developments in North East, the Army PRO, Col. Sagir Musa, who represented the Chief of Army Staff, argued that the Military had infused strong Civil-Military Relationship over the years and the relation is yielding good fruits in managing rules of engagement in warfare.
He commended the online media professionals and charged the new members to always report realities in ways and manners that will not only grow the economy, but sustain public peace.
Besides, the event was at its peak when the Bayelsa State Governor; Barr Seriake Dickson arrived and and opened up on the values of new media.
Mounting the podium, he started by congratulating the inductees and went ahead to give details of the good relationship his government has maintained with GOCOP over the years.
According to him, “No matter the level of inconvienences’ and restlessness the social media and online publications may present to every government, the new media remains one of the best innovations coming from technology revolution in Nigeria and all developing economies.”
“Am convinced that social media remains the best bet for growth of true governance and democracy in Nigeria.
Earlier in his remarks, the chairman of the occasion and chairman, The News group, Mr Bayo Onanuga charged the new GOCOP members to always abide by the creed and ethics of journalism at all times so as to sustain the integrity of GOCOP founding fathers.
Talking about GOCOP founding fathers, in his brief goodwill message, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media, Mr Femi Adesina congratulated inductees and charged them to demonstrate their membership of the choice Guild by investigating properly before publishing as whatever that is published goes a long way in the media space either for good or bad.
The new Exco lead by Dotun Oladipo and Maureen Chigbo as President and Vice, were also inaugurated and sworn into office for fresh tenure.
In an interview, publisher of Business Hilights, Prince Okenwa said “Becoming a member of GOCOP is a dream come true and it will inspire me to do more in innovation and diversification of the group’s offerings.
“As you may wish to know, Business Hilights is now a group having diversified offerings’ and media service deliveries to two more entities under the parent company, Media Hilights Integrated Company Limited.
“Recall that barely one year into online publishing, we set up the Business Hilights Intelligence Unit (BHIU), an independent unit handling all research and deep pocket business investigative matters both for our publications and for clients who may wish to give us investigative jobs.
“It may interest you to know that BHIU has done several jobs for prospective foreign investors and many of the investors relied on our report to enter Nigeria and establish their flourishing businesses today.
“Again, earlier this year, we flagged off our newspaper division. The newspaper is called Markets Business Hilights and is dedicated to leading markets in Nigeria with at least not less than 10,000 traders/service providers.
Okenwa revealed further that “Since we started the bi-weekly newspaper, we have been printing well over 30,000 copies and circulate exclusively in markets across the nation”.
“It is important to note that the newspaper contents are exclusively market reports and do not contain reports published on our flagship online.
“Otherwise, both publications have different news items because they do not serve the same readership and audience. This is so because whereas our online (www.businesshilights.com.ng) reports activities in the formal sector of the economy, Markets Business Hilights reports activities in the informal sector and mainly markets and trading hubs in Nigeria,” Okenwa added.
