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Global Patriot Newspapers’ Dialogue on the Media of the Future holds Friday, September 20, 2024

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…..Dabiri-Erewa, Khalfani, Adaba, Anderson, Kolawole, Umesiri, Akande, Coker, others feature  

Top media practitioners, political and business leaders, diplomats, scholars, activists and other stakeholders will, on Friday, September 20, 2024, converge, for a virtual Dialogue on “The Media of the Future,” a side event of the Black Futures Summit taking place on the sidelines of the 2024 United Nations Summit of the Future in New York, United States of America (USA).

The UN Summit of the Future is taking place during the 2024 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which will feature High Level Debates by leaders from different countries of the world who will congregate in New York.

Friday’s Dialogue, with the theme “The Media of the Future: Bridging the Gap Between the West and People of African Descent,” is being put together by Global Patriot Newspapers (GPNews), and will feature as Panelists, such well grounded personalities as Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, CEO, NiDCOM, Professor Akil Khalfani, Director, Africana Institute, Essex County College, New Jersey, USA,  Oyiza Adaba, CEO AfricaRelated, Yul Anderson, President, African America Future Society,  Simon Kolawole, CEO, The Cable Newspaper, Toyin Umesiri, CEO, Nazarau, Laolu Akande, Editor-in-Chief, Empowered Newswire and Nicky S. Coker Esq., Spokesperson, Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the UN.

The Dialogue, according to a statement by Simon Ibe, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Global Patriot Newspapers, will attempt a review of the current state of the media of People of African Descent in comparison with that of the West, make projections concerning what the ideal should be, and recommend what must be done for the existing gulf to be bridged, and for the media of People of African Descent to attain the desirable heights, in the interest of all.

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The log in details for the program, which starts at 3:00PM (EST), 8:00PM (WAT) are:

Meeting ID – 874 3571 2414

Passcode – guest

The Panelists

Hon. Dabiri-Erewa was a celebrated broadcast journalist who went on to become a multiple-term member of the Nigerian House of Representatives, before being appointed the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM). She was also named Diaspora Champion for her efforts to mobilize other African countries to set up Diaspora Commissions in their countries to cater to needs of their nationals living outside their countries.

Akil Khalfani, the Director, Africana Institute of Essex County College, Newark, New Jersey, is an acclaimed pan Africanist and a Professor of Sociology. A committed community leader, he ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District in 2022, and is back in the current race. He is also media personality.

Oyiza Adaba, daughter of Professor Tom Adaba, the pioneer Director General of Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is the CEO of New York-based multi-media organization, AfricaRelated, and the award-winning Producer of a widely acclaimed documentary on the internationally celebrated Ghana-born Sculptor, Professor El Anatsui.

Yul Anderson, the brain behind the Black Futures Summit and Afro4UN, is a Future Analyst and the President of the African American Future Society (TAAFS) Inc, while Akande, the Host of a popular Television show, Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, who served as Spokesperson for Vice President of Nigeria (2015-2023,  and before then, the North American Bureau Chief for The Guardian in New York, is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Empowered Newswire, an integrated news agency that he founded in New York.

Simon Kolawole, Founder/CEO of frontline pan African online media platform, The Cable Newspaper, was a Chevening scholar (2006), won a grant from the Centre for the Future State, University of Sussex for a Masters dissertation (2006), was nominated among Africa’s Next Generation of Leaders by The Banker Magazine, published by Financial Times of London (2009), was a Fellow of the Mo Ibrahim Governance for Development in Africa Initiative (2010) and was named Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum (2012).

Toyin Umesiri, the creator and host of the TV Show, Quantum Leap which airs in Aurora, Illinois, USA; was appointed by the U.S Secretary of Commerce to serve on the Illinois District Export Council (ILDEC) in 2022, served previously as Ambassador for Intra-African Trade by appointment of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Union (AU) and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Westrock Coffee Company, a leading integrated coffee, tea, and extract service provider in the US.

A global influencer, Umesiri is an Author, world-class Business Educator, Supply Chain Strategist, Founder and CEO of Nazaru, Convener of the acclaimed Trade with Africa Business Summit and provides Entrepreneurship and International Trade Support, Training and Education in her Business School, and Community and Advisory and Consulting Services to Government Agencies and Multilateral Institutions.

Madam Coker Esq.,  is a trailblazer in her own right. The Spokesperson for the Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations in New York for Sierra Leone’s two-year term on the Security Council (2024-2025), Madam Coker is an Activist Lawyer who was appointed to her present office from PURPOSEFUL (an African-rooted global hub for girls’ activism and resourcing young feminists.

A Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone, she was the Senior Litigation Adviser and Head of Advocacy and Movement Building at PURPOSEFUL. Previously a State Counsel at the Ministry of Justice and Senior Defense Counsel at the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board, Coker Esq. also served as General Secretary of the General Legal Council (the authority responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in Sierra Leone) from 2017 until her move to New York in 2024.

Named one of the 100 Most Inspiring Sierra Leoneans and 50 Most Influential Sierra Leonean Women 2019 and 2020, Nicky, a former presenter of the weekly Saturday Breakfast Show on Capital Radio SL, in 2007, navigated seamlessly through moderating for the Vice-Presidential Candidates’ Debate during Sierra Leone’s General Elections and served as the Legal Analyst for the Eminent Women’s Situation Room during Sierra Leone’s 2018 and 2023 Elections.

Professor MO Ene, one of the two Moderators of the program, is popularly known as “Chairman Moe.” A doctorate degree holder in automotive engineering from the University of Southampton, England, Dr. MO, who has taught various university courses at four universities on three continents is multilingual, has authored and published many consequential books and seminal documents in academics, culture, fiction, and current affairs.

A widely travelled campus citizen, he is multilingual and an ardent across-the-curriculum scholar who set up, in the 1997, one of the first Afrocentric magazines on the Internet: www.kwenu.com. Before the advent of AI, he pioneered Cyberology: the study of cyberspace – history, evolution, sociocultural trends, and the changing human society.

 

Faith

RCCG Founder’s Daughter speaks on viral statement criticising church leadership

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Mrs Akindayomi-Adewale and Pastor Adeboye
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Pastor Titilayo Adewale, the daughter of the late Rev. Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi, the founder of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has firmly denied viral media reports claiming she criticized the church’s leadership or demanded public monuments to preserve her father’s legacy.

The viral post claimed Adewale criticised senior RCCG pastors for allegedly sidelining her late father’s legacy

Adewale described the claims as false and urged those circulating them to stop spreading misinformation.

She debunked the circulating stories and clarified her stance in a statement shared on Facebook page on Monday.

She said the statement attributed to her did not originate from her “either implicitly or explicitly,” stressing that her father’s greatest legacy was not tied to buildings or monuments but the lives he transformed.

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“For the record, Baba’s image or lack thereof on any edifice on earth is nothing compared to making Heaven and his face being recognized there,” she wrote.

She explained that her father never encouraged the pursuit of material possessions or earthly recognition, recalling that he was reluctant even to own a personal residence because he did not place value on material acquisitions.

“My father consistently believed in building people rather than merely constructing buildings.

“He never believed in acquiring wealth or earthly possessions,” she said, adding that it would be inconsistent to suggest that he desired his name or image to be prominently associated with buildings or institutions.

According to her, the reports were aimed at creating unnecessary controversy and division within the church rather than promoting the memory of its founder.

“In my opinion, this report and similar ones are not about me, my father, or even the leadership of the RCCG. Instead, they are intended to create unnecessary arguments and division.

“Their purpose is to divert attention from the divine work currently being carried out and sow discord among us,” she stated.

She warned those responsible for circulating the reports to desist from what she described as “mischievous acts of misinformation.

Adewale also reaffirmed her support for the leadership of the church, praying for continued wisdom and strength for the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, and his family.

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Digital Economy Boost: NCC Leases Digital Industrial Park, Learning Centre to Enugu State Gov’t

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…NCC’s CEO lauds Mbah’s Smart Schools, infrastructural, digital capacity initiatives

In a major boost to President Bola Tinubu’s digital economy agenda, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Enugu State Government, on Tuesday, sealed a strategic 15-year lease of the agency’s Digital Industrial Park and Learning Centre to the Enugu State Government.

The move would see the Enugu State Government take over and optimise the facilities located in the state capital as the Enugu Talent City and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute in line with the digital economy drive of the Governor Peter Mbah Administration.

Speaking during the lease agreement signing ceremony at Government House, Enugu, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, said the arrangement fully aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Tinubu Administration, and its ambition to grow Nigeria into a $1 trillion economy driven by productivity, innovation and private sector growth.

Maida stressed that Mbah had shown a clear agenda to build Enugu State into a digital economic powerhouse through deliberate investment in education, infrastructure, innovation and digital capacity, maintaining that the Mbah Administration was well positioned to advance the objectives for which these facilities were established.

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“Our expectation is that this partnership will support Enugu’s ambition to become a leading destination for digital services, artificial intelligence, startup incubation, outsourcing, research and technology-enabled enterprise.

