The
foundation stone laying ceremony for the multi-purpose Editors’ Plaza owned by
the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has been slated to hold on Thursday, March 1, 2018 at the
project site located in the Guzape District of Abuja, reports ITRealms.
According to the Publicity
Secretary, NGE, Mr. Ken Ugbechie, the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State,
Senator Godswill Akpabio, who is also the Senate Minority Leader will chair the
event while foremost industrialist and Chairman of BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad
Rabiu, will perform the traditional ‘turning of the sod’ to herald the
construction of a befitting plaza for Nigerian editors in the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT).
He also told ITRealms that the Minister of the
Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Mohammed Bello, and his Information and
Culture counterpart, Alhaji Lai Mohammed are expected to grace the occasion,
alongside governors, heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs),
members of corporate Nigeria, the business community, media executives, among
others.
The journey of the proposed
Editors’ Plaza started on April 10, 2014 with a fund-raiser in Abuja under the
leadership of the then President of the Guild, Mr. Femi Adesina. The goal was
to raise funds to build a befitting secretariat for the Guild in Abuja to be
named as Editors’ Plaza. It is worthy to note that in its over 55 years of
existence, the Guild does not have a secretariat of its own.
Part of the money realized
from the fund-raiser has been used to acquire a property in Ikeja area of Lagos
State christened Editors’ House which functions as the Guild’s secretariat in
Lagos.
The President of the Guild,
Mrs. Funke Egbemode, was also quoted in a press statement made available to ITRealms as saying that part of the
proposed Editors’ Plaza in Abuja would serve as the Guild’s secretariat in
Abuja while the rest would be leased to the public as offices.
“When completed, the
multi-storey edifice which sits on an expansive 5,600 square meter (Sqm) piece
of land will add to the vastly changing Abuja landscape,” she said.
Egbemode equally said the
construction of the Editors’ Plaza offers friends of the Guild, individuals and
corporates, and all advocates and lovers of free press an opportunity to
partner with Nigerian editors whom she described as the torchbearers of the
nation’s democracy and bulwark against tyranny.
Uboshe
Uboshe/GEE
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