Ex-Gov Ebri Hails Revival of Nigerian Chronicle as New Chapter for Cross River Media
By Missang AKPET
Former Cross River State Governor, Chief Clement Ebri has said the reactivation of the Cross River State Newspaper Corporation and the commissioning of a new Government Printing Press as the beginning of a new chapter for the Nigerian Chronicle.
Speaking at the event, Ebri described the event as a personal moment, recalling that his journalism career started at the Chronicle in August 1978 as an Economics Editor while completing his National Youth Service.
According to him, the Chronicle of that era was more than a newspaper but an institution with high intellectual quality and vibrant journalism.
“My relationship with the Nigerian Chronicle did not begin today but immediately I finished my youth service."
"I served under Editor Ray Ekpu and rose within a year to become Features Editor and in 1980, I was appointed Acting Editor despite having more than ten senior colleagues ahead of me".
“Our regular print run was, at one point, about 80,000 copies daily, and on some occasions it rose to approximately 120,000 copies. We had correspondents across Nigeria - in Ibadan, Sokoto, Lagos, Port Harcourt and other major centres,” he recalled.
Ebri hinted that the paper was guided by its motto TRUTH AND SERVICE, which he described as “an editorial responsibility, a professional ethic, and a covenant with the public.
He noted that the Nigerian Chronicle gave him international exposure in 1979 when he was sent to the Milwaukee Courier in the United States and however lamented the decline of the institution over the years and the damage done during the 2020 #EndSARS crisis, which destroyed equipment, books, records and newspaper cuttings.
He appealed to Cross Riverians to donate old copies, photographs and documents to help rebuild the corporation’s archives, stressing that when a people lose their records, they lose part of their collective memory.
He urged the management to embrace both print and digital platforms, while calling on citizens, government officials, journalists, academics and business owners to take ownership of the revived institution.
Charging the management of the Nigerian Chronicle to reclaim its place as a trusted voice, he called on them to train a new generation of journalists, embrace new technologies and invest in investigative journalism while maintaining independence and credibility.
