GOVERNOR Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, said, weekend that editors would be held responsible should Nigeria break up.
Consequently, he charged the editors to be mindful of the kind of reports they churned out for public consumption..
Speaking at a gala nite organised for the editors to round up 9th edition of Guild of Editors Conference in Asaba, the governor said: “I want to sincerely thank the President and other members of the Guild who have been here for these past few days. There is no doubt that as journalists you owe our people the responsibility of ensuring that we keep Nigeria one.
“Whatever you write or whatever you do not write for those who write whatever you say and whatever you do not say can keep us together or break us. So I want to appeal, some of us love Nigeria and want Nigeria to remain one.
“Some of us love democracy and want democracy to continue. We believe that yet we are still not firm on the ground in terms of democracy, but we believe that with time as we fall and get up, we will eventually stop falling. We will start walking and start running.
“So I want to appeal that sometimes before you write think of the impact of that write-up, how it will affect society. I’m not saying you should not criticise but when you are doing it, have the interest of the country uppermost in your hearts”.
Uduaghan challenged the editors on the need to hold government accountable to the people.
Earlier during an executive session held on Friday, Governor Uduaghan told the editors to monitor the implementation of budgets in order to achieve transparency and accountability in governance at all levels.
He stated that government’s budget was a public document that should be made available to the public to see and assess the level of its implementation.
This, he said, informed the need for Delta State government to print and circulate its 2013 budget freely to individuals, including participants at the conference.
“Budget should be a public document that people can have access to and hold government accountable to it. This is why we have printed and distributed our state budget to people including you all in this hall.
“You can also access our budget online at any of our websites. I think we are the only one in the country to have done this. Government is accountable to the people in everything,” he said.
Ten distinguished Editors were inducted as new Fellows of the Guild at the colourful gala nite, which included the General Manager/Editor-in-Chief of Vanguard Newspapers and two-term President of the Guild, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye.
Other fellows were Malam Modibo Kawu, John Ndukauba, Bayo Atoyebi, Folu Olamiti, Jide Adebayo, Segun Babatope, Buki Ponle, Olusegun Aribike and Bonnie Iwuoha. The oath of office was administered by Mr. Ray Ekpu.
Mr. Adefaye while responding on behalf of others, promised that they would uphold the ethics of the profession as well as live up to expectation.
Apart from the fellows, other new inductees into the Guild took their oath of office administered by Mr. Bonnie Iwuoha.