“We also expect these facilities to become spaces where young people acquire relevant skills, entrepreneurs transform ideas into viable businesses and local enterprises connect to opportunities beyond Enugu and Nigeria.

“These facilities were conceived as platforms for innovation, entrepreneurship and human capital development. They were designed to deepen digital skills, support startups, attract investment, create jobs and position Nigeria as a competitive destination for business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing and other technology-enabled services.

“In essence, they were built not merely as physical assets, but as platforms for developing the people and enterprises that will power Nigeria’s digital economy.

“So, for us at the NCC, completing physical infrastructure is only the beginning. Buildings alone do not create innovation. People do. Ideas do. Entrepreneurs do. And partnerships bring all these elements together,” he said.

The NCC boss also commended Governor Mbah’s investment in Smart Green Schools, saying he was building an economy prepared for the future.

“Physical infrastructure is essential to development, but infrastructure alone cannot deliver lasting prosperity. This is what makes the Smart Green Schools initiative significant. It recognises that preparing our children for tomorrow must begin today. Technology-enabled schools, digital learning facilities, robotics and artificial intelligence laboratories demonstrate an understanding that education must evolve alongside technology. That is leadership with the future in mind.

“Investment in education and skills raises productivity, expands economic opportunity and strengthens the ability of individuals and businesses to create value.

“This is even more important today. Artificial Intelligence is reshaping industries. Automation is changing the nature of work. Digital technologies are transforming how governments serve citizens and how businesses operate,” he concluded.

Speaking, Governor Peter Mbah commended President Tinubu for recognising the centrality of the digital economy to the $1 trillion economy he seeks to build, as well as for understanding that much of that growth would come from the states.

He noted that AI would contribute about $20 trillion to the global economy by 2030, saying, “It is not a space you want your young ones to be missing.”

“We also believe that our talents, our brightest talents, should not be exported in person. We believe that they should export their talents outside the country from here, and that is why we see huge benefits in these assets in terms of job creation and opportunities for our young people.

“We are also looking at transforming the Digital Bridge Institute into a world-class AI institute. We will also transform the Digital Industrial Park. If you have followed the news, we have already taken steps, working with some teams from Qatar, to make sure that it becomes a certification centre for AI on the continent.

He said the NCC would not regret its decision to temporarily hand over the facilities to Enugu State.

“I am sure that a few years down the line, we can come back here and be very proud of the decision we made today to activate these assets and to make sure that they are productive,” he concluded.

Earlier in his remarks, the Special Adviser to the Enugu State Governor on Digital Economy and Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), Arinze Chilo-Ofia, thanked the FG and NCC for the confidence reposed in Enugu State to activate and optimise the two strategic assets and ensure the realisation of the objectives for which they were conceived and built.

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₦1.08tn budget for Cooperative College Enugu is another move to defraud Nigerians — Atiku

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Former VP, Atiku Abubakar
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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described the 2026 Appropriation Act as compromised, following revelations that the Federal Cooperative College, Oji River, Enugu State, was allocated ₦1.08 trillion to execute 2,791 capital projects across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory FCT.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the African Democratic Congress ADC presidential candidate commended Tracka for an independent analysis he said exposed one of the most troubling cases of budget distortion under the Tinubu administration.

Atiku said the disclosure undercuts the Presidency’s insistence that painful reforms, higher taxes and heavy borrowing reflect prudent economic management.

“Nothing exposes the hollowness of that claim more than a budget that turns a federal cooperative college into one of Nigeria’s largest project-implementing agencies,” he said.

He argued that the allocation defies logic, public finance principles and the institution’s statutory mandate, questioning how a college established to promote cooperative education became responsible for roads, drainage systems, solar streetlights, markets, football pitches, dialysis centres, ambulances, water schemes, recycling plants, empowerment programmes and thousands of other projects nationwide.

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“Who decided that a cooperative college should become one of Nigeria’s biggest ministries by stealth? Under what law was it transformed into the implementing agency for 2,791 projects? Who nominated these projects, who approved them, who will supervise them, and who will be held accountable?” he asked.

The former Vice President said the revelations undermine the administration’s claim of fiscal discipline, accusing the government of running what he called a medieval financial system.
“In a constitutional democracy, however, the treasury belongs to the Nigerian people, not to the President or his cronies,” he said.

He contended that a government demanding sacrifice from citizens while channeling such a large sum through an institution without the capacity to execute it cannot claim to be managing resources prudently.

“A government that plans to spend ₦1.08 trillion through a cooperative college cannot claim to be fighting waste or promoting fiscal discipline. It looks less like governance and more like a blueprint to defraud Nigerians”, he declared.

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