*WELCOME REMARK BY GOVERNOR PETER MBAH OF ENUGU STATE FOR THE 22ND ALL NIGERIA EDITORS CONFERENCE 2026
Protocols…
President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, members of the Guild, distinguished editors, ladies and gentlemen…
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to Enugu.
And I confess that standing before more than 300 of Nigeria’s editors is not necessarily the most comfortable position for a governor to find himself in.
On any other day, some of you might be challenging us, examining our decisions and, occasionally, making our mornings/afternoons/evenings considerably less pleasant.
Today, fortunately, you are our guests. So perhaps we can declare a temporary ceasefire.
I hope that while you are here, we remember that government and the press do not always have to meet each other from opposite sides of the barricade.
We have different responsibilities. Government must be transparent about what it is doing and be accountable for the results.
The Press must establish the facts and report the truth.
Sometimes that truth will expose failure. Sometimes it will reveal progress. The obligation for us both is the same in either case – serving the people of Nigeria.
I am particularly pleased that for the second time in two years, the Nigerian Guild of Editors has chosen Enugu to host this very important gathering of Nigeria’s media leadership. We do not take this confidence for granted.
You have come to a city with a long history of enterprise, cultural life and civic leadership; a city associated with legendary figures such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Professor Eyo Ita, Dr. Michael Okpara and Dr. Akanu Ibiam, and with generations of men and women who helped shape the political and intellectual life of our country.
And you are very welcome to this historic city.
The theme of this Conference could not be more timely: “The Ballot, the Media and the Task of Keeping Democracy Alive.”
We sometimes describe the press as the Fourth Estate.
The phrase recognizes something fundamental: that democracy needs more than elected power;
It needs independent scrutiny of that power, and a public realm in which facts can be established, arguments tested and citizens can form their own judgement.
Elections give governments their mandate. But what happens between elections is just as important to the health of a democracy.
That places a considerable responsibility on journalism. Not simply to challenge power, but to establish what is true — through investigation, evidence, context and the willingness to follow the facts even when they lead somewhere inconvenient.
And that responsibility has rarely mattered more than it does now.
The title of your sub-theme captures the problem brilliantly: “When Lies Look Real.”
We have entered an age in which technology can manufacture the appearance of reality.
A photograph can be fabricated. A voice can be cloned. A video can show somebody apparently saying words they never said. An allegation can travel around the world before a journalist has finished making the first telephone call to establish whether it is true.
And Artificial Intelligence is accelerating that process.
There is some encouraging news for Nigeria. The Reuters Institute’s 2026 Digital News Report records trust in news among its surveyed Nigerian online population at 68 per cent.
This is among the highest levels in the 48 markets studied, although the researchers caution that the Nigerian sample is younger, more urban and more educated than the population as a whole. (reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk)
But look beyond Nigeria and there is a warning we should take very seriously.
Globally, trust in news has fallen to 37 per cent, the lowest level the Reuters Institute has recorded since it began measuring the figure in 2015.
Trust in news encountered through social media is only 22 per cent, and trust in answers to news questions from AI chatbots is just 20 per cent.
(reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk)
At the same time, Freedom House reports that global freedom declined for the twentieth consecutive year in 2025, with media freedom among the liberties suffering the greatest deterioration over the past two decades. (Freedom House)
Those are warning signs. Once a society loses confidence in its ability to establish what is true, the consequences reach far beyond journalism.
We have seen elsewhere how quickly evidence can give way to allegiance and information to manipulation.
AI raises the stakes again: falsehood can now be produced with the texture of reality, at extraordinary speed and scale.
That makes serious journalism more necessary, not less.
Yes. The emphasis should shift from “scrutinise us” to “do the difficult work of finding out what is actually true.” That cuts both ways.
My challenge to you, therefore, is simple – Go deeper.
Investigative journalism cannot become a luxury. We need journalists with the time and curiosity to understand difficult subjects; editors prepared to protect that work; and newsrooms willing to distinguish between what generates immediate attention and what the public genuinely needs to know.
That’s because rigorous journalism is not about finding evidence to support a position already taken.
Nor should it become another arena for political grandstanding. Its value lies precisely in its independence: examine the evidence, test competing claims, establish what happened, and report what you find.
That standard must apply equally to government and to its critics.
We have tried to build an Enugu government that is open about what it is doing and clear about what it is trying to achieve.
Where we fall short, that should call for scrutiny and be reported. But the same principle applies when the evidence reveals progress.
Success should not become less newsworthy simply because it doesn’t serve a political narrative.
Our responsibility is to be transparent and deliver radical and positive change. Yours is to be independent, look closely, establish the facts, and tell the story as you find it.
And the point at which those responsibilities meet should be the truth.
Which brings me back to Enugu.
What is happening here is, I believe, one of the fastest and most ambitious transformations of any state in modern Nigeria. And the ambition reaches beyond Enugu itself.
We want this state to become an economic gateway for the South East – one of Nigeria’s top three states by GDP, and a national leader in human development and quality of life.
You can already see the outlines of that change:
More than 1,500 kilometres of roads constructed or reconstructed; More than 7,000 classrooms delivered; Smart Green Schools and Type-2 Primary Healthcare Centres reaching all 260 wards; Water returning at scale to Enugu City; New transport terminals and CNG buses; Enugu Air in the skies; Dormant industries coming back to life; A new city beginning to rise.
And increasingly, this is becoming part of ordinary life: a child walking into a digitally equipped school in a community that had been left behind; healthcare closer to home; a journey to market that no longer takes half the day; Businesses are beginning to look at Enugu differently — as somewhere to invest, build and stay.
We have also had a strong partner in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Federal Government. Increased federal support to the states has helped create the fiscal space for investment here, alongside important interventions in roads, aviation, energy and regional development.
The concession of Akanu Ibiam International Airport can strengthen Enugu as a gateway to the wider South East. I have acknowledged that partnership publicly before, and I gladly do so again today.
That partnership is helping us build at a scale and pace that would once have seemed impossible.
Let me use this occasion, therefore, before this distinguished gathering of Nigeria’s editors, to reiterate our profound appreciation to Mr. President, for the leadership and policy direction of the Federal Government.
Distinguished guests,
There is still much to do, and we make no claim otherwise.
But while you are here, I hope you will see some of this change for yourselves. Take some time to explore the city, speak to the people who live and work here, and get a sense of the direction in which Enugu is moving.
And if you have time, go further afield and see what is happening beyond the city. Enugu has become a state people are talking about, far beyond our borders.
While you are here, I invite you to experience it for yourselves.
President of the Guild, distinguished editors, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Enugu.
Enjoy our hospitality, our people and our city.
And then do what good journalism has always done: look closely, establish the facts, and tell the story as you find it.
Because as we say in Enugu:
Tomorrow is Here!
Thank you.
