A prominent peace advocate, community development expert, and founder of the Shedrack Agediga Foundation (SAF), Comrade (Dr.) Shedrack Agediga, has harped on the importance of the media, with a call on publishers, journalists, broadcasters, and content creators of Ijaw extraction to utilise it to promote truth, mobilise against injustice, preserve cultural heritage, and seek accountability from leaders toward the overall goal of the emancipation of the Ijaw people.

Dr. Agediga, who is the Chairman, Delta State Bursary and Scholarship Board, gave the charge in a speech titled, "The Importance of Media in the Emancipation of the Ijaw People: A Personal Call to Action to the Izon Nation", during the inauguration ceremony of the Ijaw Publishers' Forum's (IPF) Executive Council in Warri, on Thursday, February 26, 2026.

Represented by a Veteran broadcaster, Sir Percy Francis, Dr. Agediga, who chairs the occasion, reminded the IPF that they are "not ordinary publishers," but "nation builders" that should use their profession to "document our history properly, publish in Izon language deliberately, train young reporters from the creeks, not just the cities; collaborate with youth bodies, elders, and traditional institutions" and "use facts, data, and investigation to counter the lie that 'the Niger Delta problem is over'."

Speaking further, he added, "As publishers, journalists, broadcasters, and content creators of the Izon Nation, the pen in your hand is stronger than any weapon. Use it with courage. Use it with discipline. Use it with love for our people. Let every headline, every broadcast, every book, every post send one clear message: The Ijaw people will no longer be spectators in their own land. We demand justice. We demand equity. We demand total emancipation."

Earlier, the Founder of the Agediga Shedrack Foundation, noted that the IPF existed not as a social club, but was birthed by necessity to tell the Ijaw story accurately, while stressing on the importance of the media in the Ijaw struggle towards its emancipation.

"When we talk about emancipation, we must remove big grammar and speak reality. Emancipation is the woman in Ogulagha Kingdom, who trades under gas flares, but cannot afford school fees. Is it the youth in Egbema and Gbaramatu, who keeps asking: How can we be this rich and still this poor?

"For the Ijaw person, emancipation is not one thing. It is political; to be respected, not managed. It is economic; to benefit from what comes from our land. It is environmental; to drink clean water and farm clean soil. And it is cultural; to remain Izon in a world that wants to erase us. Any emancipation discourse that ignores these four is incomplete.

"Let us be honest with ourselves. In global history, no people have ever been emancipated without controlling their narrative. Media has always been the engine room of resistance. For us as Ijaw people, media is not decoration. It is strategy. It is defence. It is power," he stated.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by top Ijaw leaders such as Capt. Presley Prebor, Liaison Manager, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Delta and Edo States (who represented the Administrator, High Chief Dennis Brutu Otuaro PhD; Amb. Jude Ukori (JP), Chief (Comrade) Sheriff Mulade PhD, Chief Alabo Nengi James, Prince Collins Eselemo, Amb. Princewill Binebai, Spokesman, IYC; Comr. Nicholas Igaramah, Chairman, IYC Western Zone, among others.

Meanwhile, the members of the newly inaugurated IPF exco members are Snr. Comr. (Amb.) Ozobo Austin as President, Comrades Onduku Charlse Oyinbi as Vice President, Magbei Tare as Secretary, Benjamin Benedict Tamaradoubra as Assistant Secretary, Kagbala Ezekiel as Public Relations Officer, Kanjo Ebitibi Joseph as Financial Secretary, Mingo Friday as Treasurer, and Ekpegha Tamaraupreye as Welfare Officer.

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