A DIALOGUE WITH MY INFO. COMMISSIONER BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE

Daniel Iworiso Markson
Hon Commissioner Information and Orientation

 My very dear friend and partner in progress, Mr. Iworiso Daniel Markson, the Information Commissioner, Ministry of Information and Orientation, Bayelsa State, I have thought it as of necessity not to shy away from communicating with you by sharing both ideas and information to enable us move Bayelsa state forward which is our collective responsibility.
First of all, we have to share pleasantries, before we go into dialogue. I greet  you my Commissioner, the Commissioner of the media our Constituency, I want to say that you were a worthy representative of our Constituency when you assumed the office of the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State. At that time, you were excellent, because of the robust relationship you had with thee members of your Constituency on which basis you were reasoned by the governor to be a round peg in a round hole or a square peg in a square hole, which culminated in your lifting to the office of the Honorable Commissioner for Information and Orientation.
My dear Hon. Commissioner, you can remember how you were treated to a warm reception, by the NUJ at the State Council's Secretariat, where almost all the Publishers and all other 'who is who' of the Media in the State were all there to honor your esteemed self at that auspicious occasion, where I was also present.
In-fact, I sat close to you, and our medium, Golden Pen Newspaper took snapshots  and published the event in our medium to which you highly appreciated. But that is just the past, not today. Right now, as I can see, things are no more the same, things have drastically changed. I don't know why things just got changed like that, but insinuations are high that it may not be unconnected with the way the Office of the Information Ministry had dumped the grass root Media Executives of the State, particularly the members of the Bayelsa Indigenous Publishers Association [BIPA] and the Bayelsa Federated Newspapers Publishing Association [BAFENPA] thus rendering us all of no importance.
Honorable Commissioner, with due respect, I am initiating this dialogue with you because I am a member of the top Media Associations. I am one of the foundation members and an elder who knows the pains of what  we have to dialogue on. One bitter truth before me is that, you turned your back against the State Media from participating in the activities and or functions of the Bayelsa State Government for a very long time to date.  In that light, whatever occasion organized by the Bayelsa State Government, you as the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, had always preferred importing Media practitioners from outside  the state, leaving us out for whatever reason best known to you.
 To the outside press you so love and invites, against your brothers in the profession in the state, you  pay air tickets, accommodate them in Government House or in the most expensive hotels, feed them with the funds of our state, take them round on tour to your choice places and dole out millions of Naira to them for newspaper publications, for radio and television airtime, sometimes on live broadcasts. But to us, the Indigenous Media you don't allow us access to your office or allow us to cover any program organized by the State Government for which the galvanization of the Media had been and is your responsibility, but in most cases the Bayelsa Media had been either deliberately sidelined or excluded, by your initiatives
It is of note that the Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson led administration had at different times invited prominent Nigerian leaders, the likes of: former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, The General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church, Pastor E.O. Adeboye and other personalities. In all these and other widely publicized occasions; through either adverts,  Press briefings and Conferences, events coverage and publicity, the Indigenous Media  had always been copiously denied attendance and or patronage.
That was not the case in the past we had worked together with our colleagues from outside whenever they came to join us to cover any programs, but your system is like practicing charity begins abroad, which is against the well being and prosperity of your own fellow Bayelsan brothers in the media profession, practicing in our own state with nothing to show. That your unfriendly and un-brotherly attitude towards us had affected me and my fellow publishers so adversely cannot be ignored in such a very meaningful dialogue with you. Looking into the challenging experiences I feel, there is 'a missing link', and the best option to put things right again between Government and the Publishers is dialogue.

Chief O.G. Evans Tubonah

It is on that note, Hon. Commissioner, I want to share with you how the Bayelsa  Indigenous  Publishers Association  [BIPA] was born and became a development partner with the State Government from  1999 to the Restoration administration  led by Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson came on board and you became what you are today. Talk about cordial relationship between the Media and the State government from the 1st Military Administration of Navy Captain Philip Ayeni and through the 1st Governor of the State Chief Alamieyeseigha to the present administration which also started well before the gap created by the Office of the  Commissioner of Information and Orientation under your supervision.
When Bayelsa was created in 1996 and inaugurated as a State, there was no Commissioner for Information, we only had the Office of Chief Press Secretary to the Military Administrator.

