BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

BENIN CITY- AS the 7th Edition of the Guild of Editors Conference kicks off tomorrow  in the ancient city of Benin, the Benin monarch, Oba Erediauwa, who received members of the Guild led by its President, Mr Gbenga Adefaye, at his palace,  appealed to the Federal Government to find urgent solution to the problem of insecurity confronting the nation.

This comes as Governor Adams Oshiomhole described the media as one of the strongest infrastructure of the nation’s democracy and stressed the need to consolidate on the achievements made so far.

The revered Benin monarch who expressed his concern over the security situation in the country, commended members of the Guild for choosing the state for their 7th Edition of the Guild of Editors Conference and urged them to use the opportunity to bring the attention of government to the security problem in the country.

Members of the Guild are in Benin City for the 7th Edition of the Guild of Editors Conference. The theme of the conference is “Deepening Democracy with the Nigerian Editor”.

Meanwhile, Governor Oshiomhole who also spoke when members of the Guild paid him a courtesy visit at Government House,   said the media has played a crucial role in the stabilization of democracy in the country.

President of the Guild, Mr Gbenga Adefaye, disclosed that about 350 editors are being expected for the conference, adding that the event would afford the opportunity to extensively discuss how to deepen the nation’s democracy with the power of the media.

“The primary objective for us is to help to refocus the media on matters of democracy. To teach our people how to engage power in a way that will benefit the media, the people and the industry. That is our focus for Edo 2011. And we are happy to be here because this is Edo where we can point at democracy.

“There has been power shift. There is a change of baton that people can say that indeed votes will count. So we do hope that we will be able to extend the frontiers of discuss to make our democracy work” he stated.