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11 Days to Go: Countdown Begins for Osun Youth in Governance Conference 2026

 Oriontimes News Desk| April 14, 20246 With just 11 days left, anticipation is building across Osun State as the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Osun State Chapter, intensifies preparations for the highly anticipated Youth in Governance Conference 2026. The countdown is no longer gradual, it is accelerating. Stakeholders, young leaders, and aspiring changemakers are being urged to seize the moment as registration remains open but limited. Organizers describe the conference as more than just a gathering. It is a platform where ideas are expected to evolve into tangible action, where emerging voices will be amplified, and where the future of governance in Osun and beyond will be actively shaped. “This is where conversations turn into action, where young leaders step forward, and where the future is not merely discussed but decided,” a statement from the council emphasized. The event is scheduled to hold on April 25, 2026, at 9:00 AM, at the Osogbo Grammar School Conference ...

Baptized in Words, Armed with Pens: The Fading Glory of the Nigerian Press - Abioye Tosin Lawrence

 

As Tinubu Declares Editors’ Conference Open


By Abioye Tosin Lawrence


The nation’s capital glowed with the presence of wordsmiths, as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared open the 2025 Nigerian Guild of Editors Conference in Abuja yesterday. The hall was alive, editors, journalists, online publishers, and communication minds converged, a fellowship of those baptized in words and armed with pens.


But beyond the applause and photo moments lies a deeper question, what is the fate of the Fourth Estate when survival itself is a headline?


The media, once the roaring lion of democracy, now whispers for breath. Newsrooms are shrinking, salaries are delayed, and advertisements, the oxygen of the press are choked by politics and digital monopolies. Yet, society still calls upon the journalist to uphold truth, integrity, and independence, even as the profession gasps for its own survival.


Across Nigeria and Africa, monetization spins like a clock gone anticlockwise. Fairness is priced, freedom of speech taxed, and the very business of truth reduced to clicks and crumbs. Many in the field now wear multiple hats, reporter by day, hustler by night, simply to keep the pen from drying.


Still, in their weary hands rests the power of light. The journalist remains the unseen soldier, without a uniform, but with a voice sharper than any blade.



It is high time we allowed those who control the nation’s narrative to also enjoy the dignity of their calling, not as beggars of influence, but as custodians of truth. The pen may tremble, but it must not fall. For in defending the press, we defend the very soul of our democracy.

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