 Mr.  Fedelis Agbeki was the first CPS
Mr. Norman Morris  was the 2nd, and following the demise of Mr. Morris,
Max Egba became the CPS.
All these were seasoned Journalists who played their roles meritoriously with their colleagues at their different times and climes. When the Ministries were created, then Commissioners were appointed.
In the Ministry of Information, we first  of all, had x Albert Alale S/A Media, while the Honorable Commissioners include x Paul Orieware x Iniruo Wills x  Mr. Sokare x Benson Agadaga, x Azibaolanari Nelson x John Igoniwari x Oronto Douglas x Nathan Egba x Asara A.Asara x Mr. Kikile x Markson Fefegha and,x Robinson Obuebite. These are all your predecessors, but no time had Indigenous Publishers in the State been so marginalized or so deliberately excluded, denied and rejected by a sitting Honorable Commissioner for Information and Orientation in Bayelsa State. 

 Sincerely, we shared a robust relationship with everyone that came into that Office in our capacity, being a critical sector of the Bayelsa State project, being Newspaper Publishers, who are also, Opinion Leaders in the state. Not to shy away from the truth, I like to reiterate that, there had never been such a communication gap between the media and an Honorable Commissioner for Information in Office. This is an unusual experience that makes some of us feel that there is need for dialogue to see if this can be corrected.
Honorable Commissioner, there had been a Thank You! hanging around me to tell you, because of what you did while you were the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State. You campaigned for the unity and oneness of the indigenous publishers who were divided in different groupings before you came. you brought the three different groups of Publishers under one umbrella, by federating them to a new name,  Bayelsa Federated Newspaper Publishers Association [BAFENPA]. That was an achievement, which happened when Hon. Robinson Obuebite was the Honorable Commissioner of that Ministry who spearheaded the move and deserves a befitting dose of commendation as well as you for that bold initiative of  bringing us together by way of building a partnership between the Government and the State which foundation was laid and built upon by preceding administrations before the coming of the present administration. I remember how the publishers, the Indigenous Publishers were invited to Creek Motel in their different groupings by you, and according to you, as directed by Governor Dickson that Government will be more able to relate with our mediums if we were under one umbrella, you said, and that led to the foundation of the Bayelsa Federated Newspaper Publishers Association [BAFENPA], after which for the first and last time we were ushered into Government House where we had a dinner with His Excellency, the Governor of Bayelsa State Henry Seriake Dickson and all the words of hope for better future were expressed, even as the Governor appreciated our Chairman, Mr. Easterday Ayibaitari, whose nickname Ikisa-prupru he repeatedly called and shared their political history with the rest of us to our admiration.

Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha
First Executive Governor of Bayelsa State

In that meeting, Hon. Commissioner, you can recall that the former Commissioner for Information, Hon. Robinson Obuebite, your very self and Alfred Egbegi were there and can attest to the fact that the Governor, who received us in audience in response to some of our immediate needs, assigned you to receive and deliver to him a list of our demands for his approval which after thought provoking meetings we the publishers put together and you collected from us to the governor and for the past four years no reply has come from the governor or  from you to us.
 But in my candid opinion, it is good to know what went wrong that we didn't get any reply from you. It is doubtful that the governor received what we sent to him through you and did not honor his own word! The talk-na-do governor did not keep his word? Or did he approve the money for the Bayelsa Publishers Secretariat Project {BPSP}with the internet facilities he offered and the money is yet to arrive at our destination? Commissioner please do not keep us in the dark, before it is too late.
 Hon. Commissioner with due respect, I need to tell you what may be, you have not been informed about, and I doubt also if the governor had been properly informed about the journey of the Publishers from where you met us in 2012-2019. When you came into office, you met a file for the payment of stipends of One Hundred thousand Naira per medium to twenty four Indigenous newspapers which amounts to N2. 4 million monthly. As the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor then, you were aware that we received our stipends  at the Government House Treasury.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan

You did not ask why, neither did anyone voluntarily tell you or told  the governor what about it, and that is what I want to tell you today!
 THE  DEAL BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND THE BAYELSA PUBLISHERS
It was May 29th 1999 that the first Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha, and his deputy, Dr.Goodluck Jonathan were  sworn-in to office, but not without challenges. It was a very rough time with the administration then, because the state capital, Yenagoa was the center of activities of the Ijaw Youth Council which had a running battle with the Military administration following the Kaiama Declaration. The crisis existed before the assumption of office of the governor and the deputy. Many things happened, but the climax was the massacre of a popular Ijaw Bayelsan Community, Odi, by the Military.
It was on the 20th of November 1999 that Odi was sacked by the Nigerian military. From that Military dispensation with Navy Captain Omoniyi Caleb Olubolade to Lt. Col. Paul Edor Obi, there was disquiet in Bayelsa Staite, which resulted in attacks and counter attacks, the acclaimed reasons for which the idea to declare a state of emergency was muted by the Obasanjo government.
It was a tough situation indeed, we the Publishers were so objective in our reportage, giving blow by blow accounts of the then crisis ridden fledgling Ijaw  state, Bayelsa. And that was a big worry to Chief Alamieyeseigha and Goodluck Jonathan who needed better publicity than what they were receiving from us and that led to a meeting between the state Government and the Publishers in Government House.

Chief Sylva

At that meeting, Chief Alamieyeseigha stated clearly that though our reports were factual, such verbatim reports were not to the best interest of the development of the State. He went further to state that if we continued in that light investors may be scared of coming to the state, urged us to think of the peace and security of the state as our  priority. While agreeing with the Governor we also spoke on the consequences of  unsold papers the moment we shy away from publishing the truth and the losses thereof, Chief Alamieyeseigha said Government will cushion the effect of our publications with a monthly stipend of N100, 000 only each first to BIPA members, that was how the Bayelsa State Government had a partnership agreement with us, to change our editorial contents and rebuild the battered image of the state which we did, and has been doing before the present administration came in.
And to be fair to Dickson his administration was also doing well with our sector. When your predecessors, Markson Fefegha and Robinson Obuebite were in office as Information Commissioners  our mediums were still functioning fine, we were not sidelined, our mediums were invited to transparency briefings, we were also part of government  entourage to project sites and commissioning of projects together with some of our invited colleagues, and we were also receiving adverts from government through the Ministry of information, and we were not complaining till you came.
These are the papers that had the agreement with the State Government for stipends:
1. Environment Watch        - Publisher Braeyi Ekiye
2. Banner News                    - Publisher Union Oyadongha
3. Izon Link                         - Publisher Alfred Egbegi
4. Golden Pen                      - Publisher Chief Evans Tubonah
5. Niger Delta Details          - Publisher Richard Ogbage.
 That was how and where a decision for partnership was reached between the Publishers and the Government of Bayelsa State as already highlighted. And to avoid opposition, the Alamieyeseigha administration thought it wise to accommodate more publishers into the package.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who was part of the deal with Alamieyeseigha, went the extra mile when he empowered the Publishers with funds to procure the first Printing Press in the state and also opened the BIPA Secretariat, before then, the Publishers went to Port Harcourt and Warri to typeset and print every edition of their news print. Besides that, the Goodluck Jonathan administration continued to pay the stipends, gave adverts etc till he left governorship position for higher assignments in Abuja.
 Chief Timipre Sylva also came and carried the publishers along, apart from payment of stipends, his administration like Alamieyeseigha and Goodluck involved the Indigenous Media as active partners. Our mediums were accredited with Government House identity cards to enter Government House whenever there was need, but today, we are like strangers in our own state, With you as Commissioner for Information and Orientation, in Bayelsa State, everything you have done was to favor outsiders, sidelining and denying your own people, your professional colleagues in practice, denying us everything and keeping us poor?
Is that good? If you ask me, I will suggest that you clear the backlog of arrears of the stipends payable to the publishers, and also stop the practice of charity begins abroad  in your engagements.
Honorable Commissioner, this dialogue is to enable you jaw-jaw with your constituency before it is too late.
Thanks for your patience.


From
Chief Otonye Evans Tubonah
Publisher/Editor - In - Chief
Golden Pen Newspaper