The momentum has continued to rise for the sixth annual conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) as more corporate partners lend their support towards the event holding next Thursday at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja-Lagos.
GOCOP is the sectoral group of media owners who subscribes to the tenets of journalism and committed to sanitising the online publishing space.
The Chairman of the 2022 Conference Committee, Mr Ken Ugbechie said on Monday that the latest partners included Delta and Lagos States, in addition to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Chevron Nigeria Limited and Niger Delta Development Commission.
According to a statement by GOCOP Publicity Secretary, Mr Remmy Nweke, Ugbechie said that other partners include Central Bank of Nigeria, Access Bank Plc, Unity Bank plc and Globacom.
Ugbechie said that this year’s conference theme is “2023 Elections: Managing the Process for Credible Outcome”, with the keynote speaker being the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, while the chairman of the day is the founder, Centre for Alternative Policy Perspectives and Strategy, Dr Umar Ardo.
The panelists, according to him, include human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa; former Inspector General of Police, Dr Solomon Arase; and Regional Director, Ford Foundation (West Africa), Dr Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye.
GOCOP 2022 conference committee earlier announced partnership with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Plc, Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, First Bank Plc, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, The Presidency, Wema Bank and Nigeria Ports Authority, among others.
Ugbechie assured that this year’s conference, slated to hold barely five months to the 2023 general elections, would provide a roadmap for political actors and the various publics on the need to play by the rules and conform to acceptable electoral behaviour.
Highlight expected is a business luncheon with GOCOP partners on the eve of the conference, at the same venue.
Former speakers at GOCOP conferences include Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, who took the podium in 2019 to talk on “Economy, Security and National Development: The Way Forward”. In 2021, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha was keynote speaker in his capacity as Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19. He spoke on: “Post Covid-19 Pandemic: Recovery and Reconstruction in Nigeria”.
“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 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”.
