Friday, February 19, 2016

Editorial (Maiden Edition)


                                                         SUSTAINING THE VISION

With heart full of gratitude, we formally welcome you to the vision-The Ogene Newspaper-the vision given to God's servant, Success Kanayo Uchime, a native of Ndikelionwu in Orumba North Local Government. It is borne out of the very long desire to serve our people, and we thank God for making it a dream come through.

   In his book, “The Principles and Power of Vision,” the late Dr. Myles Munroe, one of the greatest motivational speakers the world has ever produced, defined vision as the source and hope of life. He observed that the gift of vision is the greatest gift ever given to mankind, not the gift of sight.                                  According to him, sight is a function of the eyes, while vision is a function of the heart. Again, Ronald F. Youngblood, a well known biblical scholar, in “The New Illustrated Bible Dictionary” defined vision as, experience similar to dreams through which supernatural insight or awareness is given by revelation. He observed that the difference between dream and vision is that dreams occur only during sleep, while visions can happen while a person is awake.

   Similarly, the great Apostle Paul, in the Holy Scriptures, before King Agrippa, said this about his vision: “I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven” (Acts 26:19). The Ogene Newspaper therefore, is like that vision from heaven; and it needs to be sustained by our numerous friends. This is so because, for every vision, there needs to be vision carriers – those who help to run with the vision. Those who will stand by it, come rain, come sunshine. One thing about vision is that like a baby, it must be given birth to before it can be appreciated by all. Again, like a new born baby, it must be nurtured to adulthood.

   By the grace of God, The Ogene Newspaper has been given birth to; it is a long-time dream that has been realized, and it needs to be nurtured to maturity. We initially started out as “Ogene Orumba Newspaper,” but due to our doctrine of inclusiveness, and suggestions here and there, we were compelled to change to its present name.

  With the rolling out of this maiden edition, it is no doubt a dream come through, a vision fulfilled, a vision not predicated upon profit alone, but by our deep desire to contribute towards the development of our community (the old Aguata Local Government Area, comprising Orumba North and South, and the present Aguata council area).

    Based on our definition of a community newspaper as a publication (tabloid or magazine) that the higher percentage of its news contents are sourced from its defined immediate community, we will be duty bound not to overstep our bounds. We must ensure that our community receives a higher percentage of our coverage.

    In order to wholeheartedly pursue this heavenly vision, we are to embrace our civil role by being the major advocacy in the promotion of the general welfare of our community. We intend to be a key stakeholder and player in the forces that will help build and celebrate our community by setting laudable agendas for the discourse of everyone.

    We strongly believe that we need a voice like this that will help bring out all our potentials, aspirations, hopes and even challenges. You will observe with us that before now, not much was heard about our community in terms of news coverage by the national or international media. We have come on board to bridge that yawning gap – we need a positive change!

   Definitely, we cannot achieve all these laudable objectives alone without the partnership of our people, as it is a well known fact that no media survives by cover price alone, but by adverts and other patronage (donations) from its publics or sponsors. The Ogene Newspaper should be seen as our collective project for the simple reason that  this is the very first community medium established to serve our community in this dimension. We, therefore, need all the required support in terms of advert placements and donations to practically serve our people well. Our advert rates are affordable and we promise you value for your money. We, as a result, call on all business concerns, philanthropists and other well-wishers to come and help us run with this vision. For now, we will be coming out bi-monthly,  and thereafter, monthly. But as time unfolds, we will be producing weekly – that is our ultimate goal!

  We are therefore trusting and looking forward to the patronage we need to keep our vision alive. The Ogene Newspaper as a vision must be sustained, and you have a part to play in its sustenance!

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